Our gamer of the week has featured a variety of gamers thanks to our friends at Fundeavour, the social network for gamers. We’ve seen one got involved with grassroots racing thanks to games, a girl gamer who despise the label, and how you could learn English by immersing yourselves into games.
For this week, we have a passionate content creator with an ear to the ground of esports. Meet WevHez, a variety gamer that plays all kinds of games for his streams and videos. That includes Hearthstone, League Of Legends (LoL), Overwatch and the current sensation that is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). He is also known to dabble with other games such as the many Telltale adventure games and also King Of Fighters XIV, an underrated fighting game released last year.
WevHez’s first exposure to games was he was Primary 1 from a PC puzzler called Chip’s Challenge (which is now available on Steam for only RM5). “I don’t think I ever stopped loving video games ever since then,” he said. Pacman, Snake, Megaman X4 and Final Fantasy VIII are also part of of WevHez’s childhood.
Gaming As A Coping Mechanism
When asked about how games helped him in some way, WevHez shared a personal story with us.
“I remember this period where my grandma was terminally ill and in the hospital a lot. While I never got much time to play, when I did, it momentarily helped me forget some of the pain.”
Gaming can take you off in another reality- more so true as virtual reality games are now a thing. While it can be seen as hedonistic in nature, having time off from the grim reality can help with depression, anxiety and dealing with tragic events. Previous featured gamer Rainjinshi mentioned how he deals with the stress of life by gaming. With WevHez’s story, it’s a reminder that it’s okay to spend time with games for a bit when life gives you lemons. It’s important to take care of your mental health.
Losing a loved one can be devastating, and it’s a good thing WevHez managed to find a way to cope with it.
Growing As A Content Creator
Aside from that, WevHez credited a few other things he learned from gaming, such as dealing with morals consequences from story games and improving hand-eye coordination with action and rhythm games. But then he discovered about video making and streaming. Video editing has become the most valuable skill he picked up from gaming.
“I jumped when I realized that I could share my love for gaming with others,” he said.
“I started out producing wonky videos with Comic Sans text. But as time passed, I learned a lot about many of the other effects that could be used to enhance video quality.
“Now, with these skills, I’ve managed to make a living out of it.”
We asked what should a quality content feature- some tips for any aspiring streamers and video creators. The first thing WevHez mentioned is audio and video quality.
“Huge turn-offs for me are mics that pick up all the background noise or clip at the slightest provocation,” he said. “If someone tunes in only to hear garbage, they are leaving immediately.”
Fair point. He then explained that streamers should not just be a person playing a game with a webcam. Anyone can do that nowadays. “Decide what you want to do with your audience if you want to keep them.”
As for written content, WevHez derives quality from good grammar, strong range of vocabulary and most importantly, evidence to back up claims- which can be done by linking to the source. All of these should be second nature for any writers, including us at Gamer Malaya, but it is worth reminding.
“I understand that these days click-bait titles and thumbnails are necessary to get traction, but effort made for quality content should always come first in my book,” he added.
Celebrating The Hype And Joy Of Esports
WevHez may describe himself as a variety gamer, but he keeps up with esports from time to time. In particular, he is following the League Of Legends scene and has also watched EVO- the premier fighting game tournament that happened last two weeks.
Since he loved playing King Of Fighters XIV, we asked him if watched the tournament stream. We were not disappointed with his answer.
“I caught almost all of the EVO games,” he said. “That’s right, I stayed up all night from the Qualifying Pools all the way to the end. And yes, it was a blast.
ET beating Xiaohai with Goro Daimon was unfathomable but impressive.”
For context: the Grand Finals saw Taiwanese player ET on the winners side facing off against the multi-game player Xiaohai from China. Xioahai is known both in the Street Fighter V scene- taking 2nd place at the ELEAGUE Invitationals recently as well as a strong favourite to win the King Of Fighters tournament at EVO.
Xiaohai almost reset the bracket to drag the match even longer, but ET’s unconventional character pick- the grappler Goro Daimon, paid off as he was able to pull of an unbelievable clutch in the last round thus winning the tournament. The crowd was in rapture.
WevHez acknowledges that the King Of Fighters as a series isn’t as popular compared to other fighting game series like Street Fighter. “King Of Fighters made some mistakes over the years that made them lose quite a bit of a following. But the recent games have definitely turned things around,” he said. King Of Fighter XIV is one of the easiest to get into for newbies, WevHez proclaims and recommends trying out two character- Iori and K’- if you happen to try the game out.
But WevHez’s biggest esports passion lies in League Of Legends. He recently attended Rift Rivals in Taiwan, an off-season event that pits teams from several regions to see which can come out on top. This particular event-Rift Red- involved three regions which are China, South Korea and Taiwan/Hong Kong/ Macau. “For a game to bring many people from different countries together in one spot to watch and play League of Legends is a marvel in itself. Watching top tier LoL played and still have upsets, simply beautiful.” he said.
Speaking of upsets, WevHez pointed out one of the most memorable and hype moments in League Of Legends esports: the miraculous performance of underdogs Albus Nox Luna at last year’s Worlds. The wildcard Russian team was playing better than anyone expected and managed to secure a win at then top seeded team in the world- Rox Tigers. He was there to witness the upset live. “The crowd was electric,” he said.
“Just being a piece of the electric puzzle brings me satisfaction that others are satisfied.”
It’s an understandable notion- wanting to be part of something big and growing. Both examples, the fighting game community and LoL esports show that the hype from competition can bring joy even to us onlookers and spectators.
Esports is poised to be one of the biggest industry for sports which has now attracted various interested. Whether it’s showing the Street Fighter V finals on ESPN2 for the second year, owners of sports franchises buying into the Overwatch League, and the various investments from brand sponsorship and new organisations from figures outside of the gaming industry- including successful traditional sports athletes, it’s an amazing time to be part of the scene.
To WevHez, this can only mean good things. “While a lot of people would consider brand involvement ‘sellouts’, I think brands are important to the community.
“Put bluntly, we live in a world where we get hungry and have bills to pay. Sponsors for advertising help gamers out a lot on this front, though gamers should always be comfortable doing the advertising instead of feeling forced to do so.”
And WevHez feels that by having new audience engaged with gaming via these sponsor deals will bring benefit in the long run. “I feel that there are many people still against gaming and it will take time and more results to show them otherwise. So, when brands that support the gaming scene, it does help change the perception ever so slightly.”
Going All In To Make A Living With Gaming
As for WevHez’s future, he is dead set on making gaming his choice of career. After following the LoL esports scene he aspires to be involved with the scene in some way, either as a writer or doing behind the scenes production work.
“I see gaming as the only path for me. It’s difficult to say otherwise, especially since I have tried many times to tear myself away from it to ‘be practical’ but I always found myself back here.
“I am all in; that means I’m willing to do the hard work, even if it means working every day.”
WevHez understands that it is still hard to depend solely on gaming as a source of living right now, particularly in Southeast Asia.
“The path of the gamer is tough; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” he explains. “On the surface, gamers just smile and laugh, but deep down there is a level of stress that is quite indescribable.”
And with knowing the risks involved in doing this, he remains steadfast on his decision. When asked what keeps him motivated, he couldn’t give a straight answer and attributed to his gaming passion that never left him since childhood.
But perhaps there’s another reason, something he mentioned during our interview.
“I want to be someone who can share the joys of gaming with others over the internet, making people’s lives better or giving them an outlet to feel better about their circumstance.
“Gaming is fun, but it can also be therapeutic and can bring people together.”
You can find WevHez on Youtube and Twitch.
This feature was written as part of a partnership with Fundeavour, a site that helps aspiring gamers around the world to get a head start on beginning their journey as content creators, streamers and esports players. Want to be featured and share your stories with over 50,000 readers? Check out more info here or sign up with Fundeavour.com!