The Olympic Gamers and E-sports

Posted on January 21, 2016September 30, 2016 by ffwriter1

The Olympic Gamers

The Olympics games for gamers is near at hand my friends. Not a separate Olympic Games but the actual one. Remember you heard it first here at FierceFun.Com. While Game developers like us at Fierce Fun have tried to emulate the excitement of live sports with our ground breaking animations and technology, check out our Rugby Rampage game, by the way. We never thought that the games themselves could become a sporting competition. But then when one thinks of it. Why not? Many seemingly strange pursuits have become Olympics sports over the years of its existence. I was surprised to see the following being regarded as feats of herculean effort.

Walking, I mean come on almost everyone, fortunate enough to have full use of their legs can walk, how is that a sport? Trampoline jumping, that’s just fun, so very dubious in my eyes. Synchronised swimming, hard yes, but a sport? I don’t think so. Roller Hockey, like ice hockey, but on wheels. Sounds a bit contrived. Live Pigeon Shooting, now that’s just wrong, at least us gamers only shoot at pixels. And what about this extended list which I will try not to pick apart as their combined silliness speaks for itself, Obstacle swimming, Tug of War, Le Canne (cane fencing), Club swinging, and Beach Volleyball. Oh sorry my mistake Beach Volleyball is actually very acceptable in my eyes.

Ok so anything can potentially become an Olympic sport with the right amount of money and pressure, I imagine. So next thing we need to do is explore the concept of the Gamer as an Athlete. Athletes are normally ultra-healthy. They need perseverance, fitness, stamina, single mindedness and determination. In fact athletes seem to be the complete opposite of gamers. Are not gamers anaemic, obese, house bound nerds that cannot even get up to make food, hence the need for copious amounts of take outs, which compounds the problem with regard to fitness. Well not necessarily. Gamers come in all shapes and sizes these days. The demographic has changed. “People of all ages play video games. There is no longer a ‘stereotype game player,’ but instead a game player could be your grandparent, your boss, or even your professor.” —Jason Allaire, Ph.D., Psychology, North Carolina State University and co-director of the Gains through Gaming Lab. In fact research has shown there is nearly an equal split in gender terms with today’s gamers. Yes guys the fairer sex likes gaming just like you do.

Okay, after discounting the stereotype view of gamers, let us look at the facts – Gamers do possess stamina as anyone who has done a 24 hour marathon session of gaming would know. In my case it was, GTA followed by HALO 4 then a few hours of Assassin's Creed. Gamers are dedicated for the same reason as athletes. They have determination to win at all odds, they are definitely single minded and with regard to fitness they may possess a unique dexterity and hand to eye coordination that is unique to their game playing. In other words they are very fit for performing in the gamer’s world or fit for purpose.

E-sports – As far back as 2015 E-sport has been sowing the seeds for its inclusion at some level in the Olympics games of the future. Initially a South Korean idea, this was an initiative brought about by their highly evolved E-sports network, the South Korean International e-Sports Federation (IeSF). But the critical event that points to E-sports becoming more mainstream is that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has agreed to look at the idea of competitive e gaming as a sporting activity. This is monumental, we all know how EA and other developers use the world of sports as a template for their games, but now the games themselves will be the sport.

So this is the playing field at the moment, excuse the pun, there is some interest by some reputable sporting bodies in providing a competitive sporting platform for E-sports. But the IOC , International Olympic Committee, are still some way away from allowing us gamers into those hallowed halls of Olympic respectability. But favourably, the gaming community has shown, they can host massive events and run them in a fair and professional manner such as the World Cyber Games (WCG) an international E-sport event in South Korea which attracted pro gamers from across the planet. Soon pro gamers will become the new elite sports men and women of this E-sports world. And just as pro athletes inspire amateurs in their chosen field. Pro gamers, will inspire ordinary gamers to go pro.

Fierce Fun at the New Frontiers Showcase

Posted on December 17, 2014September 28, 2016 by ffadmin

DIT, in association with Enterprise Ireland and IADT run the New Frontiers programme, which is designed to help incubate and grow new Irish businesses. Several companies have come through the programme and gone on to bigger and better things. As a way of sharing these success stories, passing down advice, and arranging some good old fashioned business networking, they organise an annual showcase event.

Last Friday, on the 5th of December, Fierce Fun was able to take part in this event, demonstrate some of our products, and speak with other businesses in the “Hothouse” programme. Peter Lynch and Jackie Jeter attended the showcase and were both very impressed with what they saw and heard.

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There were five alumni of the programme, including Alison Stroh, from Dr. Coy’s Healthfoods, and Adrian Walsh of Checkventory in attendance. Both businesses have been quite successful in recent years, and fostered partnerships with more established firms. Dr. Coy’s products, for example, are available in stores like Brown Thomas or Avoca. Sean Mitchell, the CEO of Movidius gave a fantastic keynote address on adjusting to meet market needs and cracking into potential markets. Movidius, after graduating from the programme went on to achieve great success in the US markets over the last few years. For a digital company like Fierce Fun, which offers a product which is instantly available in all markets around the world, Movidius provides a great example for adapting our marketing plans and how to break into international markets.

The event gave us a great opportunity to showcase our company to potential investors, as well as getting some cheeky free beta testing done. Peter brought along his phone and demonstrated the Big Bad Quiz to a number of people. All of the reactions to the game were positive, and of course, since the game is designed to be a challenge, not many of the testers got past the first few rounds. For us, who have spent the last few months designing, writing and creating the game, this was a great thing to see.

Tax Incentives to attract Game Development Companies to Ireland

Posted on October 1, 2014September 28, 2016 by ffadmin

This issue has come back into focus again as the UK government is now granting tax breaks to computer game development companies. Qualifying companies can get up to 25% relief on their development costs. Others countries such as France and Canada has also successfully introduced tax incentives for video game development companies.

Why are they doing this and what is the implications for the Irish games industry?

Currently the global games industry is worth over $80 billion. It is now the largest entertainment industry sector. As computer games are essentially software products, they can be developed in any country in the world. Forward looking governments realise the significance of this industry and are doing everything they can to attract game development talent and investment.

Ireland should be doing the same. We have a small (but growing) number of indigenous game start-ups and some high profile multinational game support companies. The IDA has done well to attract these multinationals to locate in Ireland but in general, they are here for the same reasons as most other multinationals. They are not here for game development talent – most don’t do game development in Ireland.

Typically countries offer a 25 to 40% tax incentive to game developers. To compete, Ireland should offer a flat 50% tax relief rate against qualifying development costs and only for the creation of original IP (intellectual property). With these stipulations, this tax break would ensure that only high value jobs are created. Within a very short period, we will get international game development companies locating their R&D teams here. Like the music business, the games industry is a hits driven industry. 1 in 5 games breaks even, 1 in 10 makes a profit. The top 10% makes the majority of the significant profits. So for a country to have a successful games development industry, you need a critical mass of developers. We don’t have the numbers yet in Ireland.

An attractive focused tax incentive would be a good start. As the UK has recently introduced their games tax incentive, Ireland should introduce one in the next budget. It is a competitive global marketplace for games development talent, we need to act quickly.