Red’s Corner is a weekly column by Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner released every Thursday exclusively at Cadred.

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The gadget show live was a resounding success and not just for the vendors at the event. eSport doesn’t get enough opportunities to display its good side in the mainstream arena anywhere near often enough but with a small chance at this event, it shone in many ways and all positive.

In a community which appears to be obsessed with self implosion more than it does actually getting off its fat ass and doing something positive, The Gadget Show Live stands out as one of the few times everyone came together to produce something outstanding. From the weeks of planning by staff at Heaven Media and the preparation and professionalism of the players and teams who attended (not to mention the excellent reporting from the event by writers), the event will be remembered as one that not only produced brilliant games but that also gave eSport and in particular Counter Strike Source the chance to show off its attraction, passion and professionalism.

Of course, it wasn’t perfect, rarely, if ever is a tournament so, but it gave use a chance to achieve several important milestones, even here in 2009, 15 years or so after the first deathmatch tournaments which would form in to something we now recognise as being eSport. We learnt a huge amount, possibly more than ever before, about just how far we still have to go to connect with the casual gamers, let alone those who see games as nothing more than a waste of time. (You can read some of the reactions collected by Gonzo in his article from earlier this week here)

Some people spent inordinate lengths of time over the weekend explaining and nurturing the curiosity and casual interest shown on our stand. Others tried hard to bring down some of the barriers put up by an older generation who simply don’t understand the fascination with zeros and ones, let alone a virtual world of guns and blood. In its simplest form, those who stood and watched for the first time, saw nothing more than terrorists blowing up villages and could not work out how on earth this related to their children. A short explanation from me or Gonzo or Durus or Corin and a small amount of acceptance could be seen, even if it was simply an appreciation that whilst they didn’t truly understand the true skills involved, it was much like any other sportsman at the top of his game and required practice, dedication and at least a small amount of talent. Some even went away with a genuine enthusiasm for something new and others were old timers who had given up on this many years ago and left with rekindled ambition to help eSport succeed.

In this respect, it reminded me of a trade show I commentated at in New York back in 2005. GGL ran a Counter Strike 1.6 tournament at the Jacob Javits Centre in down town Manhattan and whilst the majority of the event was (like the Gadget Show) a trade show, a small part of it was turned over to a “computer tournament”. It too had its fair share of curiosity from onlookers and took some explaining to most who wandered over asking questions. Not much changes in 4 years it seems, despite the progress we think we keep making, the Gadget Show reminded me just how far we still have to go, at least for those of us who want eSport to be as big as any other mid tier sport like Tennis or Golf. If nothing else, it humbled me and reminded me that we have a niche game in a niche sport, its still tiny, in real terms.

I will admit, when Sky television and DirecTV got involved in video gaming back in 2006 and early 2007 I thought eSport was finally ready to make a huge break through and to be honest, I wasn’t alone. Thus, I staked much of my reputation on its success. That it failed isn’t really a slight on me or anyone involved, but is perhaps proof that we just aren’t ready yet. We still have a long way to go. The arguments over format can rage on and I agree with some of them, in terms of the way CGS went about its business and actively tried to help change their course without much success, but the real point is, eSport is losing more tournaments, major ones, than ever before, and it seems there is no magic formula to successful eSport tournaments. ESWC was one such tournament I personally loved, but that’s now gone the same way as CGS even though it was probably the tournament that stuck to original eSport games and principles. Whatever end of the spectrum, tournaments are dieing out regardless of whether they changed the format we came to know and love or whether they stuck to tradition. The economic climate is to blame of course, but not entirely. These tournaments have been running at a loss for many years, just ask CPL of old.

The Gadget Show also showed me that we can still enthuse people about the shared passion we have here on Cadred and to many of us attending, that was also a small victory. We need more events like this. Don’t get me wrong, the BYOC events Multiplay and LAN79 and The Gathering and many others run are still important to gaming, but we need more tournaments like the Gadget Show at mainstream, high profile public exhibitions where the average viewer, casual gamer and sceptic can learn more about our niche world.

This also leads me nicely on to the subject of Cadred and its users. Obviously, without users, the site doesn’t exist, that much should be obvious to everyone, but if we are to share a responsibility in holding eSport up to higher scrutiny, we first have to take a long hard look at our own house and clean it. Ideally, the community will take charge of itself through self discipline and sensibility when posting otherwise the alternative is moderation; something I personally feel is unfair, insulting and a removal of some of our liberties of free speech. That said, free speech doesn’t mean you can just say what you want, it means you can air your beliefs and views in a responsible way, something we don’t do often enough here.

You may use Cadred as just a bit of fun, but to my mind, the fun line has been crossed rather significantly in recent months and in some parts borders on anarchy (if such a thing can exist on the internets). When it gets personal or racist or insulting people’s looks, character or age it misses the point of what actually unites us in one place. It is also degrades the scene and on some level could be seen as a form of bullying at its severest.

What we really need, if we truly want to help spread the brilliance of eSport and make it more popular (forgetting the TV Stations who to my mind have left us to it now) is to take responsibility for our actions and posts or at least help those who come here for the first time asking what appear to be simple questions instead of ridiculing them for not knowing. If someone came up to 99% of you in the street and asked for the time or directions, you would not hesitate to help them. It should be no different here and in your own small, but important way, you would be helping.

I would like to publicly thank the managers of all four teams who attended and more important every single player for their professional behaviour in a challenging environment, you should all be proud that in your own small but important way you have helped further eSport and in particular Counter Strike Source. I also want to put on record my thanks to Heaven Media for their complete trust and faith in those who put this together and last but not least the mixture of admins, writers, editors and volunteers over the weekend who worked tirelessly without much sleep, sore feet and did an amazing job of helping anyone who needed it.

I’ll end on a couple of positive notes. You can be sure we will be doing more events like this in the future with even more teams and hopefully even more money involved.

Oh and we also managed to go the entire weekend without breaking any walls.