Richard “Dr. Gonzo” Lewis shares his derailed train of thought with the wider world in his regular column feature, Gonzorreah.

Read Richard's last column, "Role-Playing In e-sports" HERE

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

When Nick “Zomba” Green burst onto the scene it was hard to know what to make of it all. To some he was just another person thinking they could take a short-cut to success by flashing the cash like a Southerner at Ascot and talking a good game. Some weren’t entirely sure whether he was serious or not, given that the first sight of him was that YouTube video shortly before his teams attendance at i36. The few people that know him and spoke to him privately are aware that he is deadly serious about trying to have an impact on the scene, but not just via his organisation… In fact if you asked him what his overall goal was he would say it is to save e-sports from itself. It is a decidedly rare stance in a scene where the average gamer and manager act with all the grotesque self interest of a politician riddled with coldsores kissing a baby for nearby cameras… Yet the question is what can this one man bring to the table that hasn’t already been attempted by other personalities in the past? Actually that isn’t THE question. As I can testify to from the many times I’ve been asked, THE question people really want an answer to before anything else is considered is “who the hell is this guy?”

It's not just Al Pacino shouting "Attica" at the moment

It’s a question I had to ask myself and in truth maybe I’m no further forward about the answer beyond a name. The usual methods of checking up on gamer personalities didn’t yield much, neither did speaking to the players he works with. There are more rumours circulating about him right now than there were about Boo Radley. The only person that could cut through this was the man himself so I asked him, where had he come from exactly and, more importantly in the eyes of some, where did his money come from.

“It’s not like I’ve just come from nowhere, or just made a decision to get involved with gaming over night. I have always been took part in and enjoyed my gaming. I obviously go back to the early days, things as far back as Elite on the Beeb and other titles like Raven’s Hexen, Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, Team Fortress, Soldier of Fortune 2, Counter-Strike and now Counter-Strike: Source. I’m obviously not going to start revealing how much of what I have and all the rest of it, but I can dispel some of the stuff going round. I don’t own a record label, I didn’t win Euro Millions… I just come from a publishing and broadcasting background in the media. Nothing more to it than that.”

We get on to the trickier subject of money. The media can be a gateway to cash, sure, but generally it is saved for the people at the top and still climbing. At first he seems elusive on the issue… It isn’t very British to talk about money and I don’t want to nail him to the wall about it, but just where is all the money going to come from? He aims to have a team for each of the home nations, a European side and recently they’ve talked about taking on a team across the Atlantic. The cost in getting all of these teams to events is not going to be insignificant.

“Like most people in gaming” he explains “I’ve put my own money into it from time to time. But the money behind Attica is investment interest from three companies. I’m going to keep them nameless because it is of no concern to the community at large. Plus it will only get personal and I’ve had a taste of that already. Attica is a new organisation in e-sports and it was started by interest when Sky were involved in e-sports over a year ago… That sort of lead our group into it. When Sky pulled out we followed through the money investment of News Corp. It was clear CGS wasn’t going to be a long term thing. You only have to look at the numbers they put in compared to what they said they put in to realise that. If you look at STATS.com… Well, David Hill is now there. What I want to try and do, from the grass roots and upwards, is actually invest in gaming in a meaningful way, something that will have an immediate and positive impact.”

I have to question just how much one gaming organisation can realistically change the face of the gaming scene. Of course, pioneers of workable ideas and systems generally go on to be much emulated, their methodology becoming the norm. Yet there are some ideas that I see as completely unworkable from my view-point. Different? Sure. Interesting? Of course. But workable? That is something else entirely… I don’t see sponsoring teams that are divided by nationality as anything that will yield any immediate success. I don’t think the selection system has been free of any bias. I especially don’t think there are players and captains with the patience to carry out the system in the way Nick would like it to work. If one of the principles behind the experiment is to enable lower tier players to develop their talent by playing with more established ones, what happens when the more established players believe they are being held back by people they see as inferior? There are suggestions that this is already happening in some of the line-ups. In its current format I don’t see it as a road to stability in a scene that has never embraced that quality, nor do I see it as much more than a gimmick.

This is not to be disparaging abut someone trying something new and it is only a personal opinion based on my own experiences. Whatever the outcome it has certainly put Attica on the map, going from a side being fuelled on hype to there now being some substance. They have been noticed and I think that is the bigger part of the exercise. But it is clear that it is not enough to just be the same as every other organisation or team that has relied on publicity and profile until the results come rolling in. The reason the piece is called “The Church of Zomba” is that Nick Green wants to be something of a reformist as he continues to make his mark on UK e-sports. Right now are his ideas making more converts than they are disbelievers?

Mark "ev0x" Dempsey representing Attica Gaming

“I’ve talked about the investment already and those people come from property and media backgrounds, so they are serious backers. The Attica organisation is only the beginning of the things we’d like to achieve. To summarise, we love gaming and we like what e-sports has to offer, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that we feel that way about what has gone before. It’s about what it can achieve with the right people being involved in it. You know what they say in business… It rarely pays to be part of the first wave. That’s when the mistakes are made and the mistakes can be catastrophic. Generally it’s better to sit back and wait to be part of the second wave as it’s those people that refine the model.”

He elaborates further on that point:

“The organisations that stick around in gaming can help make that second wave right, ensuring we have healthy long term prospects for the long term and not being seduced by the short term rewards. This means investing in young talent, it means putting genuine time and effort into the scenes, not just the organisations themselves, and not overlooking what has gone before but trying to improve on it. E-sports is in its infancy and groups like ours see it as a great medium of opportunity for competitive gaming and as a media force to make money. If this wasn’t true then obviously we wouldnt be in it. That’s just being brutally honest. There's so many possibilities, and focused correctly we will do our utmost to help the scene grow slowly but surely again.It just needs everyone in the existing scene to pull together initially and to provide action and not jjust words. There are plans to really bring people in this sector together and try and put a lot of the fractures in the community, the grudges and the bad blood to bed."

Indeed, part of what Nick wants to do is to create a summit of sorts, an opportunity for all the organisations, groups and influential personalities to sit around a virtual table and come to some mutual agreements about how they will all conduct themselves in certain situations, as well as finding overlapping areas of mutual interest and then looking to build partnerships. It is perhaps the sort of thing that sounds more within the remit of UKeSA, although Nick feels that things are moving too slowly in e-sports and progress is being held back as a result of it.

“There’s a lot to do. There’s a lot of people to speak to, but we are learning fast, and we hope to be able to get everyone involved without any egos or jealousy and help kick start the industry again. A lot of things we can do are very basic and simple such getting orgs and managers to talk and find a common level without abuse. Lets put the footings right, get things stable, build and create some fresh ideas, news LANs & events, and that way make it more attractive to outside sponsors. And let’s think about the sponsors that have been coming in to the scene – let’s not just be thinking about people that have a direct link to the industry. Let’s think bigger and better. Let’s not get taken for rides by sponsors that break promises.”

So why now? What makes him think that the second wave needs to start here? And how does he plan to ensure the second wave doesn’t hit an industry that is right now struggling more than most like a Tsunami?

“I think it’s in a great position to be picked up, brushed down, and to look at its shiny points, don’t you agree? CGS folds and all of a sudden everyone can’t do anything about it but moan. Everyone is just paralysed. Where’s the fucking proactiveness in this industry? It seems to be all talk talk talk and zero fucking action. I would ask if people can’t see it could be and will be so big one day? those who join this second wave can make it something special. They can help pioneer strong footings - stability throughout, good presentation, decent journalism, growth from below upwards. It’s time to look at the industry as a whole, learn by the mistakes and put it right. And let’s be clear, it’s a fucking great market to be in. For any of these guys – pro players, oldtimers, long standing Orgs and the rest - they shouldn’t be seeing it as the end of e-sports, They should be doing something about it. Those guys should be helping to get it moving. Maybe some of them have moved on or will move on soon, but e-sports is here to stay. The game may change, but the concept of gaming is bigger than any other media right now - its worth runs in the billions.”

I had my doubts about how long Nick would stick around when I first encountered him. I know of several people masquerading as millionaire sugar daddies, promising to do this and that in gaming and yet deliver nothing. I have seen organisations like the G7 that equally deliver nothing of any worth apart from stroking the ego of those that are affiliated with it. Nick’s ideas are not new, but the way he wants to see them realised certainly comes across that way. I don’t believe this is a part time operation and I predict that he will become as familiar a sight at gaming events as Corin’s LAN jumper.

The one thing he wanted to stress to me as I put this together was not to try and make it sound like he was single-handedly on a mission and that he was ignoring everyone else’s contribution. He acknowledged that people had gone before him and made their mark. He wants to stress he is not dismissive of the first wave… He just wants to draw a line under the many things that are in danger of prevailing. It is a shame that he decided to be so humble about this as it deprived me of the opportunity to break up this article with artwork depicting him with halos, descending from heaven with a pair of firey wings, or perhaps even being crucified on a giant joystick, while wearing a crown of mouses… A shame indeed as it was to be a fine opportunity to blood the new graphic designer.

So it seems that the first real way to tangibly measure the impact of these ideas will be at this “focus-group” he is organising. I certainly will be taking him up on the invite and will be reporting on anything of interest should it so turn out to be more than talk or the usual disagreements. I can however envision the proposal being dismissed by some of the big players in the industry, something Nick either doesn’t seem to share or is not too concerned about.

How the "Zomba-Summit" might look

“I sincerely hope we can get everyone moving together - and that means a BIG debate to kick start it where the sort of questions you are asking me can be put to everyone. I hate being singled out as some kind of saviour, when the reality is we're looking at the opportunities and other orgs should be too. A debate with all the owners and managers of these organisations should be the start of what I hope will be regular meetings over the next few months. Look at Cadred, its really trying to get things moving again and getting the community closer, the journalism is improving ten-fold of late. We are beginning to move away from the 'break-up and make-up' syndrome affecting the UK at present. Ideas are beginning to flow again. I’m really looking forward to getting everyone to chat about their feelings… How they see it going, what happened, where can we go from here, what can orgs like us do about it, etc... And then the important thing is to take action. We have quite a few of our own ideas that we'll be bringing to the table, but we most certainly will be LISTENING to the experienced people first. I ain’t looking to dictate mate, I’m looking to learn from the lessons and do our bit. Let’s just take the opportunity now, during the low point, to take stock of what we need to do and how we can all pitch in on it.”

Can there be any sinister motives behind all this? I don’t think anyone throws money at gaming to make a profit, or if they do there are certainly better ways to make one. I’m too jaded and cynical about the whole industry right now to raise much hope, but I can say that Nick’s enthusiasm seems to be infectious among some people. Maybe we are at the start of a second wave of e-sports, maybe we are actually dry humping a corpse for one last moment of titillation before it crumbles to dust. But I won’t knock any of the people putting their money where their mouth is, or investing considerable time into changing something that has to change. It’ll take more than one man and a few disciples to sort it out, but it’s not like groups that have started that way haven’t gone on to influence the collective consciousness before. Time will tell whether the words documented here will taste like cold ash in the mouth or whether they can inspire a tangible change in people’s attitudes and actions.