I find it better to ask myself to tell myself about myself than to ask something online for something totally random which applies to almost everyone.

Ant's Rant #4: Sponsorship

In truth, here in Singapore from my experience, sponsorship has to be worked for. Looking at clans like Complexity DotA, it's a wonder how little work they put in to be grabbed by big names like Complexity, whereas GPS and Rapture and Me went through half a year of toil before landing sponsorship we were satisfied with. I for one know how much work GPS and Herman have put in, including failed attempts, to land us in our current sponsorship situation.

The above though, has absolutely nothing to do with the point I'm going to make.

I've long ago lost the reasons why sponsors would want to sponsor gamers. It's not that I don't have a clue, I just rather not think about it. Rather, let's look at why teams would want to be sponsored (on the small scale, meaning here in Singapore, not big clans like Complexity or Pandemic etc.)

First, is financial freedom. Covering registration and training fees etc. On the small scale, where all that's really getting covered is registration fees and possibly training fees, and perhaps spending on unneccessary pheripherals, this isn't really much. I mean this is, per gamer, an amount that occupies a measely percentage of what those gamers are willing to spend on food and drink during competitions. Although it amazes me how people can blow their allowance on their girlfriends and at CyberCafes but are reluctant to spend a comparatively measely sum when it comes to competitions.

So it really isn't so much on financial freedom. I think perhaps it is more of a status symbol. Good clans make the cut to be sponsored, others don't make the cut. A clan is sponsored because it makes the cut, and because of that a clan that is sponsored, even before they play, they carry an image of being of a certain skill level. It's like how the rich kid walks around with a gold chain just to show that he's rich. There is a certain sense of pride that comes with being a sponsored team.

Of course, one should understand that these sponsorships come with commitment and should have been carefully considered before being taken on. *ahem*.

At this point, I was going to, like Tammy, air my 2 cents about "sponsorship in its true sense" without any relevance to what has been said previously. However, seeing as how it's kind of late, and my mind is jumbled up (oh really, you couldn't tell?) I guess I'll reserve that for another day.