Events
G2E LAS VEGAS IAGA Conference Sessions
GAMING IN THE VEINS Sam was born in Reno, Nevada and following graduation from Bishop Manogue High School, he attended the University of Southern California: School of Cinematic Arts where he attained his BA in Critical Studies. Following undergrad, Sam worked in the entertainment industry including several projects for Ludwig/Riche and Eagle Cove Entertainment. He then returned to his alma mater to complete 34 credits toward his MFA when he was recruited by and accepted an offer from McLaughlin Consulting Group and Fergason Patent Properties in Silicon Valley where he was commissioned to work with Electronic Arts, Visionary Game Designer Will Wright, Graphics Powerhouse NVIDIA and the 3D Consortium in Japan to author a study on the effects of Stereoscopic 3D on linear and interactive experiences. The study is still used and relevant today. Sam continued to influence industries he sees need his talents and as a result has become a serial entrepreneur, founding FiveGen, LiveLobbyist, nGen and NV eSports, Thirteen Thirty Seven, as well as joining several advisory roles in various for/non-profit companies.
“We need to establish a rule set that guarantees integrity, with laws and union rules for players, so we’re not seeing a whole bunch of ‘professional’ players at 16 years olds subjected to unprofessional workplace conditions. We need a standard rule set for existing and future games, rules against cheating and drugging, enhancing, doping, impersonation and swatting. We need to define how you spectate and wager legally within eSports and create proper terms of service.”
in three years time, a volume that would require gaming regulators to potentially treble in size to cope with the volume. So you can see why regulators are presently reluctant to step into the eSports arena and start wielding a ‘big stick.’ And while 3,500 games appears a lot, the modding of games (modifications to the original game) and the parameters that define eSports are changing all the time. Te UK Gambling Commission in August singled out the digital card game Hearthstone as operating with an ‘unspecified RNG,’ asking ‘politely’ for a definition from the publisher. It’s the tip of an iceberg that threats to deluge the industry with such ‘requests.’
“We have to define the criteria in which eSports takes place and identify the audience. We have to identify the differences between a participating spectator; someone just watching the games, the casual hardcore viewer, the streamers, the spectators on Twitch, those that spectate in-venue, those that watch elsewhere - and we need to understand the numbers involved,” says McMullen of just one of the check-boxes he needs to tick. “Te NFL knows exactly who is watching football and where they’re watching those games and on what media. Despite being a digital feed, we know hardly anything about the eSports audience. Are they watching legally or illegally, what’s their participation level, what device are they using, etc. Right now, we just don’t know.”
While the thought of video games scrutinised by gaming boards and ultimately watered-down through gaming regulation is an unsavoury thought for gaming publishers, there is a potential upside. While the gambling sector currently sees eSports as a means of connecting with a younger millennial gaming demographic, the creation of video games designed for casino floors, such as those McMullen and his team are working upon in Las Vegas, could be the perfect storm. We’re not talking about shooting elements simply mapped to gambling maths, but multi-player battle arenas with tournaments staged on the gaming
P68 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
floor. Te ultimate end game would be to create games in collaboration with video games publishers that bring League of Legends, CS:GO and DOTA2 into the casino environment.
BOTH SIDES OF THE COIN “Games are created to be fun, first and foremost,”
underlines McMullen. “We have to be able to keep the integrity of the games as we seek to protect the integrity of the betting space. We have to set minimum standards as part of a collaboration with publishers that isn’t a threat to their business - which is publishing great games. Just as I enjoy playing tennis and find the game fun - if you change the rules, mess around with the chance and skill aspects, the likelihood is that you’ll destroy the game entirely.”
What publishers don’t want is government-run, jurisdiction-specific, regulated bodies that oversee all aspects of video gaming, whether they relate to eSports or not. Tat’s the opposite of fun. As soon as you mess with the rule sets of video games, you’re in danger of making them unplayable and uninteresting to the target player. Tere needs to be a consensus between all the vested parties to create a minimum rule set that publishers can agree upon without potentially breaking their games. “We need to establish a rule set that guarantees integrity, with laws and union rules for players, so we’re not seeing a whole bunch of ‘professional’ players at 16 years olds subjected to unprofessional workplace conditions,” states McMullen. “We need a standard rule set for existing and future games, rules against cheating and drugging, enhancing, doping, impersonation and swatting. We need to define how you spectate and wager legally within eSports and create proper terms of service. We also need to address the different categories of eSports, looking at pure video-games, eSports for fun, and eSports for professionals as the stating criteria.”
Currently, the eSports Commission McMullen is
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132