Culture Clash at the Chicagoland Speedway
Esports events typically take place in a venue where the whole event is dedicated to esports or a similar type of community, such as gaming or a comic con. But as esports grows it will branch out into other communities and create a pairing that may seem foreign to some. Evil Geniuses did just that when they paired up with both NASCAR and Comcast at the Chicagoland Speedway. Two cultures came together to participate in an event featuring both gaming and racing.
The event was to show off the new NASCAR game, NASCAR Heat Evolution. They figured what better way to do that, than pit professional drivers against top esports athletes. First, the Evil Genius members got a chance to experience what a driver does whenever there is a competition. The players got a chance to drive a car on the track as the incredible speeds that the drivers compete at. Next the drivers competed against the EG members where the EG members are most comfortable, in a video game. Drivers took on members of the Evil Geniuses Halo 5 team in NASCAR Heat Evolution. As well as watching athletes compete, fans had the opportunity to test out the new game, play Halo, win raffle prizes, and experience NASCAR through virtual reality. This allowed fans of NASCAR to experience esports and vice versa.
While at this event, I had the chance to talk to some of the attendees, most of which were esports fans or gaming fans. They expressed the excitement of being able to attend an event where they can meet some of their favorite esports athletes. They also mentioned that it was a bit odd to combine the esports community and the NASCAR community. They said it was not one of the first pairings that would come to mind for them. Although it may have been an odd coupling, fans pointed to this event as an example of how
the esports industry is growing and is not that much different from the traditional sport industry.
I had the opportunity to talk with two members of the esports community about their thoughts on the event. Kyle “Elamite” Elam works with ESL as a commentator and host for Halo. Tom “Ogre 2” Ryan is a former competitive Halo player and current analyst for the Evil Genius Halo team. Both were surprised at how many people showed up for the event and talked about its success. Elam spoke about potential issues when putting on a gaming event and how this event beat his expectations, “Whenever you have esports involved and its’ an online game, the community might be enormous but the location of the players and fans is so spread out that its’ cool to see that even this being outside of Chicago, its’ still an opportunity for so many people to come out.” But many people did show up and were excited to be apart of the event and take part.
When asked about the integration of the racing community and the gaming community, Tom Ryan talked about all the people that came up to him that knew him from twitter and were fans of racing, showing that there is crossover between the two communities. Kyle Elam had this to say:
“I think that with a lot of people who play Halo or racing games, it’s because they are so competitive. So real life or virtual reality, whatever the case may be, everyone is so competitive and that aspect can carry over to whatever you are playing.” This is the bridge between the gaming community and the traditional sport community. The fact that both sets of athletes are so incredibly competitive make them more alike than they are different, which can make it easier for fans to be interested in both traditional sports and esports.
I also had the pleasure of talking to the Evil Genius Halo team that comprises of Ryan “Towey” Towey, James “Lunchbox” Brown, and Justin “Roy” Brown. In my conversation with Lunchbox and Roy, we talked about the similarities between the drivers and the Halo team. Along with the competitive aspect, Roy added on that a big similarity between the two is the amount of time invested to be the best. After talking to the drivers himself, Roy noticed that it takes a lot of time and work to get to the highest level in racing, and the same is true to be the number one Halo team in the world. Ryan Towey also spoke about the similarities between the drivers and esports athletes, sharing the same thoughts as Ogre, Lunchbox, and Roy.
Towey also spoke on the similarities between fans. “It is just so unique to see people that are passionate about esports show up and also be passionate about NASCAR and being able to merge the two. There are a lot of similarities in both I would say. For us being able to combine that in an environment like this is a win for both sides I think.” Towey illustrates the similarities not only in the competitors but also the fans. He talks about the crossover appeal and that people can be fans of both racing and esports.
At the end of the day, it seems there are more similarities than difference between these two communities. When the drivers took on the Evil Genius members in NASCAR Heat Evolution, before they started playing the drivers would speak about their history with gaming and that even though they are professional drivers now, they still play video games. Showing that you can be a fan of both video games and racing. When talking with Evil Genius members, they would speak about the effort required to be a pro and how competitive they are. As the industry grows, esports will not be considered such a different community from traditional sports.
