GameX’s eSports Week 2014 gives Smart Communication’s employees a chance to show their skills in Dota 2 and Assault Fire

Professional gaming teams weren’t present in the recently-concluded eSports Week 2014. Instead, employees of Smart Communications, one of the country’s leading mobile and internet services providers, took time-off from their day jobs and played Dota 2 like the pros.

Hold up. No professional teams? How can you even call that eSports week? Well, as it turns out, the event served more as a team-building exercise than a high-stakes tournament.

Ten teams from various subsidiaries of Smart Communications, such as Icon, Smart eMoney, and Chikka, joined the Dota 2 tournament. A side tournament with three teams was also held for Assault Fire. Instead of cash prizes, the winning teams walked away with trophies and other freebies. The incentives didn’t seem lucrative, but the point of the tournament wasn’t about winning. Rather, it was about allowing Smart’s employees to experience what it’s like to be in an eSports tournament.

The eSports Week was held in the lobby of Smart Towers, where every employee of Smart Communications can watch the game.

The event is just one of the many things that GameX is doing to promote eSports in the Philippines. The service, which sells mobile games and electronic pins, has been actively collaborating with eSports organizations since it was launched in 2013. GameX’s most recent involvement with eSports was supporting the recently-held Rampage 2014.

Also earlier this year, GameX made Marlon “Lon” Marcelo, Irymarc “Tyrke” Gutierrez, and Bianca “Biancake” Yao its official brand ambassadors. The three are known for their shoutcasting work at Mineski.

(See: GameX picks up Philippine casters as new brand ambassadors)

Smart’s senior employee welfare officer Mariz Santos explained that the eSports Week is part of Smart Barkadahan, a series of activities that promote interaction between different departments and subsidiaries of Smart. It is held every year, with employees in Smart’s nationwide offices participating. This is the first time that Smart has used video games in the Barkadahan. Ted Medalla, product assistant for GameX, chipped in to say that the eSports Week was also a good way to expose GameX’s services to Smart’s various departments.

“The eSports week gave the employees a chance for their skills [in video games] to be recognized. This is also a new experience for them.”

Santos also said that Smart is looking forward to host the eSports Week for its other offices, most likely starting in Cebu and Davao. This recent event was only available to teams in the National Capital Region.

eSports being used as a form of team-building activity is definitely something new in the country. It says a lot about eSports potentially being a way to strengthen bonds with friends, family, and work colleagues. The eSports Week 2014 showed that video games can actually work like sports fests, but with the advantage of keeping the playing field level for everyone regardless of gender, size, and physical fitness levels.

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Disclaimer: Christian works as a part-time shoutcaster at Mineski, who is mentioned in this article. His involvement with the organization doesn’t go beyond that and doesn’t affect his views and opinions in making this article in any way. For more information about our ethics policy, click here.