We refer to the article posted at 12:30 pm on October 28, 2014 at Tech in Asia titled ‘Singapore gaming conventions ranked from awful to awesome’ by Mary-Anne Lee. As organizers of Campus Game Fest, we are disappointed with the standard of reporting and tones of negativity towards Singapore gaming and local communities from this author.
SCOGA works hard to support Singapore gamers and local gaming communities. Campus Game Fest (CGF) is a project that provides gamers with meaningful activities, gives the local industry a platform to engage with youths and most importantly, provides opportunities for real-world learning experiences to students who put what they have learned into months of planning, coordination and execution. CGF has always been focused on the community, dedicating 70% of the hall to gamers. In just two years, CGF has supported 11 local gaming communities and touched the lives of more than 20,000 people. CGF has also worked with more than 30 partners, from corporate sponsors to educational institutes, and we always look forward to welcome new partners to participate.
We are always thrilled to see game conventions in Singapore do well as it is the sign of a healthy industry. However, we are stunned to see Tech in Asia compare a campus-based community event like CGF with a convention hall conference that focuses on the global industry’s offerings. It is akin to a food magazine calling a Singapore local food fair “awful” for not offering pizza and sashimi.
SCOGA is firmly committed towards building a strong Singaporean presence in the gaming scene and we work hard with various communities and partners to achieve this. It is unfortunate that this author has not been supportive when we organize community-based events. We have consistently engaged with the author to talk about Singapore gaming and local communities. We invited her to the Gamer Assistance Programme seminar but she declined to attend, and yet subsequently wrote an article slamming the programme which was designed to help aspiring cyber-athletes achieve their dreams of international success. We gave her an one hour interview with our President, Kelvin Tan, and Vice-President, Reuben Conceicao, on the role of SCOGA, the purpose of CGF and our aims for community growth, which was not published at all. During the interview, we have told her that CGF is a student-organized gaming event and SCOGA acts as a mentor, even the event title says Campus Game Fest, not Commercial Game Fest.
We are puzzled as to why there is so much negativity towards SCOGA’s community-based gaming efforts by this author. It would be good if Tech in Asia could clarify its role in the local gaming sphere and if it supports the well-being of local gaming communities. We hope that we can work together to build a strong community for Singapore gamers.
From the desk of Kelvin Tan
President, SCOGA
SCOGA is firmly committed towards building a strong Singaporean presence in the gaming scene and we work hard with various communities and partners to achieve this. It is unfortunate that this author has not been supportive when we organize community-based events. We have consistently engaged with the author to talk about Singapore gaming and local communities. We invited her to the Gamer Assistance Programme seminar but she declined to attend, and yet subsequently wrote an article slamming the programme which was designed to help aspiring cyber-athletes achieve their dreams of international success. We gave her an one hour interview with our President, Kelvin Tan, and Vice-President, Reuben Conceicao, on the role of SCOGA, the purpose of CGF and our aims for community growth, which was not published at all. During the interview, we have told her that CGF is a student-organized gaming event and SCOGA acts as a mentor, even the event title says Campus Game Fest, not Commercial Game Fest.
We are puzzled as to why there is so much negativity towards SCOGA’s community-based gaming efforts by this author. It would be good if Tech in Asia could clarify its role in the local gaming sphere and if it supports the well-being of local gaming communities. We hope that we can work together to build a strong community for Singapore gamers.
From the desk of Kelvin Tan
President, SCOGA