GameRiot Sits Down With GGL CEO Ted Owen

GameRiot: Now, you've been trying to get gaming into this Olympics since 2006. What did you have to go through before succeeding?

Ted Owen: It’s been a long process. You know, it’s been a personal goal of mine, being a gamer, to sort of take gaming to the ultimate stage, which I think the welcome event in China will be pretty close to that. We’ve had bases in China for a few years now… offices in Shanghai, Beijing, and even in the tech city Chengdu so, we have a very good relationship with the Chinese government. We’ve done a lot of live events for them there, and just launched our online website.

 

 

We have a lot of infrastructure over there and they have a great deal of trust in us. So, when a motion was copied to them 24 months ago, they listened to us. Then we just kept hammering away, telling them why this was not only important to us, but for China to do because gaming, and online gaming, is huge in Asia. We thought this was the right place to do it. We went through a lot of things like discussions with the Chinese government, and discussions with BOCOG, in order to get it to the place where it’s at today.

 

 

GameRiot: Why do you think the Chinese government was supportive of this idea? Do you think it was simply because of how huge the market for gaming is over there?

Ted Owen: They made gaming a sport even before we brought up the topic, so gaming’s a big deal over there in China. They support it enormously, despite the fact that they have a few laws trying to curb gaming just because people are so rabid about it. I think what they’re doing over there in terms of limiting the gaming is a good idea for some people. But, those guys are very, very focused on gaming. They were looking to do something different, something 21^st century at these Olympic games and we stepped in and tried to fill that need for them. I clearly think our relationship had a great deal to do with it, but I think their commitment to gaming had even more to do with it. So, it was definitely a combination of the two.

 

 

GameRiot: Did the IOC give you any problems?

Ted Owen: You know, the IOC doesn’t have anything to do with these Olympics. This is just the Chinese government exercising its right to deliver the welcome events into Beijing and the celebration going on there. We did talk to the IOC, and I continue to have the utmost respect for everybody at the IOC. What we’re doing is simply a compliment to the Olympic spirit, the sense of Olympic competition, and really the Olympic movement. We’re very focused on getting gaming as an officially sanctioned event by the IOC in the future, and we hope this “pilot program”, if you will, this first step into the Olympic celebration, will be enough of a success to show them that this belongs in the Olympics on a more permanent basis; Certainly not as a medal event, but as a sanctioned event in the Olympics.

 

 

GameRiot: If a success, how do you think the Digital Games will impact eSports in places like the United States, where gaming is certainly not as big as it is in China or Korea?

Ted Owen: Well, a couple of things. The Digital Games is not going to be just a professional gaming tournament. GGL is no longer the Global Gaming League, as you know. We go by GGL, and we have gone by GGL for many years. We pride ourselves on delivering content that’s interesting around the video gaming space. You know, we do our TV shows like Epileptic Gaming, and we have an even broader selection of stuff that we will be doing through the internet through video over the next coming months. I look at MTV and I’m always like, you know I grew up on MTV and they don’t know what the hell they’re doing with the gaming space now. So, we figured, you know what? We could figure out how to program the gamers in a better way than anybody else can. Why am I waiting around for MTV to try to do it when they can’t, they suck. So, we’re focused on delivering that content. We’re also really focused on delivering sort of a social networking community worldwide for gamers.

 

So, we’re definitely going to have a professional gaming category within the Olympics and they’re going to get their own medals. But, we’re going to encourage tons of amateurs all over the world to play in these Olympic Games across a broad variety of titles. Including, you know, not quite casually but kind of like epileptic gaming style games. And also, we’re going to have hopefully Olympic athletes if I can get them to compete in this too. We’re going to have techno bands and rock and roll bands playing. I want this to be a celebration of the culture of gaming, not just a professional gaming tournament in a hotel somewhere. That’s not what we want. We want to elevate the whole culture of gaming of which professional gaming is a part. It’s time now that everyone understood that gaming is not the step-child of music and movies, that we are the largest form of entertainment in the world. We deserve our place on the world stage, and I’m confident that GGL can bring that to everybody because it’s about time we got out due.

 

 

GameRiot: Well, competitive gaming has had a lot of criticism thrown at it because many don't perceive it as a true sport. What do you have to say to these people?

Ted Owen: You know, I’ve got all kinds of things to say to those people. I’m a huge sports fan number one, so I’ve always said to people that Golf isn’t a sport, it’s a game. John Daly is not an athlete; John Daly can hit the ball well. Clearly this is not a sport, it’s a game. I believe video gaming is in between a sport and a game, because you do need the hand-eye coordination of an athlete to be the best, you really do. But, you don’t need to be in athletic shape in order to be the best. I don’t believe that video gaming should be a medal event at the Olympics. I do believe it has a place in the Olympics, though, and its place should be an officially sanctioned event within the Olympic Games like a permanent welcome event in every city that celebrates the culture of gaming, and we’re going to sort all that through.

 

 

The people that simply say that gaming is not a sport so it does not belong are very short sided. We’ve been battling those guys for years. Everybody told us ten years ago when we said we’re going to do this with the Olympics that we’re a bunch of idiots and that we’d never get it done, and we did. We’re just going to keep plowing ahead and making sure the gaming culture and the individual people who make up that culture get their due. It’s time we set out to do that. I think this is the event for that, and we’re going to show the world that gaming is more than just two kids sitting on a couch playing Madden football.

GameRiot: What's next for the Digital Games after the Beijing Olympics? You’ve said that you’d like to see it as a sanctioned event on a permanent basis, but will you be trying to get it into more events in the future?

Ted Owen: Absolutely! You know, the IOC is such a great organization because it’s all about creating Olympic spirit and Olympic celebration. At the end of the day, what individual activity crosses more cultures than gaming? Gaming is popular everywhere. Curling is popular in Finland. American football is popular here. Soccer? Okay, soccer maybe popular all over the world. That’s one of the few activities that are. If you really want to foster competitive spirit across the entire world in a particular activity, gaming is like the perfect one to do it. I’ve always said to people that gaming is a 21^st century tennis racket. It’s no longer swinging your joystick around or your hand-held controller, or mouse. It is a universal activity, and what belongs more in someway, not as a medal event, than gaming. It crosses cultures and language barriers. It does it all. That’s why I feel it’s a perfect compliment to the 21^st century Olympic Games.

 

 

GameRiot: Would you ever pursue having video games as an Olympic medal event?

Ted Owen: I’m crazy, so yeah I’d love to get it to that level. But, I think that you have to recognize for this culture, some of your goals aren’t appropriate. And, maybe this is one of those cases. But, I do believe that gaming belongs in the Olympics as an officially sanctioned event with its own set of medals with many, many different categories, which the professional gaming category is one, not the only one. I want to make sure people understand that.

 

 

I want to exploit this culture of gaming that leads everywhere, not just amongst the pro’s, but everywhere to the world stage so that we can get the recognition we deserve, the sponsors that we deserve and we can return the money to the community of which professional gaming is a part of. Without an organization like ours doing this, professional gaming will be stuck in the rut that it's in. That’s the way I feel about it. We have to elevate this culture; we have to highlight other aspects of this culture, not just the professional gaming aspect. Let’s face it, it has not taken off in the U.S. yet – I do believe it will, but it has not yet.

 

 

GameRiot: Well, what do you think is holding it back from taking off in the U.S.?

Ted Owen: Here’s my analogy to that. You know when we go to high school and you put on the pads for football. Once you take the pads off in high school, you never put it back on. That’s not the case with gaming. Gaming, you’re consistently doing throughout your entire life. I grew up with the old television and the ATARI 2600, and I’ve taken gaming up to where I’m about to go, which is middle age. To me, there’s not that same sort of feeling where I don’t do that any more. When I watch professional football – I’m a huge New York Giants fan – I don’t put the pads on any more. So, that’s far into me; I can feel it. I think in the United States, there’s a concept that gaming isn’t really a professional sport because ‘I’ still do it. To me, we need to get over that feeling to really develop that keen interest that you have in Asia. Obviously, I want it to take off more than anything else in the world. I’ve been working at it hard to assist it taking off, but the only way I know how to do it is to deliver more mainstream events, like what we’re doing with the Olympics that includes all kinds of different groups, including the professional gaming community so that we can expose the world, expose the culture to as many people as possible to drive interest in them and then to drive that over to areas particularly like the U.S. for professional gaming.

 

 

GameRiot: Let's talk more about the Digital Games. This will be the biggest event hosted by GGL to date. What preparations have you taken for this event to be a success?

Ted Owen: We have the entire infrastructure that the Chinese government can offer us overseas, so we’re at a unique position where the Chinese government is certainly behind us and because of the nature of their government, have all the assets at their disposal. It’s not like the U.S., where you have to go at it on your own. Think of the whole U.S. government being behind you and assisting you, delivering infrastructure, stadiums, etc. They [The Chinese Government] own all the stadiums because they own all the colleges, so we have real access to that. We have probably the best country that you can possibly imagine, which is a really enthusiastic Chinese government that’s going to get very much behind it, like you saw in that Fortune article.

 

 

Outside of China, it’s a huge undertaking for us as we launch websites all over the world and then drive all the players and countries into regional qualifiers throughout the world – that’ll be live events – we’ll have a few qualifiers prior to the four days in Shanghai. So, the infrastructure is really there in China and we’re very, very confident that we have everything in place there. And, we’re working very hard with the rest of the world now to make sure that everything is in place. Obviously, we’ve had quite a bit of time to plan this on the online piece. You know, we’re the largest social network out there for gamers, but the live events are going to be a vast undertaking and one that we think we can lead.

GameRiot: Since you've only just announced the Digital Games, not much has been released about it. Since the announcement, though, many have been curious about the official games that will be used. Have you picked any yet, or what are you considering so far?

Ted Owen: It’s going to go across all platforms, including mobile. You know, PlayStation, PC, Xbox, and we’re trying to get Nintendo in there. We’re going to get all the games that the professional community is really talking about and that want them in there, but we’re also going to include some very mainstream games that will include a whole different demographic and a whole different group and audience, including mobile games, which couldn’t be any simpler, and including epileptic gaming style games which are sort of downloadable, easy to go, easy to play, that aren’t as intimidating as some of the more difficult professional games that we’re used to seeing. I think the community is going to see a lot of what they’re used to, and a lot of what they’re not used to, and we’re going to put it all together in one place and put it on the world stage.

GameRiot: To go deeper with that, what criteria will you be using to select the games, especially with the professional gaming category?

Ted Owen: The criteria for selecting games on the professional side… We have a hundred employees and a bunch of gamers that were former professional gamers, so I’m pretty sure we know what the professional gaming community is going to want to see. We’re going to reach out to them by the way to let them have a say in that. For the really casual and main stream gaming, it’s going to be the criteria we choose, which will be the popularity of the games on a worldwide basis, new launches of games that will be concurrent with the Digital Games over in Shanghai so that we can leverage some of the budgets and marketing budgets, promotions, games software companies, etc. I think we can make the professional community, the hardcore community, pretty comfortable. We’re going to be choosing the games that they want to see there and we’re going to reach out to you guys, and see what they want to do. This event belongs to all of us in one way or another. This is the first time gaming has finally made it to someplace other than a hotel ballroom, so we’re going to make damn sure that we keep everyone involved in the process and let everyone have a good time with this.

GameRiot: You said professional gamers will have a say in basically the event (games, etc.). Will there be a board of advisors, or will that say just simply be feedback?

Ted Owen: To be honest with you, we haven’t really gotten that far. You know, and I know, what the professional gaming community wants to see there, and it’s not going to disappoint with that. I think there might be a plan in place to reach out to the some of the well-respected gaming cultural icons. You know, the Marcus Grahams, who we have on staff, and people outside of that. And we’re going to certainly listen to that. We’re going to probably publish the games that we want on the professional gaming side that we’re going to have people compete in shortly, and if we get some feedback on that and if there’s some huge outcry for some game we’ve left out or shouldn’t have, we’ll respond to that at that point. It’s certainly not going to be without the input of the rest of the world on this.

GameRiot: Most of the time, though, when competitive gaming is shown to the main stream, many complain that watching people play video games is simply boring, basically, having a Why-watch-when-you-can-do attitude. Do you feel this is mostly because of the games or just gaming in general?

Ted Owen: I think it’s just the way that it’s been done. Gaming is culture; it’s not just about two guys playing games on a couch. The way the professional gaming leagues have gone about delivering the content that they create, in my opinion, has not been the greatest. It’s not compelling. I don’t know enough about the players to care in many instances. Now, I do, because I’m part of the hardcore community, but if you’re a mainstream guy, the only way you’re interested in an athlete is if you know a little about them, what he does, what he likes. I used to be a big tennis player in college, and I love Mcenroe because I love what an ******* Mcenroe was, and it created battles on the tennis court that I was interested in beyond the tennis game itself. I had a connection to Mcenroe that was delivered to me by the media, giving me background stories, delivering celebrity and star spots for these guys. That has not been done in the professional gaming world. In Korea it has been done. Moon walks around on the street and in Korea the guy gets mobbed by kids. That’s because the Korean government and the Korean media have done a great, great job of delivering the back stories of these guys, getting an emotional attachment to the fan base. There’s no emotional attachment to any American professional gamer in the country. Maybe, Fatal1ty, but even that is a far cry from the emotional attachment you need to have in order to propel a sport into the mainstream.

 

 

We’re going to do it differently. We’re going to deliver the back stories, we’re going to do media of these guys’ personalities, and let the public either hate ‘em, love ‘em, or be indifferent to them to create a connection to them both across the mainstream and hardcore to make it interesting to watch the games. Watching golf is not that entertaining. Watching players use a drug and have all kinds of problems hitting a golf ball five hundred yards, that’s interesting. Tiger Woods is interesting because the media has created a huge back story of him. I have a huge emotional attachment to Tiger Woods, so I watch him hit a little white ball into the cup three hundred yards away. If I didn’t have any of these emotional attachments to these golfers, I’d never watch them on TV and I’d never watch the sport.

 

 

That hasn’t been done, but we’re going to try to do it this time, for the first time.

 

 

GameRiot: Well, thanks for the interview. Is there anything else you’d like to add, maybe about the Digital Games?

Ted Owen: The only thing I want to say is about the community issue. We’re going to treat this right, we’re going to reach out to everyone and respond to their input. This is a huge event obviously for the gaming world, for all of us, and we are going to make sure that the gaming community is included in this and isn’t excluded, so they feel that they can be a big part of this. Again, that goes to me trying to deliver the culture of gaming to everybody, and to create an emotional attachment to the players, the culture, and the lifestyle.