Ever since the invention of television and live-broadcasting, pubs andsportbars around the world were dominated by a mostly male audience,watching either football, rugby, cricket, dart and other bloodthirsty,testosterone-filled competitive sports. In 2011, BarCraft has turned the world ofGuinness and Fish & Chips upside down. The audience is still mostly male, butthe sports of interest have changed – to eSports. In more than 150 citiesworldwide you will find bars showing e-Sports.
Of course in most cases they won’t be showing videogames on regular days, butthey will when it is time to host a “BarCraft”. However, while BarCrafthistorically started with showing StarCraft at a bar (Bar + StarCraft = BarCraft),there are now more and more events adopting the idea to other games, such asLeague of Legends or DotA 2. They go by other names (BarDotA, Mobar,Pubstomp etc.) yet they all share the same, fundamental idea – bringing e-Sportsinto the public.
When it comes to accomplished professional gamers, Switzerland is still assmall a country as it ever was. However, in terms of eSport-enthusiasm,Switzerland is starting to turn into a superpower! Despite the lack of aninternationally active pro-gaming scene, the hunger for watching globaltournament broadcasts, and following the performances of the world’s bestplayers, is as big as never before! A desire which the Swiss E-Sport Federation(SESF), in cooperation with BarCraft Switzerland, successfully satisfied.
For close to a year now, BarCraft Switzerland and the SESF, have been holdingBarCrafts all over Switzerland, on an almost monthly basis.
With an average attendance of 50+ enthusiasts, and an all-time high of over 120eSport-fans, the outcome of the events has exceeded even the most optimistic estimations.
What started as a simple idea at a local boozer in Zurich, has turned into a keycornerstone in the landscape of the Swiss e-Sports scene within months.Not only in Switzerland but in the whole world, BarCraft proves an importantpoint which enthusiasts always knew to be true, but never had the means toshow it: Gamers are everywhere.
Students, engineers, cashiers in supermarkets, bankers, social-workers – they allcome together at a barcraft, to watch e-Sports. Ordinary, regular customers arelikely to find it disturbing, when they happen to find themselves in the middle ofit by chance – at first.
But they will realize that e-Sports is simply a new generation of competitivesports, and that the passion of e-Sports enthusiast is no different than thepassion of football fans for their sports – only with more fun, and less violence.
