“History is a vast early warning system.” – Norman Cousins.

NOT EVEN THE FALKLANDS CAN STOP THIS BLOG!

I have been here in the Falklands now for a week. Nine days. Roughly 7% of my total tour time. Sometimes it feels like time is standing still, but that’s what I deserve for clock-watching instead of finding something productive to do.

I’m off duty at the moment and sat in the peace and tranquillity of the Oasis Café here on Mount Pleasant Airfield. Outside, there are 50 mph winds, the temperature is one degree Celsius (before wind chill), and the landscape outside the window I find myself next to is made up entirely of brown, green, and grey. At time of last horizon check, there was no blue. The grey clouds take care of that by ensuring it is heavily blanketed. And to think, people warned me about getting sunburned at this time of year before I came out here. Those same people should be drug tested immediately!

Staring out at this vast, colourless, empty wasteland certainly gets my mind wandering. Yeah, it might be a good location for a real life recreation of the Modern Warfare 2 map Wasteland. But, that wasn’t what I was thinking of… this time! No, looking at this barren view feels like I am looking at a metaphor for the perceived esports scene in the UK from my own humble perspective. It is empty, cold, and vast. So much room for potential if it could be unlocked.

With no gaming hardware or software to tinker with for four months out here, I’ve found myself looking at a new side quest. And here it is, the rise and fall of various UK gaming franchises and esports setups from the UK. My hope is to trace the rise of these ventures, figure out what they did right, and learn the hard lessons of what turned them into the Ghosts of Esports Past.

A wise RAF Armourer Chief Technician once told me that hindsight has 20-20 vision. He would usually trot that line out immediately before listing every reason why whatever we’d just done had somehow gone completely sideways. He had a point, though. History matters. If you want to understand why something failed, you need to understand what happened before it failed.

For anyone trying to build something themselves, that hindsight is gold dust. Why sail your very expensive Titanic into an iceberg when someone else has already marked it on the map?

So, here we go. The kick off for a new missive mini-series. My take on the rise and fall of some esports and gaming teams, clubs, and associations from around the UK. What made them, how they blew up, and finally, their downfall and legacy.

This might turn out to be some top-tier journalism. Or it will just help me pass the time during downtime in the Oasis Café, staring out at the grey. Let’s see what I can unearth from the ruins.