[CQ-Contest] Where are all the young radiosport folks?

[Colin Jenkins]

We're here, but most of the other younger guys I know don't read or post to
CQ-Contest.

eSports and competitive gaming popularity is growing at great speed. You'll
find that there are very many games that boast professional groups
sponsored by a myriad of gaming and eSport companies. Some of the more
popular games include Counter Strike:GO, World of Warcraft, and League of
Legends.Teams like Virtus Pro, Cloud9, and Na'vi are professional teams;
practicing many hours a day and competing on international levels year
round. For these gamers, this is their job.

The difference between these two activities (both of which I enjoy
immensely) is the level of sponsorship and ability to earn an income by
playing these games. For example, Twitch allows anyone to stream video
games live to the entire community. I've seen viewer numbers hit over 100k
during certain competitive events. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely enjoy
running pileups, meeting new people at multi-ops, and learning more about
station engineering but it is merely for my own enjoyment and at my own
cost. Having the ability to stream and make money from streaming video
games is becoming increasingly easier (even via mobile devices now).

I've struggled with how to get younger guys into the hobby for quite some
time and don't really have a concrete answer (perhaps because there may not
be a concrete answer), but I think there are more out there than realized.
The World Wide Young Contesters chat room is quite active during the day
with many under 30. Heck, even some of the top ops frequent the room.

eSports are here to stay and only going to grow further with the advent of
streaming platforms. I, for one, have always enjoyed watching streams from
contest stations. Perhaps this is something to ponder.

Colin KU5B