MANY of our kids particularly our sons who keep us awake in the wee hours of the morning will be excited with the recent developments in the online gaming industry.

A network of digital advocates is pushing for government support for e-sports.

This came after Filipino team Echo Philippines won the Mobile Legends Bangbang M4 World Championships.

The performance of Filipino e-sports players prove the country can achieve greatness in the global gaming scene.

It is high time that we recognize the achievements of our e-sports athletes by providing them ample support and incentives from the government.

“We should do away with the old belief that playing video games is a waste of time,” he added.

Funding for international competitions and allowances will help online gaming athletes the much needed edge to compete and even dominate the international gaming scene.

The Philippine Sports Commission and the Department of Information and Communications Technology can work with the online gaming teams and players to deliver the much needed support from the government.

The government can shoulder training and competition expenses and provide allowances for the online gaming athletes.

They should also be given incentives whenever they win in international competitions such as the Asian games, SEA games and prestigious international esports meets, similar to cash incentives recieved by world champions such as Hidilyn Diaz.

Echo Philippines and fellow Filipino team Blacklist International faced-off in the grand finals match of the prestigious online gaming tournament held in Indonesia.

Providing government support for online gaming athletes is very much needed as E-Sports is now among the sporting events included in the Asian Games and the South East Asian Games.

We have a very great opportunity to excel over other countries in this event specially with the already big and still growing Filipino online gaming community.

If the government will extend ample support for Filipino gamers, we are in a good position to compete and dominate globally, Digital Pinoy National Campaigner Ronald Gustillo said.

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