At an Overwatch tournament in South Korea, only real soldiers were allowed to participate. However, they could also play for a nice prize for their division …
“Overwatch is just a war game!” you can hear from older critics who don’t understand video games. Now they are even right about that – at least a little.
A few days ago, the Overwatch Soldier: 76 tournament took place in South Korea. The special thing about it: Only active soldiers of the South Korean Army were allowed to participate!
In South Korea, similar to a few years ago in Germany, there is conscription. All men between 18 and 35 years must serve 21 months in the army. Currently, this amounts to about 500,000 young soldiers. Given this age average, it’s not surprising that there is great interest in video games and subsequently Overwatch.
“Winning Division” received 15 extra vacation days
180 soldiers qualified for the finals, which were also streamed. Even among soldiers who had no great interest in video games, the tournament was popular – because there was an important prize at stake. The division of the winners (“Division 12”) could look forward to a special leave of 15 days.
Especially funny: Just last year, there were some problems in the Korean army regarding Overwatch. The military had forbidden its soldiers from watching two larger eSports tournaments. Obviously, this rule has now been relaxed, as the Soldier. 76 tournament was a military-wide success.
We always knew that wars in the 21st century are decided on the PC – and as long as it only happens in Overwatch, that’s just fine.
What do you think of this “soldiers only” tournament? A cool thing that other countries should take a page from? Or is Overwatch being misused for ugly military propaganda?
