While many of us play video games for fun, very few of us are willing to put in the time and effort to play it as a competitive sport. Meet our very own competitive e-sports player and full-time National Serviceman, LCP Amirul Haqim Bin Omar, a Multimedia Specialist with the Corporate Communications Department of the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
LCP Amirul (extreme right) with his e-sports team members at a tournament.
LCP Amirul started playing video games as a hobby and it blossomed into a passionate virtual sport. He is now experimenting with video game streaming via the social media to reach out to other e-sports enthusiasts with his gaming tips and strategies. He is even considering taking up e-sports as a viable career choice in the long run.
Rescue 995 engaged LCP Amirul in this exclusive interview as he talked about his passion in e-sports and how being in the virtual community helped him build relationships with fellow e-sports players.
Rescue 995: We learned that you are a competitive e-sports player. Can you describe what e-sports is about?
LCP Amirul: Like tennis, badminton or other sports where players compete against one another, e-sports is also a competitive sport but played on the video game platform. In e-sports, one can play or compete as an individual or as a team, depending on the type of video game.
Rescue 995: How long have you been playing e-sports? When did you become a competitive player?
LCP Amirul: It has been three years since I started competing in e-sports. Before that, I was only playing video games for fun. I started playing Rules of Survival (ROS) and when PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile (PubgM) was finally made available on mobile phones, I made the switch to PubgM. As I constantly topped the Leadership Board in ROS and PubgM, I was spotted by an e-sports team in Singapore and they asked me to join them as a competitive player. I decided to accept their offer and compete in e-sports just to see how far I can go in this pursuit.
Rescue 995: Which is your favourite game?
LCP Amirul: It has to be both ROS and PubgM. They are ‘player versus player shooter’ game, which is my favourite type of gaming genre.
Rescue 995: We understand that you had participated in an e-sports tournament last year. Could you tell us more about it?
LCP Amirul: The e-sports tournament was the three-week long PubG Mobile Professional League – Malaysia-Singapore (PMPL-MYSG), which was held in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia from March to April 2020. Towards the last week of our stay in KL, we were informed that Singapore was going into a lockdown due to the COVID-19 situation. Upon hearing the news, all the Singapore players had to pack our bags and head straight home immediately. Despite the mad rush, we managed to get home on time before the lockdown and continued the competition virtually from Singapore.
In spite of the connectivity issues that we faced while playing the game through the Singapore servers, we are proud to make it to the top three spot in Singapore and thereby giving us a chance to participate in the next stage which was held in Malaysia.
LCP Amirul (first person from the right) and his team won third place in the PMPL-MYSG tournament.
Rescue 995: Other than having a natural talent for e-sports, what are some of your tips to win an e-sports competition?
LCP Amirul: Practice makes perfect. All athletes must spend hours training hard before a competition, even SCDF firefighters and paramedics spent months building up their skills and endurance as they compete in the annual Singapore-Global Firefighters and Paramedic Challenge (SGFPC). So too must E-sports players.
When it comes to e-sports, one needs to have a personal training drill and to always do research on how to play the game better. In addition, it is important to have a resilient mind to handle online criticisms, especially when you are an excellent player. Like anything in life, so long as you put in the hours and the effort, you will eventually become good at what you do.
Rescue 995: Is there an e-sports community in SCDF?
LCP Amirul: Yes! The e-sports community in SCDF is known as the SCDF E-Sports League (SEL) and there is an SCDF’s e-sports team at the Sports & Recreation Guild of Home Team (SPRIGHT).
While competing in e-sports, I got to know some players who are members of SCDF. That was how I noticed that there is a combined e-sports team known as Aventus Sovereign Gaming (AvSG), which consists of Police and SCDF officers. In fact AvSG is one of the top scorers in the region.
Rescue 995: What do you like most about being part of the e-sports community?
LCP Amirul: I enjoy making friends within the e-sports community. Besides competing against our opponents, we also get to foster friendships through the virtual interactions. Some of us became so close that we even shared our life stories and personal experiences. It is amazing how online multiplayer video games like PubgM is successful in connecting players of various age groups and from different walks of life. Such human connection, though virtual, is still important to have, especially when we try not to step out of our homes unnecessarily due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
Rescue 995: What is your future plan with regard to e-sports?
LCP Amirul: Moving forward, I plan to step out of my comfort zone by making it into a Malaysian E-sport Organisation. Doing so will enable me to know their gaming style, expand my boundaries and concurrently perfecting my skills in the game.
