Elite Gaming – not to be confused with Elite Gaming – are yet to celebrate the first birthday but already have a pretty rich history. In their short time around, the organisation has opened an online store selling Scuf contollers and more. They’re also one of South Africa’s growing list of competitive teams.
We asked owner of Elite Gaming, Jean van Jaarsveld, a few questions about his organisation and he was kind enough to reply.
Hello. Introduce yourself to the readers. Go on.
My name is Jean van Jaarsveld from the Capital City Pretoria. I’m 34 and the owner and one of the founding competitive team members of Elite Gaming. I have been a console player since 1995 and my first game was Mortal Kombat 3. I was part of the “Team R4G3” roster that won the MW3 Championship against F34R Elite in 2012.
When did the organisation form?
Elite Gaming was founded the 29 of Jan 2018 and started as an importing company specialising in Scuf Controllers and accessories. Once we kick-started the business and established an identity on social media, we turned our attention to starting a competitive Call of Duty team. Our first scrim was played the 4th of June against MAG7 and it proved to us that we had to put in so much more effort to achieve the goals that we had set ourselves as a team.
What is your platform (or platforms) of choice?
Currently we are only on PS4, at this stage we don’t have planes to expand just yet.
What games does the MGO enjoy?
We love Call of Duty and Fortnite, we also have a team affiliated with us that perform fantastic in Battlefield (Royal Elite eSports ZA).
How was the organisation’s name chosen?
I was researching email and website domains on co.za Domain Administration – and my goal was to get an organisation name, email address and website domain to all be the same. This is a challenging task (Almost like choosing the name of a band).
After a few nights of searching and discovering that 99% of eSports related names have already been registered and owned by Hetzner, my wife Natalie, that has absolutely no interest in gamin apart from Candy Crush said to me: “What about Elite Gaming?”; Immediately I thought a name like that must be registered… I checked and low and behold the domain was open. I called my friend and at 21h00 that same night and he registered it to my name. I’m proud to say that I am the owner of www.elitegaming.co.za and info@elitegaming.co.za.
Who are the leaders and what is the organisational structure like of the MGO?
I – Jean van Jaarsveld – am the owner of the organisation and I handle all the social media, business processes, communication and contracts for our team. I run the online store and assist the community with any gaming, and especially Scuf related questions and queries.
Our Alpha team is captained by the amazingly talented and dedicated Jean-Louis Smith (EGSA_Zoran), his lieutenants are Keyhnyn van der Spuy (EGSA_zMist) and Allit Pienaar (EGSA tilla), the team is still trailing their 4th and are also looking for dedicated reserves.
We have a great Group of Fortnite players captained by Divan Botha (V3ins_ZA) The team consist of Coert van Rensburg (ZA-Bully), Micah Boyter (Deeptune_za) and Justin Roos (Joseph_the great1).
And then we have started a full Gils team that will be competing semi-competitively and socially on Black Ops 4 and a few other titles. You will have to stay tuned for the full release details in the following month.
How many members do you have?
Currently we have 12 registered members but are in the process of adding to that number.
How often do you play together as an organisation?
The teams play on a daily basis and most weekends the guys and girls do have some time off to use as they see fit.
Do you consider yourselves a competitive clan/team/MGO, or one in it more for “the shits and giggles”?
Absolutely a competitive team. The players have the same vision of reaching the DGL Championship 2019 for Black Ops 4.
Has the team participated in many tournaments? How have they performed?
The 2018 DGL League Season was a steep learning curve for the team as we entered in the final leg and subsequently finished in 6th place of Pool B in the 1st Division.
The team did manage to qualify for the Mettlestate Astro COD Championship but could not make it past the 1st round of 16 teams.
Is attending LANs important to the MGO and its members?
We are all extremely excited to start participating in LANs during the 2019 season.
Are you guys actively recruiting for new players? If so, how should a potential member contact you and how do you decide on who is right to join you?
Yes, we are looking to add the perfect players to our Alpha COD Roster and any players willing to trial are welcome to contact our captain Jean-Louis Smit via Twitter.
What are you hoping to achieve in the future as a MGO?
We are in the business of growing our brand, we want the community to engage with us and to see the players as valuable members in the community. Always ready to assist and give advice. Down to earth guys that have incredible skill but are humble and engage on social media.
Our team’s goal is reaching the DGL Championship 2019 and we as their organisation believe in them wholeheartedly and will support them 110%.
With the soon to be announcement all girls team we are hoping that this will help other girls in the community start participating too. We will stream their games and have COD Casters assisting with commentary. Gaming is for everyone and we want our female counterparts to take part with us.
Which opposing MGOs do you most respect?
We respect all teams and organisations that engage with the community in a professional and fair manner, we believe that we all must help each other to reach greater heights and to develop the skill of our players. #Out with the toxic behaviour and let’s support each other.
In regard to professional – or competitive gaming (or even gaming in general) – what do you as an organisation think needs to be done to raise the profile of South African gaming?
All South African teams are effectively married to each other (this means there are good times and there are bad times); but the point I’m trying to make is basically that: “It’s us against the world”.
We have to work together to reach the CWL [Call of Duty World League – Undead Ed]. All teams will have to increase their skill level so that we as South Africa can complete on the world stage, and the only way to do this is by continues professional development.
We need to cut all toxic behaviour from online play and on social media, and the most important thing for me is that we must genuinely be happy for the success of our competitors.
Some less-than-serious stuff:
If you weren’t a gaming organisation you’d be…
A group of incredibly unsuccessful bank robbers.
War movie that best describes the MGO?
Black Hawk Down – guys that never give up on each other.
If you guys had a music soundtrack for going to war, what would it be?
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son
Iron Maiden – Run to the hills and The Trooper
Thanks for your time – is there anything you would like to add before you head off?
Honestly thank you for allowing me to request the interview from you, I do appreciate it very much. [It’s our pleasure, but we believe we negotiated around 3kgs of brains for this… We’re still waiting. – Undead Ed]
Elite Gaming Contact Information:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Email: info@elitegaming.co.za
If you are keen to feature in this column in the future (as a gamer, clan or industry person or company), please feel free to contact us at info@zombiegamer.co.za and we’ll think about – after you’ve sent us a sample of your braaaaaaiiiiinnnnsss.
