CHENNAI: Pragadeeswaran MB (23), is known by his alias, Chopper, in the gaming world. He started gaming at the age of 11, when his parents got him a PC. “I started playing Roadrash, Doom and Age of Empires initially, and later got addicted to Age of Empires due to its unique storyline. Eventually, I moved onto the game, World of Warcraft during my high school days, and finally turned competitive while playing Dota in college. I cannot get enough of the game ever since,” says Pragadeeswaran.
An alumnus of Chettinad Vidyashram and Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Chennai, Pragadeeswaran did his Btech in chemical engineering at Sri Venkateshwara College, and has been playing at a semi-pro level from his college days, winning almost all the Chennai tournaments so far. He has been playing semi-pro and pro level Dota 2 for over a period of four years now and the teams that he has played for include M2M(Method 2 Madness),Ck65,Forsaken Esports, GzL(Gamerz Lounge),OP Esports, MMR is just a number, ICOD(I Can Only Dream) and LXG Chennai B.
Pragadeeshwaran came first in the gaming tournaments held by Anna university in the last three years, and also in several other tournaments such as the ones held by IIT Madras, SRM, VIT Vellore, NIT Bangalore, and so on. He has also won tournaments hosted by Gamepro Bangalore, Wired in Chennai, Blur, Game Dhaba, Rumble gaming, ESL India Premiership, Taiwan excellence gaming cup, Klasse entertainment, LXG Chennai, and so on. “Friends and local internet cafés were the reason I got to know about tournaments and as my team kept winning back to back tournaments, we got direct invites to tournaments outside of Chennai as well,” he smiles
He is all praise for his gaming team and owes his succes entirely to their support. “I participated in my first competition when I was still a novice in Dota. I was called to replace a member of the team who was sick. We faced the strongest team in the first round, and got ‘rekt’ (slang version of ‘wrecked’ used in multiplayer gaming) because of my lack of experience. My team however was really supportive and never blamed me for the loss. This motivated me to put in more effort and I eventually started playing competitively, and that has been one of the best decisions of my life,” he shares.
When asked about how supportive his parents were with regard to him pursuing gaming seriously, he says, ”My parents haven’t had much say since I don’t let it affect my studies as such. Overall they have been supportive from the start and haven’t stopped me from attending tourneys or even bunking a few exams just to go and participate in leagues as long as I didn’t go off track.”
So how bad is the gaming scene in Chennai? “It has definitely developed over the years. Of course, it is still not as good as it is abroad where there is a healthy approach to gaming. There, they don’t just look at it as a waste of money or as a means of whiling away time,” he opines.
He cites that a lack of awareness and the ‘zero-defect’ mentality of parents has contributed to gaming being seen as a frivolous endeavour. “The mentality has to change when they come to know that gaming can be taken up as an actual profession instead of just a hobby. There is much scope in this field,” he adds.