The real games people play

Sick of reality TV? Vixture, a new TV show about real gamers competing in physical and simulated challenges, is here to rescue you

Sick of reality TV? Vixture, a new TV show about real gamers competing in physical and simulated challenges, is here to rescue you

"Iu00a0have more friends in real life than I do online." That's Niraj Sangani's vehement outburst against people who stereotype gamers as couch potatoes who live in a make-believe world. It's also the myth that Vixture, a new gaming reality show currently on air on Star Sports, where Sangani is a participant, hopes to dispel.


Gamers compete against each other as a crowd and emcees cheer
them on at the gaming room.

For avid gamers like him, Vixture, supported by Game4u, is the perfect platform to make a case for gaming; a fairly niche category in India. Of course, it's also about having fun. "I have been casually playing games for 10 years. All I care about is that the story and gameplay is good. So, when Vixture 2010 came along, I grabbed the opportunity," says the 19 year-old.

How the gameplay began
That's exactly what the people behind Vixture were hoping for. "Vixture was launched in 2008 as an interactive platform for gamers and brands to come together. There was a need to create a strong brand that best
represented Indian gaming," recalls Megha Desai, co-creator, Vixture.

A trend-setting championship at the time, Vixture 2008 carried a prize money of Rs 50 lakh, and supported games and genres across all consoles and platforms. "At the qualifying round, gamers from India connected to the Vixture server from more than 55 cities to compete online. There were five qualifying games, and the top two winners of each game came to the final leg, which was shot in the form of a TV show," she explains. That's the show that you can catch every Saturday and Sunday.

Real reality TV
Participant Shouvik Dutta recalls the high of being a finalist. "For 10 days, we lived and competed with fellow gamers. It was a unique experience and I doubt I'll ever have anything like it again." Complete with one elimination per day, this is reality TV, but of a different sort. "Absolutely!" says Desai. "These top ten gamers came from across India. This is the first platform where they got to express their views, frustrations, joys... everything. Most importantly, they were here to play competitive games, and that's exactly what they got to do." This, at a time when Dolly Bindra's 'possession by a ghost' rules the roost on television.

Desai agrees. "We were clear that we wanted to stay true to the gaming aspect. We had immunity and eliminations minus the scripted sensationalism. These gamers played the newest games on the newest consoles.
Their interactions gave them the opportunity to understand genres, what it takes to play them, and the skill required for each."

Offscreen play
The most interesting bit, though, is that gaming isn't just restricted to the computer screen. For each online/console game, there is a corresponding physical challenge; like racing or a sport.

For Dutta, this was unexpected, but fun. "I had an inkling that there might be more to the championship than just console games, but I wasn't sure," says the Goregaon resident. "I rode All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), played football. The main objective was to have fun, which we did," says Sangani.

"The fun was in trying to guess what physical activity would be next. Participants didn't know till the first time they were introduced to a physical challenge. Post the initial shock, they then started guessing -- for example, if the genre racing is yet to come, will the next physical challenge be Go Karting? Bike Racing?" explains Desai.
Dutta, who had been playing games casually since 2002, before going on to compete in local college tournaments in the last two years, recalls, "We would be ready by 8 am, and arrive at the shoot location for the physical challenge. Post lunch, the games that we were to play in the competition would be revealed to us, and we'd have a couple of hours to practise before going on to play the actual game post 6 o'clock." He goes by the gaming nickname of Gaucho14.

What's next?
"The format will also test gamers on the traits of a true sportsman -- agility, teamwork, strategic thinking. Hence the dual level competition. The search is clearly for India's Top All Round Gamer, not a console or genre specialist," says Desai. Eventually, the winner of this show will represent India at other international championships.

Vixture 2010 is simultaneously being aired in six other countries -- Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan. "The TV show, combined with ongoing online tournaments that Vixture plans to launch in 2011, will help it become the largest APAC community," she hopes.

Once Vixture travels to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, each culminating in a TV show to be aired on the ESS network, the final winners will compete for a mega final, Vixture APAC.

Vixture airs on Saturday at 12 noon and on Sunday at 12 noon and 5.30 pm on Star Sports

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