It is Saturday night at a busy pub in north London, and the crowd is packed around the bar cheering and shouting at a big screen—not for a sport, but for a video game.
There’s no telltale sign on the gray front of the building, just its name “Meltdown” and the muffled bass of Bob Marley’s “Stand up, get up” vibrating the windows.
Inside, this “e-sports” bar is a temple of competitive gaming.
Around a table crowded with pints of beer, young people are watching a match of League of Legends, one of the most popular online games.
“Go, go for it, come on!” shouts a young woman in black stockings and a striped top, fingers flying on her phone as she comments live on Twitter.
Customers come here to drink and watch video game tournaments just as others watch football or rugby. The menu even lists cocktails referencing the digital world, like the “Shoryuken”—a fruity mix of rum, lime, mango, raspberry, and passion fruit, named after the iconic move from Street Fighter.
‘Gaming Starbucks’
Meltdown is the only one of its kind in Britain and part of a chain that began in France. The first opened in Paris in 2012.
“I realized many gamers wanted to leave home, have a drink and party,” said co-founder Sophia Metz. “Six months later, we opened in Berlin, then in London. Today, there are nine bars, and the U.S. may be next.”
“E-sports is still niche, but it’s growing,” said Metz, who envisions Meltdown as a “video game Starbucks.”
Customers can also play themselves on-site. The bar offers consoles and five gaming workstations with backlit keyboards and ergonomic chairs.
This Saturday, all eyes are on Ilyes Satouri, aka “Stephano,” a top French e-sports player who has earned over $250,000 from more than 80 Starcraft II tournaments.
“E-sports bars were missing until now. Before, gamers stayed home,” said Satouri. “It breaks the myth of the pimply geek locked away in his room.”
The bar is also challenging another stereotype: that gamers are mostly male. Though outnumbered, women are present. One of them is Bedir Marisa, aka “Ribbons,” a 21-year-old cancer researcher.
“I go to Meltdown to relax, see friends, and join League of Legends tournaments,” said Marisa, who plays at least two hours daily.
“Some men think women play games just for attention, which is disheartening—I’ve been gaming nonstop since I got my first Game Boy at seven.”
Source: Video games flow with the pints at London’s e-sport pub – Phys.org
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Source: phys.org