Dear Reader,

First and foremost, I wanted to welcome you to our website.  I hope you have begun to browse the site and have become acquainted with what we have to offer you.  Of course, it isn’t the best gaming news and entertainment website in the world – yet – but I think that what we have will only get better.  I wanted to request feedback on both our site and our staff; please feel free to leave it here, message me on the site or IRC, or send me an email.  We’re going to have updates – at minimum – weekly, so the more feedback you give us the more we know what to do day in and day out.

I’m going to try and keep this short and to the point, so please bear with me.  This letter has over a year of sleepless nights, enough ideas to fill a boardroom a million times, the few and far between joys and the almost unbearable and never ending disappointments, and narrowing it down into 1500 words or less – to me – feels almost insolent to the work that the web development team and staff did; many of them worked just as much as me.

Who We Are

Strictly speaking, Insider eSports is a gaming news and entertainment website; We are – or hope to be – your source for gaming news and entertainment.  There are six competitive eSports games that we cover; Counter Strike 1.6, Counter Strike: Source, Call of Duty, Team Fortress 2, Starcraft and Soul Caliber 4.  We cover them through a wide variety of ways, including news, features, league coverage, matches, demos and more.

However, we also cover video games as well through six different platforms; PC, XBOX360, Wii, PS3, DS, and PSP.  We will have previews, reviews and news about both the platforms and games.

Insider eSports is run by me as well as a staff of over thirty individuals.  That may sound like a lot, but when you divide us up among six games and another full section for video game coverage, our group becomes very small.  They have volunteered – and yes, I mean for free – to help see this site to the big time. We’re resilient.  We’re dedicated.  The more experienced staff members are teaching the less experienced ones.  We work hard and learn from each other as well as learning about ourselves.

Most importantly, however, we have a dream for eSports that few others would so willingly announce.

The Dream We Have

Insider eSports has one primary goal.  And no, it’s not money.  While millions of dollars sitting in my lap during a global financial recession sounds great, Insider eSports has never been about that.  What I want is two things:

First, I want to build a community; a community unlike one that eSports has seen in a very long time.  I personally believe that the community can never grow with the negative comments we are seeing today; take your pick on what flame to mention.  I want to build a positive community where it is okay to disagree, but we disagree with valid points and respect the individual who may or may not agree with you.  It’s a daunting task, but one that I deemed necessary over ten months ago.

To do this, we’re going to moderate the forums.  We’re going to remove posts that are offensive and praise ones that – whether they disagree with someone or not – are respectful.  Esports needs discussions to ever grow beyond what we have achieved so far.  We’re going to have video uploading and streaming, comedic articles and videos.  We will make debatable features and question the norm.  This is what eSports needs to grow beyond where we currently remain.

Second, I want to make a difference.  I want to know that somehow I helped eSports grow.  That is not to say I want the fame that players like KSharp, Cogu, Jungle, or Neo enjoy; no, they can keep that honor.  What I want is for Insider eSports to get companies who might never have been interested in eSports interested in us and the sport.  The only way we will ever build is if we get more companies interested in investing in us.

To do this, I’m going to work endlessly to make this the best gaming website in the world.  I’m going to talk to companies who have never known about eSports.  We added the video games section for two reasons; because competitive gamers can get their every day gaming news here and so that other gamers find our site when looking for a review or preview and decide to stay.  We will do our best to help the eSports community grow in any way we can.

The Help We Need

However, my staff and I can’t do this alone.  We need everyone who reads this article’s help.  We need you to tell a friend and for them to tell a friend.  I ask that you actively participate in our website; Register on it and get involved.  People who come to websites like Insider eSports obviously have some interest in the community; now is the time to help it.

Get involved whatever way you can.  If you want to do something for Insider eSports, let me know.  If you feel uncomfortable doing that, that’s fine, just keep active on our forums expressing your opinions on issues.  It’s the only way eSports can ever get off the charts around the world.

I understand if you feel differently; I know I am asking a lot, but it is a lot that – in my eyes – is essential to everyone who joins a site like this one believes in, whether they know it or not.  So, register and get involved.  Insider eSports will help make changes in this community; changes that we believe are for the better.

One thousand words later, are you ready to join in?

Thank you for reading,

Michael Fleming