Trump’s first week as the President of the United States can be summed up in to a single question: “Oh God, what has he done now?” This is not a joke as every morning you can turn on the TV, load up Twitter, look on Reddit and be bombarded by either “Fake News” or “Alternative Facts” presented by major media outlets. The only problem is the news isn’t fake, and one of Trump’s latest executive orders is having an impact on esports.
The ban has affected an Iraqi player who was set to enter the US to take part in a Vainglory tournament. Vainglory is a mobile game, similar to Dota and other MOBAs. The player, known as IraqiZorro, was set to move to the United States to play in the “Evil Eight” league which was starting this week.
I think I'm still in the "shocked" phase, where I'm not able to fully comprehend yet that this is indeed our current reality…
— IraqiZorro (@ElDonIraqiZorro) January 29, 2017
While the player might not be well known, these initial cases do present a major foreseeable problem with the current state of international travel and affairs. If Trump ban goes through (it’s currently blocked by a federal judge ) a number of players will find difficulty in competing in the United States. While this executive order is abhorrent, its misguided focus is to slow down immigration of refugees – and athletes or professional with working VISAs are means to be exempt, in some cases, from the lengthy vetting process.
However, esports might still find some roadblocks in areas such as this when it comes to players arriving from one of the listed countries which are currently “banned.” During the Obama presidency a similar travel ban was implemented which stopped re-entry into the United States if you’d visited a list of countries tied to terrorist organizations. This affected a player from Astralis who was unable to enter the USA to compete, so we’re not all foreign to this hiccup.
This could be nothing serious, or turn out to be a major problem for esports. Obama was an esports friendly president, will Trump follow suit?
Last Updated: January 31, 2017
For the Emperor!
January 31, 2017 at 14:14
http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a7rvBme_700b.jpg
Skittle
January 31, 2017 at 14:18
It is important to note that the ban is only temporary – 90 days. What happens after those 90 days is anyone’s guess. No point in jumping to conclusions.
I don’t think it will have a lasting, devastating (I doubt we will see more than a tiny ripple) impact on e-sports. The major players in the esports scene are from Europe, NA, SA and Asia, all the top teams will still be competing. If the ban ends after 90 days then the few previously blocked players can jump back in (albeit with a lot more paper work).
PS I used to come to Lazygamer for video game articles but I’ve been seeing a development of peoples political opinions being inserted into more articles. It would be nice if we can stay a happy community without pushing agendas.
Skyblue
January 31, 2017 at 20:51
Love your last paragraph. Huge thumbs up.
Magoo
January 31, 2017 at 14:27
Countries with highest Muslim populations:
1. Indonesia – 205 million
2. Pakistan – 178 million
3. India – 177 million
4. Bangladesh – 149 million
5. Egypt – 80 million
6. Nigeria – 76 million
“”Muslim Ban””
Skyblue
January 31, 2017 at 20:49
Agreed. This was targeted at “terrorist” affiliated countries and I can’t say I disagree ENTIRELY. It’s not an exact science but it is a clear message.
konfab
January 31, 2017 at 15:24
I don’t see e-sports suffering much. It’s not like you absolutely need to be in the same country in order to play in an e-sports tournament. We do have this thing called fiber internet.
Skyblue
January 31, 2017 at 20:59
It doesn’t really matter because if there is one thing Firefly has already taught us is that we’ll all be speaking Chinese 482 years from now ;-p