Permastunned Set New Guinness World Record As Largest Esports Team For People With Disabilities
Update: 2022-12-04 15:20 IST
Permastunned Set New Guinness World Record As Largest Esports Team For People With Disabilities
Gaming Permastunned achieved the Guinness World record for the 'largest esports team for persons with disabilities,' having been founded in 2019." Alexander Nathan, also known as "Cristal1337," a gamer from Belgium, had the idea for the collective initially.
The underrepresentation of players with impairments in the professional Dota2 scene has always worried me, Alexander writes on the Permastunned Gaming website. Alexander, a dedicated gamer who excels at the online multiplayer war arena Dota 2, has Congenital Muscular Myopathy.
In January 2019, he established Permastunned Gaming with three other players and streamers with the primary objective of creating the first Dota 2 team made up only of disabled players. From the beginning, Permastunned committed themselves to more than "just" taking part in events or streaming content on Twitch and YouTube. They were much more than a competitive team.
They constantly encourage more inclusive gaming practises as part of their ideology. They help level the playing field for everyone by increasing awareness of the structural disabilities that a large portion of the community experiences.
Around 1994, Alexander first used his Play Station 1. Alexander played football but had limited sporting options due to his muscular condition. Despite this, he has spent his entire life playing video games.
Alexander recalls that after starting Permastunned, a relatively small initiative quickly grew "in the best way conceivable" after three years. The global collective grew and expanded; as of right now, 33 people from all over the world are a part of it. Their roster of content producers includes YouTubers and streamers, and they also sell merchandise.
Esports should, on paper, represent the pinnacle of accessibility, but events, gatherings, and even games create barriers to diversity. Gamers are further prevented from fully appreciating the gaming experience by the venues' lack of infrastructure, alt text, and subtitles.
The fact that the majority of competitions today forbid equipment with adaptations is just one of many examples. Although the worry is legitimate and serves to prevent cheating, it presents an impassable obstacle for players with disabilities.