In days of old a King meant something. They were rulers, chosen by God. They had divine claim to the land and its people. They bore the glory and responsibility of a nation, every victory and every defeat was laid at their feet. Nowadays any player who does half decent in a match of Siege gets called king.
Nicknames in esports are important. Sure, not as important as winning the tournaments for life changing amounts of money, but still important. A nickname represents a way to sum up a player’s reputation, legacy, or accomplishments in a tight package. This separates a nickname from a handle because a handle is chosen by the player themself, a nickname is earned or granted by the community. One would think by earning the moniker of ‘king’ a player or coach has dominated, made big plays, and can lay claim to owning their region or the world.
Unfortunately, Siege’s community left their brain behind in Year 4. I’ve heard so many players be referred to as a ‘king,’ sometimes multiple people in the same match. Everyone and their mother is a king. But as the classic line from The Incredibles goes, “When everyone’s super no one will be” holds true. The entire scene is filled with kings, the name doesn’t mean anything. It’s fluff. A fleeting title everyone gets called but is gone after the play, after the map, after the series. Getting called king means nothing at this point.
In Call of Duty Scump isn’t just a king, he’s The King. It says something about his career, his reputation. This is a player that came in and has done work winning trophies, being one of the best players in the world doing it. No one else in CoD gets referred to as a king. Stewie2k was the Smoke Criminal, Twistzz is the Magician, ChrisJ the Wolf of Wall Street. These are unique titles that no one else can lay claim to.
What makes this frustrating is that we do have good nicknames in the scene. Benjamaster is The Solution, something he lived up to by winning G2 a hammer. Fabian is the God Emperor on account of his persona and his contribution to the original G2 dynasty. njr is the Mayor. I don’t know why, but regardless it elicits images of a mayor in the wild west laying down the law. It’s not as if the Siege community can’t hand out good nicknames, we simply choose not to. We rely on basic names and borrow from other titles.
Every time I hear someone in a match of Siege be called the Clutch Minister it’s hollow because I know the original. I know how oppressive it was to see this one Dane win every 1vX he was in, in Counter Strike. I don’t need a discount R6 edition, we can come up with something else more relevant to our game and that particular player.
The best part is, this isn’t’t as much work as it seems. Not every pro needs a nickname. In fact, most shouldn’t get one. Only players that standout through accomplishments, reputation, or iconic plays need a nickname. For example, Canadian is someone who should get one. He’s the GOAT IGL, two time SI winner, and is one of the few remaining Year 1 pros. You’re telling me there’s nothing we can call this guy beyond Canadian or Troy? Unlikely. Lets promise to call him something other than King Canada.