The Gaming Intern is a series that follows *SCAPE’s Intern Kay as they go around interviewing the leaders of various local esports communities. It aims to achieve a deeper understanding of esports topics, and allows us to see them through the eyes of the leaders themselves. In this article, we interviewed a leader from the Rainbow 6 Singapore Community (R6SC).
R6SC is an esports community that has been onboarded here at *SCAPE, holding regular events physically for the video game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. We got the chance to talk with one of their younger leaders, Rin, who has been a part of the community since 2020, to find out more about the community and their efforts behind the scenes.
For a lot of communities here at *SCAPE, there is a recurring problem where the current community leaders have problems finding new and younger leaders to step up. As a result, the longevity of communities might be at stake when there isn’t a ready pool of leaders to replace the existing ones as they get older. However, R6SC has been successful in doing so seamlessly, and via this interview, we attempt to find out how.
For youths who are interested in participating in their tournaments, do look out for their announcements via our *SCAPEesports Discord [Join here! https://discord.gg/gK6zaS8m3y]
(Rin from R6SC during the interview with *SCAPE Intern Kay)
Give us a brief rundown of what R6SC does.
Rin: R6SC stands for Rainbow Six Siege Singapore community. Rainbow Six Siege is a 5v5 FPS (first person shooter) game. The community started with 2 people who wanted to create a community together, quikz and HiPSTRF0X, and have events. From there, we grew into a massive community, and here we are today!
If you could say 1 word to convince people to come to your events, what word would it be?
Rin: “Exciting”! It is really exciting to see the community come together for offline events especially. To see the people screaming and shouting, cheering for one another, it is really exciting since this game is truly competitive.
(SWEATFEST May event photo, courtesy of R6SC)
What has been your personal journey with R6SC?
Rin: I personally started the game quite late. Rainbow Six Siege [game title] itself started in around 2015-2016, and I started playing it around 2020. I managed to chance upon R6SC’s community Discord via a mutual friend. From there, I got to meet everyone. I’ve only been here [R6SC community] for 2 years, so I am still a new face.
How did you become a leader for R6SC?
Rin: I really liked the game and I really wanted to give something back. Since they started in 2019, once COVID started, they’ve only done online events. They have been welcoming to the players too. Since I was very passionate about the game, I wanted to be able to give, in a way. I asked quikz [another leader in R6SC] if I could help out with graphic design, and they accepted me as a volunteer. It just went off from there.
Getting new leaders seems to rely a lot on the youth taking initiative. What happens if down the road, no one wants to step up?
Rin: That is actually a very common problem. Sometimes, youth may not step up to the challenge, and it is usually because they are quite shy and don’t know how to go about it. What R6SC does is that we have created volunteer drives. When needed, we make an announcement to let the community know that we are open to volunteers. As long as you’ve got the passion, you can help out in whichever way you can.
(Rin from R6SC during the interview with *SCAPE Intern Kay)
And now we have access to the R6SC secret recipe. Before we wrap up, could you promote R6SC one last time?
Rin: Do join us in our Discord channel! We also have a Facebook group and Instagram! We really look forward to seeing new faces, regardless of whether you’re new [to the game] or not. It is always refreshing and exciting to see new people coming in. We’re always ready to welcome you with open arms!
Gaming Intern’s In-A-Nutshell:
A final word and insight from Intern Kay
Through the interview, we have found R6SC’s secret to being able to constantly find new fresh faces for leaders: a welcoming environment with many readily available opportunities.
R6SC thrives on having many chances for members of their community to step up. According to Rin, the youth aren’t readily coming up perhaps due to the fact that they are afraid to do so, but having volunteering drives is a good way of encouraging people to come on board in a less intimidating way. It is not as scary as telling a community leader directly that you are interested in taking on leadership roles, which might be daunting, especially when one might be unsure if they are fully ready to commit to the leadership role. Instead, having simple volunteer drives eases them in by allowing the youth to help out on a smaller scale and see what is in store for them should they continue down the path of leadership.
Having a welcoming environment is the next step after having the leadership opportunities. When the leaders are encouraging and accepting of the fresh faces, it becomes easier for the potential youth leaders to want to transition to bigger roles.
From R6SC, we can see that a lot of the initiative also comes from the side of the community’s leaders. Instead of waiting for youth to come up and volunteer their services, they openly call for volunteers regardless of experience, which appears to be capable of allowing the youth to realise that they want to be a part of the community’s leaders.
