First Lt. Ryan Deopante, an 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Soldier, dives into some Street Fighter V at the Warrior Zone on East Fort Bliss, Oct. 10. Deopante is a member of the Army eSports team and is slated to be its next executive officer. (Photo by David Poe, USAG Fort Bliss)

Master of the Megazord: Q&A with 11th ADA Patriot officer, top Army eSports gamer, part II of II

By David Poe, USAG Fort Bliss

Continued from the Oct. 17 edition of the Fort Bliss Bugle

What was the game that started you off as a competitive gamer? 

Street Fighter IV. The characters are good – you have to research. I happen to have had a supportive mom who took me to the tournaments – she took me to my first tournament and I lost to the first Street Fighter player who was the first to play internationally against the Japanese. I lost to a legend. That was my first loss. That’s when I knew I had to get better. 

Who’s the best Street Fighter character to play as?

It’s one that’s not even in [Street Fighter V]. It’s called Makoto. She’s “zero-to-100,” you’re either walking really slow, or dashing in really fast. It’s in your face – it’s a ball of energy. If you don’t keep up with me, you’re going to get trampled. Attack-attack-attack. 

Who do you like to play as in Street Fighter V?

Zangief – the Russian – and Akuma, who’s been the bad guy since Street Fighter II. The character doesn’t matter though, it’s how much knowledge you have about [your opponent’s character] and how you punish their mistakes. 

So it’s more about the competition than the trophies when it comes to competitive gaming?  

A lot of it is psychology – conditioning. Get him to try and grab, and hit him when he misses. There’s something in Street Fighter called “footsies;” in fighting, like UFC, it’s that moment before they start clashing [is when] they’re trying to read how to get in. One guy is going for the grapple, or the kick, while the other is hanging back to block. In fighting, when you land that first strike, or in fighting games, when you have them on the floor, that’s when you have that advantage. 

Lesson learned for me, the term “gamer” has evolved. What used to be escaping from the real world has become another realm of it. With the evolution of technology, this generation of gamer isn’t locked in their basements anymore. They’re facing off in tournaments worldwide and repping themselves and their teammates in virtual settings of all kinds. They’re on their phones, slicing their way through Augmented Reality scenarios with complex challenges that are more difficult than avoiding the ghosts on Pac-man. 

The virtual landscape continues to creep into the actual landscape. You’re going to burn less calories on the eSports football field than you will on the actual one, but many of the lessons learned can be found on both. The Army wants Soldiers like Deopante to use his skills and his affable and hyper-driven nature, honed in the arcades of his youth, to help them find tomorrow’s Soldiers.

“There are already thousands of current Soldiers who are competitive online gamers. Now we are giving them a chance to use their talents to help us relate to and connect with other young gamers,” Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, the commanding general for U.S. Army Recruiting Command, said in a December 2018 Army.mil story. “If we are going to be successful in recruiting, then we need to be where young people are – and they are operating in the digital world.” 

Simplified, Deopante and Soldiers like him have made their games a reality of sorts through military service. They now have the chance to be the heroes they play as in the virtual arena and, through Recruiting Command, they’re on the lookout for recruits just like them. If Deopante is any indication, the accomplished competitive gamer’s drive to study opponents, be the “first to fire,” and win every single match isn’t really about trophies at all. It’s about problem-solving, thinking outside of the box and wanting to be the best at everything they do, all with a take-on-all-comers attitude. 

“[Competitive gaming] is a sense of self expression on a 2-D plane,” he said. “Beating people is part of it, losing is part of it. That’s life man, that’s really it. Just like in the Army, when you go on deployment and come back – the job is not over. Get ready to do it again.”