Emily Gera, a senior British reporter at Polygon, recently coded an interactive fiction game emulating the “mind of a Kotaku commenter” — shorthand for what she sees as some of the best lines from the internet’s most bigoted, misogynistic pigs.

There’s only one emotion at play here: disgust. And since the motivations of women-haters are about as reasonable as those of racists — that is, completely unreasonable — I’ve never really understood how anyone could feel anything else.

We’ve all been here before. And we all keep revisiting the same bloody topic, talking about the disgusting, abhorrent behaviour of lobotomised trolls. But what’s so confounding and infuriating about the entire affair is not so much that it keeps happening, but that it seems almost singularly impossible, almost as if the internet itself wills it so, to have a constructive discussion on the matter.

A component that is essential to the success of a live event is the art of commentary, although it’s hardly understood and often unappreciated. To glean some wisdom on the nuances of this dark art, I spoke to one of Australia’s most prominent StarCraft 2 casters: Leigh “Maynarde” Mandalov.

In this week’s Sunday eSports, Alex Walker tackles a major bugbear: the fact that many gamers who call themselves “professionals” simply aren’t.

A good eSport title needs a varied mix of maps and modes, and gameplay with enough variety to allow for time between matches to strategise, re-think, and re-arm. Black Ops 2‘s non-stop frag-festival is more like a Michael Bay movie than a game, which is a shame — as downtime is just as important to a successful competitive game as the action itself, explains Alex Walker.

A week after Australians and New Zealanders enjoyed one of the biggest weekends in professional gaming, two Australians immediately begin gearing up for something even bigger. Alex Walker looks back at a crazy month.

This weekend, one of the largest contingent of Australians and New Zealanders than ever before will take part in two of the world’s biggest gaming tournaments. But while playing in an overseas competition is the one of the pinnacles of gaming, the barriers in doing so are also some of the most difficult to overcome. Alex Walker explains.

A divide has always existed within gaming, a historical canyon that has made it difficult to connect the medium with mainstream culture. That divide has since narrowed over the last few years, thanks to the growth of consoles, mobile gaming and a general shift in attitudes over time.

But the gap between casual and even hardcore gamers to the competitive community is still as large as ever, even with the popularity of games like DOTA 2 and League of Legends. One movement that has helped bring fans out of the woodwork, however, has been the BarCraft movement around the world.

Peter Du is a member of the Australian Pro League, which hosts BarCraft and MOBAR events in Sydney. I sat down with him to chat about how it all got started, what makes them so popular and how the growth of Barcraft/MOBAR has affected the image of gaming not only with gamers but with the wider community.

Playing with the metagame in something as hotly contested as StarCraft 2 is always going to cause plenty of consternation. So what do the people who put their heart and soul into the game think about it? Alex Walker rounded up several prominent local players to find out.

One of the most difficult aspects of tournament play is holding your nerve, finding the strength to recover from a humiliating loss and making the best decisions under pressure. Most players often spend years learning the tricks of the trade, finding their own ways to cope and their own methods of squeezing out that extra 1% or 2% that could be the difference between winning and losing.

But it doesn’t have to be a hard slog in solitary confinement. One of the greatest advantages of the internet is being able to learn from others – and there’s no better person to ask than a gamer when it comes to dealing with tournaments. So I rounded up three hardened pros and asked them how they coped in the heat of battle.

There has always been a series of structural challenges that Australia’s eSports scene would need to overcome to grow. But there are also a host of short-term issues that continue to surface. Alex Walker takes a look at some of the more pressing hassles.

Many people will have seen or watched a live tournament and perhaps even experienced a little bit of the drama and adrenaline that it brings. But few understand or even appreciate the effort involved into creating that experience for others. To better appreciate just how much work is required to make eSports happen, I spoke to the dean of planning: Derek “Dox” Reball.

The idea and industry of professional gaming aren’t going to go away, especially when gaming is becoming more socially acceptable and more common around the world. But there are some hurdles in the way before things can kick off in earnest down under, and it’s time to look at bringing together some of Australia’s bigger e-sports organisations for greater representation. Alex Walker discusses.