At Electronic Arts, we believe in the power of positive play and championing outstanding sportpersonship. After presenting our first-ever Positive Player Award to Evan “Verhulst” Verhulst within our Apex Legends Global Series community last year, we’re excited to extend the award to the Madden Championship Series (MCS) to honor the competitor most dedicated to positive play.
After thousands of members of the Madden community cast their votes, SL1MGHOST was crowned the first-ever Positive Player Award winner for MCS.
A lifelong Madden player, SL1MGHOST had this to say about winning the award: “I've always tried to look out for people in a positive way. This is truly amazing. I want to thank all the competitors. I do a lot behind the scenes to try to make sure everybody's okay, to make it positive… You know, this is probably the best award that I've gotten in my lifetime.”
Those who nominated SL1MGHOST say he’s a calm, positive presence during competition even when it’s just down to his opponent. He’s also known for going out of his way to help grow the community by sharing playbook strategies, answering viewer questions, and spreading positivity. This is especially evident through his work organizing fan-run Madden tournaments and prizes for participants.
“The Positive Player Award at Electronic Arts was created to recognize the spirit of sportspersonship among our global community of players,” said Monica Dinsmore, Senior Director of Esports Brand and Marketing at Electronic Arts (EA). “To us, this means demonstrating the generous and respectful treatment of others, acting as an honorable opponent during competition, welcoming new players into our community, and setting the standard for what it means to be a positive role model – all of which SL1MGHOST has demonstrated throughout the MCS season. This award embodies our commitment to fostering positive experiences for our players, and we believe that acknowledging the character of those individuals that represent it most will help us create a warm and welcoming environment to play positively together.”
Looking to the future, SL1MGHOST wants to keep building positivity within the Madden community: “I've always just tried to push the narrative forward, with the community we’ve built, I just feel like competitors have a voice. I've always felt like that. I've always felt like we are our own people and we drive the game. We play the game, We spend hours and hours and hours of the game. So it's like, why not push the narrative to try to make it better, you know?”
And massive congratulations to our finalists –JonBeast, PIHCAM, and VADimes for also being positive figures within the MCS community.