When did playing videogames become a sport? They seriously have this crap on ESPN2, a channel that's supposed to be about actual athletics, not dorks playing Madden, Street Fighter, and whatever-fps. What's worse? This or drone racing?
E-sports...seriously?
When did playing videogames become a sport? They seriously have this crap on ESPN2, a channel that's supposed to be about actual athletics, not dorks playing Madden, Street Fighter, and whatever-fps. What's worse? This or drone racing?
Yeah, it's pretty dumb in my book, but I fully admit to being out of touch with how kids enjoy games these days. Such a large portion of younger folks prefer watching let's plays and reactions over hands-on playing. They're a built in audience for this stuff that mainstream media is trying to figure out a way to cash in on.
It's not that strange for people to prefer watching video games being played rather than actually playing them, not with how mediocre modern games are in terms of gameplay. It's really no different than watching other people play sports on TV while listening to an announcer, rather than actually going outside and playing the sport yourself. I'm pretty sure watching the Superbowl is a pretty popular thing to do. Actually going outside to play football, not so much.
A lot of things now considered sports are really just competitions, which aren't really the same things. Competitive eating or speed eating is considered a sport, even though it's pretty much as far from athletic as possible. Unlike with most sports, with competitive eating the better you are at it, the worse your health actually is.
At least drone racing would be on the same page as model airplane and RC car racing which takes some technical skills to assemble, craft, and hone your vehicle of choice. That's really if you think of it somewhat on the level of a poor mans entry into stuff like full size plane or race car racing, just lacking the physical endurance of being in the machine itself.
But video games? Sure they take thumb skill and smarts to know the AI or opponent, but it's not a sport in the least damn bit. For ESPN to running this is disgusting. I guess with G4 belly up someone had to fill the nerd gap, surprisingly not Spike TV. And to think dodgeball gets relegated to the Ocho (ESPN 8.)
E-SPHATS!
people win big monies playing that shit though, look at DOTA 2 prize pools.
if I were playing a game and did well enough that some team wanted me to join eh?
I mean I guess if I were playing overwatch and I got an invite to some sort of play off I mean why the fuck not? if I win money I win money if I don't I took some time off of work to travel and play a game I liked to potentially win money, and I still got paid because I have mad stacks of PTO
Whatever floats people's boats. People have been setting up local video game tournaments pretty much as long as video games have been around, and this is essentially the same thing but on a grander scale. Certain genres, like fighting games, are all about the competitive multiplayer, so it's only natural that the best would seek out others at their skill level, and those who aren't that good would be interested in watching the best in action. And back in the day, games were about high scores, either setting a personal best or beating everybody else's scores on a public cabinet. I don't think the big deal our retro gaming community has made about people like Billy Mitchell is any less silly than people watching or obsessing over modern "e-sports" players.
What's worse is that esports ruin the communities of any said game. When you have money on the line, people tend to treat you like shit if your terribad or new at a game.Originally Posted by FieryReign
League of Legends is the biggest example...
Come join us on Micro-64
Daigo would be garbage at it if it's not fighting. He rarely ever plays anything other than Capcom fighters and he's ranked no where near the top in the Street Fighter 5 tournaments. I'm sure many of us that are naturally good at gaming would be this good if we've only played the same game day in and day out.
Maybe people just watch and are like. "Man, I wish I was this good, but I'm just a shitty gamer." They wouldn't be garbage if they actually played instead of watching someone else play on Twitch all day long.
Everything in the above post is opinion unless stated otherwise.
This is still mystifying to me. I mean, clearly by the reactions in that video, there's an audience, but I really don't get it. The rush in a 2D fighter comes from playing for me, not watching. To me, watching a 2D fighter has always meant "waiting my turn." The stutter step/parry/light hit into super combo here is dull as fuck, but that audience sure was into it, so I think that this is a case where I just don't get it, likely never will, and have to just step aside and let these folks have their fun.
Shitty fight like that gives me false hopes and makes me think I could play some fighters competitively, though, if that's high level play in Street Fighter. Lord knows I won't, but I guess I'm just surprised that such a simple formula is top level.
Last edited by celerystalker; 02-17-2017 at 09:50 AM.
Might not look like theres alot going on, but there is. Alot of technique and strategy are required to play fighters at a competative level.
http://sonichurricane.com/?page_id=1702
if you wanna be seriously good at fighters you gotta work on your footsies
TBH watching *any* gameplay video bores me to tears and reminds me of that exact same thing: waiting on my turn with the controller. Sure I can get some enjoyment or information from watching some high-level play or glean some strategy from actually seeing gameplay techniques in action, but that's 5-second highlight reel clip material. A multi-hour live stream of Juan Doe slogging through Pokemon Ruby from the title screen? 2 dudes poorly playing co-op in a game that neither one is knowledgeable about nor did any prepwork or practice runs beforehand? Faceless Youtuber #984509's live stream impressions of a 30 second reveal trailer?
Here's something I don't get on esports. Like mentioned before, big tymers of the 80's score attack games attracted people to the arcades. But, in those instances, people cared only about the end result (or the last few seconds) not the entire gameplay session. Nobody gives a shit about the first 10 hours of your perfect Pac-Man game, they only want to see that killscreen or the final high score.
With fighting games you can at least see everything that is going on. You see everything happening at once in realtime and you're also seeing the exact same thing the competitors are seeing. In a weird way it's not too far removed from watching a real fight, boxing, or MMA match. Watching it live and unfolding right before your eyes obviously adds to the enjoyment.
Now, imagine I herded 12 of the best Call of Duty players into a room. These guys have legitimate skills in the game. The know the maps, they know the strategies, they know what techniques to use and when to use them. Once the game starts, how can I even possibly convey this to any audience, especially a live TV one? It's totally impossible. All you can to is skip between viewpoints, praying the one you're on does something cool, and if not throw up a highlight clip *after* it's happened.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
