E-Sports--do you watch and what do you think about them?

[The Wykydtron]

Oh, awesome foreign shoutcasts eh? I believe nothing beats this:


ACEUUUUU!!!!

Anyway, I watch way too much LoL. Even match analysis type stuff, I have no idea when the World Finals stream starts tonight since i'm in UK time and I have no fucking idea. Probably like one in the morning or someth-oh it's on right now. How much have I missed? Fawk. And there's a Lux mid on one team. Awesome. She gets next to no attention and it's heartbreaking.

I used to watch UMVC3 matches but i've slowed down on them lately.

To be perfectly honest E-Sports are a lot more entertaining than RL sports. Compare a Football (that's Soccer if you're wrong) match to a UMVC3 or LoL shoutcast... Yeah watching a ball roll around is so interesting

 

[RaikuFA]

lol @ esports.

Till they learn how to not be sore winners and/or accept newcomers they're a joke

 

[Driekan]

I used to jump quite a few hoops to be able to watch Korean Starcraft matches way back in the day. Was one of the better players in my region, actually made a bit of money playing it.

Nowadays I don't have as much time (or reflexes...), but the top sports I enjoy watching are, without a shadow of a doubt, Starcraft and Starcraft 2.

lol @ esports.

Till they learn how to not be sore winners and/or accept newcomers they're a joke

How do you mean?

 

[Andy Shandy]

I would probably watch if they covered game genres that I play.

Alas, they don't so I don't watch them.

 

[Legion]

I don't even like watching "real" sports, so I sure as hell do not have an interest in watching other people play video games.

Not when I could spend my time actually playing them myself.

 

[krazykidd]

lol @ esports.

Till they learn how to not be sore winners and/or accept newcomers they're a joke

Yeah! And we should let casual basketball players play in leagues with the pros! /sarcasm .

I like wathing fighting games mostly . As someone who plays fighting games what the pros do isn't as easy as it looks , and the meta game is rediculious.

 

[RaikuFA]

I used to jump quite a few hoops to be able to watch Korean Starcraft matches way back in the day. Was one of the better players in my region, actually made a bit of money playing it.

Nowadays I don't have as much time (or reflexes...), but the top sports I enjoy watching are, without a shadow of a doubt, Starcraft and Starcraft 2.

lol @ esports.

Till they learn how to not be sore winners and/or accept newcomers they're a joke

How do you mean?

Watch that Cross Assault for how people in esports act. And with my experience with online gaming it dosen't look like it's gonna change soon.

 

[RaikuFA]

lol @ esports.

Till they learn how to not be sore winners and/or accept newcomers they're a joke

Yeah! And we should let casual basketball players play in leagues with the pros! /sarcasm .

I like wathing fighting games mostly . As someone who plays fighting games what the pros do isn't as easy as it looks , and the meta game is rediculious.

Or you know you're not allowed to join the Pee Wee hockey team until you beat Wayne Gretsky in a 1 on 1 match.

That's how the FGC and it's "arcade mentality" acts like. Until it changes, I can't take esports seriously.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm a fan of SC2, I think I actually got introduced to SC1 on the Escapist in an article and it was just before the SC2 beta in the end I just followed it all the way through.


'm a huge fan of The Little One and check out his stream a lot.

I sometimes watch LoL which I find surprisingly addicting but can never work out why. Most of the strategy in LoL is pretty non visual, a lot of numbers that you won't see and if you do see them, it's hard to get an intuitive grasp of. There's not a whole lot of flexibility in overall strategy, changing around with lanes and compositions and stuff is practically looked down upon. Matches snowball from a couple of engagements...but darn if I don't keep coming back to watch it.


It does make me think a lot about the concept of competitive sports and competitive games though. In SC2 during the beta it was great because everyone was throwing crazy builds at each other, but like chess, as time has gone on, more and more builds have been eliminated as not worth while and the pool of acceptable moves has shrunk. But there's also a more sophisticated taste from seeing matches and knowing that every facet has been carefully worked out by the player.

The problem with E-Sports is the skill isn't quite so easily translated into human understanding as actual sports and there's a higher barrier of entry and the question comes up sooner, what is the point of all this?

Which reminds me, that having a job, even a fun job, might not be important if it's not a job that has the impact on people's lives that you desire, and it's pretty important to seek out the type of job you'll feel comfortable knowing that you make your living from it.

But generally it's fun to be on the edge, watch the generations of Pro-Gamers become older, the systems more formalised, new casters appear, new ideas infiltrate and news networks and opinion shows get created around it and suddenly shoutcasting or providing tactical insight into the game becomes a profession that you can actually make a living from. Exciting stuff

 

[The Madman]

Starcraft 2 can be fun to watch from time, even with a mediocre caster when you've got two really good players going at it it's almost guaranteed to be entertaining.

 

[zumbledum]

i do watch some LoL events like these WC's ill be dipping in and out of them , i dont know if i care its just TV to watch really. dont have a team i support just enjoy watching it.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

Mostly just Starcraft. Brood War's dead, sadly, but there's just so god damn much SC2 content out there.

I'll often watch bits of fighters or MOBAs during major events like Dreamhack or MLG while waiting for the next SC2 stream to pick up.

 

[Skin]

The International 2 was done really, really well. Everything else pales in comparison and not worth watching.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I regard E-Sports as I do ever other sport: people who enjoy it can carry on enjoying it but I just don't care. I don't watch, participate, etc. I do find it entertaining that people move to Seoul to pursue a career in Starcraft though.

 

[piinyouri]

I watched Arena a few times on G4 back in the day. Does that count?

 

[L0dest0ne]

I love watching pro StarCraft II matches. If it's got WhiteRa in it, I've seen it. He's a great player; really fun to watch.
Other than that, I watch the occasional Dota 2 match over lunch.

 

[Fishyash]

E-sports has turned a pretty nasty direction. I think making a good game takes more importance over making a good e-sport. For example, I dislike how Riot is agressively pushing the game to become an e-sport.

Now don't get me wrong, competetive gaming as a whole as awesome. Although it's more enjoyable watching a game you actually understand.

That's how the FGC and it's "arcade mentality" acts like. Until it changes, I can't take esports seriously.

But it's changing already, I think. I can see it changing, and that people are seeing how that "arcade mentality" is useless.

Arcades in the US and EU (in regards to fighting games) have died out (yes this really does change things a bit) and there are lots of youtube videos and forums dedicated to newcomers in helping them improve (which applies to pretty much any competetive video game).

Here's a slightly long-ish video about someone who knows more about this than I do.

 

[RaikuFA]

E-sports has turned a pretty nasty direction. I think making a good game takes more importance over making a good e-sport. For example, I dislike how Riot is agressively pushing the game to become an e-sport.

Now don't get me wrong, competetive gaming as a whole as awesome. Although it's more enjoyable watching a game you actually understand.

That's how the FGC and it's "arcade mentality" acts like. Until it changes, I can't take esports seriously.

But it's changing already, I think. I can see it changing, and that people are seeing how that "arcade mentality" is useless.

Arcades in the US and EU (in regards to fighting games) have died out (yes this really does change things a bit) and there are lots of youtube videos and forums dedicated to newcomers in helping them improve (which applies to pretty much any competetive video game).

Here's a slightly long-ish video about someone who knows more about this than I do.

Then why do I get chased away when I ask a question on a FG based site? Why do we keep hearing about the more famous ones going off on how newcomers wouldn't be allowed to play at their arcades?

 

[Driekan]

E-sports has turned a pretty nasty direction. I think making a good game takes more importance over making a good e-sport. For example, I dislike how Riot is agressively pushing the game to become an e-sport.

Now don't get me wrong, competetive gaming as a whole as awesome. Although it's more enjoyable watching a game you actually understand.

That's how the FGC and it's "arcade mentality" acts like. Until it changes, I can't take esports seriously.

But it's changing already, I think. I can see it changing, and that people are seeing how that "arcade mentality" is useless.

Arcades in the US and EU (in regards to fighting games) have died out (yes this really does change things a bit) and there are lots of youtube videos and forums dedicated to newcomers in helping them improve (which applies to pretty much any competetive video game).

Here's a slightly long-ish video about someone who knows more about this than I do.

Then why do I get chased away when I ask a question on a FG based site? Why do we keep hearing about the more famous ones going off on how newcomers wouldn't be allowed to play at their arcades?

I think there is a problem with the genre you enjoy, not with e-sports itself.

Example parallel conversation:

"I don't like sports. Don't watch them. I hate all the blood."

"What? Blood? I never see any blood when I'm watching football."

"I only watch MMA."

Outside of Idra, I don't think anyone trash talks or otherwise bullshits around SC2 pro matches. And even Idra is toning it down (or at the very least making it less retarded).