I find watching RTS e-sports tournaments of games that I love much more entertaining than Netflix/Sports. The commentators just love what they are casting and you can sense it in their voice. You get to see real players doing so many things at the same time, constantly adapting. All the while the viewer sees everything and knows everything while the players only see a small subset. It makes it all so unpredictable and entertaining.
I think what makes RTS great to watch is the same thing that made soccer the most watched sport in the world. The game is free-flowing, it's not repetative, decision-making on the spot matters and comebacks aren't very rare.
One bad fight in RTS might lose you the game. 2 minutes of bad defending might lose you a game you were 100% winning in soccer. Same in fighting sports (because of knock-out) and in chess (because of check-mate).
Meanwhile in basketball, volleyball, baseball, MOBA, FPS - if you're winning by 20% your chances of comeback are very low. If you're winning by 50% it's over.
TL; DR: games that are good to watch aren't linear.
Perhaps in the west we can connect the rise of e-Sports with a near future of them as the Next Big Thing.
I have nieces and nephews who loves videogames, but are often not invested enough in one to really master it. These kids spend more time watching youtube videos of other people playing games than actually playing them themselves. I hear it all the time, how mystified parents and grandparents are.
Fast forward 10-15 years. Those kids are adults with a love of the games, with a habit of spectating.
It's no different than football or tennis or hockey.
I'll be interested to see how the longevity of e-sports pans out. Most games will be woefully outdated after a decade: will the audience move to the next big game, or stay playing the old games? Or will video games eventually plateau to a point where significant technological advancements are no longer made?
This year saw a time where Chess became the top trending app on the App Store. The strength of traditional sports and games is their timelessness - can e-sports ever match that?
I've watched a few esports games, like Overwatch and Fortnite, and I have to say, they didn't quite grab my attention. The problem is, unless you really understand the ins and outs of the game, it's hard to tell if a player is doing something truly remarkable. I mean, how can we even be sure that the people we're watching are actually playing the game? They might just be pretending to hit keys and move their mouse, and we wouldn't know the difference!
Compare this to traditional sports like basketball, baseball, or hockey. When someone does something truly impressive, even someone who's not an expert in the sport can still appreciate it. There's no special knowledge needed to recognize an amazing shot, a great catch, or a stunning goal. It's just obvious.
So, until esports can make that same kind of connection with a broader audience, I don't think it's going to be a huge draw for a lot of people. Fans need to be able to clearly see and appreciate the skill and talent on display, without feeling like they're missing something or being left out. Once that happens, I think esports could really take off and become a major force in the world of sports and entertainment.
I disagree not with your overall point but with the extent to which game knowledge is necessary. I have never played baseball, I barely even know the rules, and watching a baseball match is incredibly boring to me. I can't appreciate it at all. It's literally just people randomly moving around to me. There is no difference to videogames here.
It certainly depends on the game, but you don't need to be an expert to appreciate some of the plays. A few days or weeks of gaming are usually enough to understand what's going on in professional matches and start enjoying them. That's the same as for traditional sports.
That was one of starcraft 2's game and graphic design criteria: it should be obvious to the viewer even if they don't have the game knowledge. Unfortunately the game flopped fairly hard in term of esport (relatively to expectation) along with the decline of RTS.
Early league of legends's character designs somewhat aims to achieve this as well, it only lasted for a couple of years though. Basically the issue is that when you keep adding content (characters, maps), the complexity just grew too much. Not quite exponentially, but definitely some kind of super-linear.
I think this is one advantage of traditional board games (chess, go) and sports in comparison to Esports. If I spend a couple years of my life learning the basics of Go, 10 years from now on, I will still be able to appreciate the game all the same. Can't say the same for any kind of esports -- and I did spend thousand of hours in a couple of them.
> Compare this to traditional sports like basketball, baseball, or hockey. When someone does something truly impressive, even someone who's not an expert in the sport can still appreciate it.
Incorrect. This is what people who are into sports think.
It doesn't matter how simplistic sports are, unless someone is into it, they simply don't care.
> Compare this to traditional sports like basketball, baseball, or hockey. When someone does something truly impressive, even someone who's not an expert in the sport can still appreciate it. There's no special knowledge needed to recognize an amazing shot, a great catch, or a stunning goal. It's just obvious.
As an European who played a lot of soccer and basketball and watches a lot of soccer - I find baseball totally unwatchable :) Not because I don't know the rules well, but because it's too static and predictable.
I have the same problem with volleyball and to some extent basketball - the game is a linear combination of repeating the same basic task dozens of times. Whoever succeeds more times wins. So by the half-time you usually know who will win. And there's very little space for creativity.
Meanwhile in RTS and in soccer it's pretty common to win the game for 80% of the time only to lose it because of 1 big mistake or 1 brilliant play. This possibility makes them more entertaining even when it doesn't materialize - because you can hope or be afraid of a come-back.
This is IMHO why I enjoyed watching StarCraft 2 more than Dota 2 or FPS games even before I started playing SC2.
Isn't it pretty obvious when someone gets multiple frags? Saves their team? This isn't any different then the running back going through the other team. It's pretty obvious
Strategy games are generally much more entertaining to watch than FPS games. Age of Empires 2 (yes, that one) is relatively easy to follow with a good announcer/caster such as "T90" on Youtube. Other big esports like Dota can be a lot of fun to watch, but require nontrivial knowledge of the game to really understand what's going on.
Try watching the remarkable machinations of genius-level chess players like GM Hikaru for a more familiar grounding.
ChessBrah might draw the casual user in with their blindfold bullet set to cool techno; the Botez sisters with their energy and wit.
E-sports has completely revitalised my love of chess and drawn many new non-players in by the demonstrations of streamers like the above of it's brilliance, variety and sheer, unadulterated fun.
Interestingly, as someone who watches/watched a few esports (typically games I've played as well – StarCraft, CS:GO) I felt the other way around with traditional sports. I don't really know the rules, nor can I make sense of what makes a good move in the game.
>At Seoul Game Academy, a chain of schools in South Korea’s capital, 3,000 students aged nine and up (roughly 99% of them boys) hone their skills at nine games in hopes of becoming full time “e-sports” athletes.
That's just sad. The level of grind it takes to become pro is nuts. For every one professional player or streamer there's a countless number of people that have wasted their lives on this stuff.
The scale is such that to be good it's very often a case of mastering a zero-sum game. Rote repetition until it becomes [hand] muscle memory. The same shit, over and over, until your eyes bleed.
Aged nine and up? Just let the kids have fun. High-level e-Sports should be considered child abuse at that age.
FaZe went public via a SPAC, so this outcome isn't totally unexpected. It isn't a commentary on the success of e-sports any more than the various tech SPACs are for the tech industry as a whole.
A few years ago, I took my son to the CS:GO Major Championship in my city. It was held in a university's arena, and my son was excited to go. Even though I'm a gamer myself, I was very "meh" about being up to my armpits in e-sports fanatics, and was expecting something like LAN party writ large.
I was completely unprepared for the spectacle I beheld when we walked into the arena. It was an atmosphere to rival any professional sports events, complete with over-the-top lights, announcers, and a boisterous crowd. It was completely awesome, with crowd oohing, aahing, and cheering to amazing plays.
Most of esports is not profitable. Events are usually run for the love of the game as opposed to trying to make money. Or there is VC money which they are unlikely to find a return on.
Most esports is marketing by the game developer, produced at a loss to retain player interest and sell the dream. Having pros to watch makes the game more fun and feel legitimate. There's a reason casters hype player skill non-stop.
Scenes actually run for the love of the game are Melee + anything tiny
The only independent esport that is kinda self-sustaining is Korean Brood War, been divorced from blizzard for a long time and still going strong w sponsorships and ad revenue.
Yep, one game I follow Hearthstone Battlegrounds has had a majority of funding for events slashed by Activision Blizzard. Very unfortunate for the professional players who are incentivised more to be successful streamers rather than competitive gamers and us fans.
If you are disputing the whole point of the article directly like that, you'll have to provide a source.
There's a lot of sponsor money involved, big organizations with multiple teams for different games traveling to large events. Doesn't sound like they are all doing it for the love of the game.
Rocket league for one receives sponsorship from car companies, nike, movie studios, and even football clubs regularly. Their nike paint finishes were selling like hot cakes.
>Most of esports is not profitable. Events are usually run for the love of the game as opposed to trying to make money
That can be said about any sport. Broadcasting football is big business but most teams are not profitable and the players play for the love of the sport as opposed to trying to make money
> E-sports have yet to engage Western audiences quite as much. About 20% of Americans take an interest, according to a poll by Morning Consult—slightly less than follow horse-racing.
Huh. That's neat trivia. More westerners are interested in horse racing that e-sports. Thank you article.
for me the dream would be a competitive game where you could get exercise. like if you could race other people with your peloton online.
someone made a jank prototype of this for mario kart.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN6iYyGgqmA
[+] [-] crop_rotation|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ajuc|2 years ago|reply
One bad fight in RTS might lose you the game. 2 minutes of bad defending might lose you a game you were 100% winning in soccer. Same in fighting sports (because of knock-out) and in chess (because of check-mate).
Meanwhile in basketball, volleyball, baseball, MOBA, FPS - if you're winning by 20% your chances of comeback are very low. If you're winning by 50% it's over.
TL; DR: games that are good to watch aren't linear.
[+] [-] 8f2ab37a-ed6c|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RajT88|2 years ago|reply
I have nieces and nephews who loves videogames, but are often not invested enough in one to really master it. These kids spend more time watching youtube videos of other people playing games than actually playing them themselves. I hear it all the time, how mystified parents and grandparents are.
Fast forward 10-15 years. Those kids are adults with a love of the games, with a habit of spectating.
It's no different than football or tennis or hockey.
(Well - it's different than golf, which sucks...)
[+] [-] stocknoob|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] v_london|2 years ago|reply
This year saw a time where Chess became the top trending app on the App Store. The strength of traditional sports and games is their timelessness - can e-sports ever match that?
[+] [-] oidar|2 years ago|reply
Compare this to traditional sports like basketball, baseball, or hockey. When someone does something truly impressive, even someone who's not an expert in the sport can still appreciate it. There's no special knowledge needed to recognize an amazing shot, a great catch, or a stunning goal. It's just obvious.
So, until esports can make that same kind of connection with a broader audience, I don't think it's going to be a huge draw for a lot of people. Fans need to be able to clearly see and appreciate the skill and talent on display, without feeling like they're missing something or being left out. Once that happens, I think esports could really take off and become a major force in the world of sports and entertainment.
[+] [-] loveparade|2 years ago|reply
It certainly depends on the game, but you don't need to be an expert to appreciate some of the plays. A few days or weeks of gaming are usually enough to understand what's going on in professional matches and start enjoying them. That's the same as for traditional sports.
[+] [-] NhanH|2 years ago|reply
Early league of legends's character designs somewhat aims to achieve this as well, it only lasted for a couple of years though. Basically the issue is that when you keep adding content (characters, maps), the complexity just grew too much. Not quite exponentially, but definitely some kind of super-linear.
I think this is one advantage of traditional board games (chess, go) and sports in comparison to Esports. If I spend a couple years of my life learning the basics of Go, 10 years from now on, I will still be able to appreciate the game all the same. Can't say the same for any kind of esports -- and I did spend thousand of hours in a couple of them.
[+] [-] lelanthran|2 years ago|reply
Incorrect. This is what people who are into sports think.
It doesn't matter how simplistic sports are, unless someone is into it, they simply don't care.
[+] [-] ajuc|2 years ago|reply
As an European who played a lot of soccer and basketball and watches a lot of soccer - I find baseball totally unwatchable :) Not because I don't know the rules well, but because it's too static and predictable.
I have the same problem with volleyball and to some extent basketball - the game is a linear combination of repeating the same basic task dozens of times. Whoever succeeds more times wins. So by the half-time you usually know who will win. And there's very little space for creativity.
Meanwhile in RTS and in soccer it's pretty common to win the game for 80% of the time only to lose it because of 1 big mistake or 1 brilliant play. This possibility makes them more entertaining even when it doesn't materialize - because you can hope or be afraid of a come-back.
This is IMHO why I enjoyed watching StarCraft 2 more than Dota 2 or FPS games even before I started playing SC2.
[+] [-] 12345hn6789|2 years ago|reply
Isn't it pretty obvious when someone gets multiple frags? Saves their team? This isn't any different then the running back going through the other team. It's pretty obvious
[+] [-] nerdponx|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hippari2|2 years ago|reply
It's not. This is like saying anyone appreciates classical music.
[+] [-] mellosouls|2 years ago|reply
ChessBrah might draw the casual user in with their blindfold bullet set to cool techno; the Botez sisters with their energy and wit.
E-sports has completely revitalised my love of chess and drawn many new non-players in by the demonstrations of streamers like the above of it's brilliance, variety and sheer, unadulterated fun.
[+] [-] ygra|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] billfruit|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rl3|2 years ago|reply
That's just sad. The level of grind it takes to become pro is nuts. For every one professional player or streamer there's a countless number of people that have wasted their lives on this stuff.
The scale is such that to be good it's very often a case of mastering a zero-sum game. Rote repetition until it becomes [hand] muscle memory. The same shit, over and over, until your eyes bleed.
Aged nine and up? Just let the kids have fun. High-level e-Sports should be considered child abuse at that age.
[+] [-] 8f2ab37a-ed6c|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dual_dingo|2 years ago|reply
There is money to be made. That clearly is more important, don't you think? /s
Also, this is not new - in music, real sports, chess and other fields, young children have been abused in that way for ages, all over the world.
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] lelanthran|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] atdrummond|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Jensson|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paxys|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fatnoah|2 years ago|reply
I was completely unprepared for the spectacle I beheld when we walked into the arena. It was an atmosphere to rival any professional sports events, complete with over-the-top lights, announcers, and a boisterous crowd. It was completely awesome, with crowd oohing, aahing, and cheering to amazing plays.
[+] [-] charcircuit|2 years ago|reply
Most of esports is not profitable. Events are usually run for the love of the game as opposed to trying to make money. Or there is VC money which they are unlikely to find a return on.
[+] [-] sdwr|2 years ago|reply
Ex. Valorant, Overwatch, WoW, LoL (maybe actually profitable?), DotA.
Scenes actually run for the love of the game are Melee + anything tiny
The only independent esport that is kinda self-sustaining is Korean Brood War, been divorced from blizzard for a long time and still going strong w sponsorships and ad revenue.
[+] [-] jackgolding|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dewey|2 years ago|reply
There's a lot of sponsor money involved, big organizations with multiple teams for different games traveling to large events. Doesn't sound like they are all doing it for the love of the game.
There's single teams that are valued > $500m: https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/esports-ecosyst...
[+] [-] bleazoman|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rypskar|2 years ago|reply
That can be said about any sport. Broadcasting football is big business but most teams are not profitable and the players play for the love of the sport as opposed to trying to make money
[+] [-] laserbeam|2 years ago|reply
Huh. That's neat trivia. More westerners are interested in horse racing that e-sports. Thank you article.
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