Topic: Video games as a spectator sport?

[bustin98]

Some people are trying to get video games in the Olympics. Would you watch?

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Cool beans

[JonLeung]

I watch my brother play games and more often he watches me, but most of the time they are adventure games and he's just wanting to catch enough snippets of the story.



When I think of games in major competitions, I usually think of first-person shooters.  But like those sports featured in the Olympics, competitive games don't have to feature defeating of the other players by being the last one standing.  I suppose they could have racing games and whatnot where doing something in as little time as possible is the goal.



I'm all for increased exposure of video games, but it would depend on which games.  I think too many people already think all games are shooters or GTA clones.



And the thing about the Olympics is that you get to watch people do physical feats that you can't do.  Now maybe most people can't do things in video games with the kind of skill that I imagine the top gamers can do but I think it's limited as to how much better it would look to the untrained eye.  Or something.  I can be at awe at someone who flips and flexes and flies a certain way with their body, especially when I know I can't, but seeing someone do anything in a video game where it's just button/key presses at the right time, well, that's not really all that impressive.



In short, most video games meant for competition (racing and shooting, at least) aren't exactly spectator-friendly.

[Dan]

I said "Yes, but only on TV" because I don't even attend my favorite sports matches.  Heck, I already watch some professional Korean gamers play Starcraft via .avis that are released, so that made this choice even easier!

[TerraEsperZ]

Not really. What used to be cool, back when I used to have a really crappy computer compared to my old roommate, was when he'd play a game but we'd both be doing the thinking (in fact, I'd mainly do the thinking and he'd mostly do the fighting). Unreal was a cool game to get through as a duo.



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[Revned]

My sister much prefers watching me play to actually playing herself. She's not very good, so she likes it better when I do the hard stuff. I do like watching really good gamers play, like in speed runs, but I'd probably never watch them on TV.

[TerraEsperZ]

There's a TV channel here in Quebec dealing mainly with science-fiction and technology shows that has a show where teams of players fight each others in games like Warcraft III while the hosts try to sound intelligent while commenting on the battles. They don't obviously, and it's really boring to watch.



I too enjoy speedruns. Heck, I'd really enjoy videos of a normal play-through for certain games, particularily adventure ones.



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[bustin98]

I'd like to watch speed runs, just to try it for myself later on.



I would love to be at Quake-con and walk behind everyone and watch the glibs fly. But only for so long before I get all itchy finger and start thinking I could take them all on.



I can't see myself rooting for a particular pro, though. I tend to root for whoever seems to 'deserve' to win. Like being modest and sincere. Stuck up people who are used to winning need to take their licks just to ground them back in reality.

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Cool beans

[JonLeung]

At E3, there was a huge booth promoting Fatal1ty products.  For those of you who don't know, Fatal1ty is some multiple-time champion of computer game competitions.  He has his own line of products now, which are ridiculously hardcore.



The keyboard has really flat keys, so you don't waste precious fractions of seconds pushing keys all the way down like on conventional keyboards, apparently.  Supposedly a pro's fingers will look like they just glide over it.



The mouse has an interchangeable weight system, as well as an on-the-fly toggle for three sensitivity levels.  Like if you needed to move quickly, you could set the mouse to be more sensitive.  When you zoom in for a sniper shot, you could make it less sensitive to get more accuracy.



It's kind of interesting, though at the same time, it sounds extremely hardcore.  I guess you need the edge if you play competitively with other people, but from what one of my friends pointed out, Fatal1ty himself is becoming overrated.  At the same time, though, not many gamers have even been recognized, and athletes and sports players already do get a lot of attention as it is.

[bustin98]

I don't get the weights in the mouse thing. Logitech came out with a gamer mouse with the same thing. I suppose it might be more comfortable for the mouse to not feel like a chunk of plastic, but some things are just too far out there.

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Cool beans

[JonLeung]

I understand how the weights in the mouse might affect someone who needs precise control over motion, but I just can't imagine how tight competition must be to really need that.  You'd think you'd get used to a mouse's weight and feel over time, so I don't think that because they have interchangeable weights that it would be easy to have a different weight setting per game.  Wouldn't you just use one and stick with it?  The on-the-fly sensitivity thing makes more sense with the example that they gave about sniping, except that it seems like another thing to have to remember to press.



Anyway, I know that game competitions are getting big (and so are the prizes - reading Fatal1ty's list on Wikipedia in my previous post gives you an idea...$70000 for one, and a car in another) but I don't see it being in the same category as Olympic sports.  It's a whole different pace.

[Dan]

Eh, mouse weights don't affect me.  Track balls all the way!!

[JonLeung]

Get your game on: professional gaming comes to North American TV

What do you know, Halo 2 and SSB:M.