The Rise of Competitive Gaming & E-Sports (video)

[Gill Hustle]

PBS takes a look at what many of us considered in our younger days a fun past time, something that evidently is getting bigger and bigger each year.:

As games have increased in sophistication, they have become a stage for ever higher displays of human skill and brilliance. The result is a tier of the gaming world filled with startling disciplined, talented, and highly competitive players. Born out of arcade tournaments and LAN parties, the world of competitive gaming is now entering a mature phase, featuring major global events attended by thousands and watched by millions online. With valuable sponsorship and prize money of increasing value, competitive gaming is claiming a space similar to that of traditional sports. This new industry is still in its early stages, developing broadcasting models and negotiating the culture of its widening audience. But whether it's fighting games or MOBAs, the players and spectators are passionate, and individuals and leagues are working hard to elevate e-sports into the highest echelons of human achievement.

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The Rise of Competitive Gaming & E-Sports | Off Book | PBS

 

[WebHead]

e-Sports just turned mainstream this last year and Bungie/343 wants to be big time retards and turn their game into pure shit. They need to go back to the Halo 2/3 roots.

 

[Agent Stepstool]

Am I the only one that's tired of the term "e-sports"? When I think e-sports, I think of FPS's and sports games, and gaming tournaments that try way too hard to glamorize the community and make it look "cool", like MLG and IPL. I don't think the video paid enough attention to the FGC and less gimmicky tournaments like EVO and UFGT.

 

[d3v]

Shout outs to Damdai for winning at a game that the community generally hates.

 

[tnzk]

Am I the only one that's tired of the term "e-sports"? When I think e-sports, I think of FPS's and sports games, and gaming tournaments that try way too hard to glamorize the community and make it look "cool", like MLG and IPL. I don't think the video paid enough attention to the FGC and less gimmicky tournaments like EVO and UFGT.

I dunno why the community embraced the term 'e-sport'. You don't call football (soccer) a ball sport, you don't call bodybuilding a muscle sport, and you don't call chess a board sport. They're all just plain sport.

Likewise, while we play in the video game medium, the fact of the matter is, when we devise a set of rules to measure our skills amongst each other, it's quite simply a sport: the sport of Starcraft, the sport of Street Fighter, the sport of DOTA, they're all legitimate sporting codes.

When we tell the mainstream that what we do are e-sporting events, we're creating a barrier between them and us, and that's not good for either side. The biggest issue however is that we start to create a sense of inferiority that should never have been there in the first place, where as an 'e-sport', we always strive to imitate 'real' sport.

Anyway, that's my mini-rant for the day lol.