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Penny Arcade - Comic - Legacy
Dog
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Penny Arcade - Comic - Legacy
Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.
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It's ultimately some tribalism extension, much like that web comic where the guy picks up a team flag on the ground and then the other guy who sees him immediately hates him now. That's not healthy or normal, no matter how much society tries to hammer it in. More likely they do it to keep people spending money on sports passes, tickets, etc. I'm rambling now, but basically sports suck and that includes eSports too.
I don't think that's necessarily the case. I can watch F1 and root for Kimi Raikkonen without hating Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton. And goodness knows people are plenty tribal even outside the context of organized competitions. I don't think you have a problem with sports so much as with assholes.
It might not be healthy, but it's incredibly normal.
I agree to some extent. But I think tribalism ultimately comes from wanting to be part of something bigger and claim a stake in the victory of more "successful" people. Peasants bragging about their liegelord, commoners picking a favorite gladiator, etc. So while you're probably right that it's not healthy, it's absolutely "normal" in that it's tied to human nature. Lots of humans don't have it, like you and I, but lots do and always have.
The question becomes whether this is an impulse we should try to outgrow or to satisfy in safe ways. Sort of like bloodlust: there's a question that I don't know the answer to as to whether violent movies and games are a safe alternative to coliseums or whether we as a race should try to move past those impulses.
Like I said, I don't know. Maybe eventually we'll move past tribalism altogether. Or maybe spectator sports are just a harmless outlet for a trait that we'll always have. But while I don't enjoy sports or esports at all, I really think that for all the ugliness they can bring out (in already ugly people), most sports fans do just fine at keeping perspective and not taking it too seriously.
EDIT: while I was typing the two comments above me summed it up way better. TL:DR, read those two comments.
So I win!
eSports
es Ports
S Ports
SPorts
Sports
Oh no!
My takeaway from the comparison made in the comic is that the same type of bad behavior gamers often scorn in sports could be present in esports. Which means the problem, as it were, is the player and not the game.
PetSmart
:?
Er, reaction time and precision aiming both seem fairly physical to me. As much as pool or target shooting with guns anyway.
I don’t watch esports outside of the occasional Overwatch match since I can’t play right now. They just don’t do much for me. I guess I don’t understand why someone would hate something if they don’t involve themselves with it.
You know, I'm not sure. It's not like I care about regular sports, but for some reason this is just something that makes me angry for no real reason.
It's just entertainment. Like at it's core that's all it is, just like every other form of entertainment. Just like watching a TV show or a Movie. There's no difference and I'm not sure why you are going out of your way to single out this form of entertainment just because you don't like it.
Saying that some form of entertainment you don't enjoy sucks or deep diving and making it out to be something unhealthy is kind of weird. It's OK to not like it. Don't go out of your way trying to make it something bigger than it is though. Do some people take it to unhealthy extremes? Yes, but again that is every other form of entertainment too.
This thread is truly bizarre.
I explained it to my wife and family as a musical competition. You have individuals or teams that are incredibly practiced at their instrument (Keyboard and Mouse) and at the pieces of music they play (certain characters or roles in certain games.) The difference is that instead of taking turns and being graded by a judge, they perform simultaneously and improvisationally, and the performance of the superior team will win out.
Make better, faster, more accurate improvisations, have a better understanding of the music, command your instrument more fully. My wife watches Starcraft II with me now
Edit: I like watching Speed Runs for the same reason.