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'pro gamers', mlg, and gettin' paid to play.
Local H Jay
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as with any hobby from ping pong to kite flying, there are video game tournaments. these are nothing new, as fighting game tourneys have been held in modern arcades for years.
games like street fighter take on new meaning when 'pro' gamers take the helm. competitions on a global scale are something of a newer trend, though, with the best players rising to the top.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnEWSO6NrQo&feature=player_embedded
starcraft, counterstrike, quake, super smash brothers, and halo have all become staples in game competitions, and new gaming 'leagues' have formed to compliment the players. places like the championship gaming series and major league gaming have flourished. teams and individuals have gained sponsors like actual sports stars, and every day they become more glamourized. in korea, japan, spain, and the US pro gamers are idealized as almost athletes, gaining their own brand names and products.
and should people be recognized, praised, and handed money for being 'the best'? these are just games, after all.
games like street fighter take on new meaning when 'pro' gamers take the helm. competitions on a global scale are something of a newer trend, though, with the best players rising to the top.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnEWSO6NrQo&feature=player_embedded
starcraft, counterstrike, quake, super smash brothers, and halo have all become staples in game competitions, and new gaming 'leagues' have formed to compliment the players. places like the championship gaming series and major league gaming have flourished. teams and individuals have gained sponsors like actual sports stars, and every day they become more glamourized. in korea, japan, spain, and the US pro gamers are idealized as almost athletes, gaining their own brand names and products.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96qn6jDUV4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3y--hA6J4o&feature=PlayList&p=13DAE87CAF792419&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHwF1TSwRXU
so my questions are: do you follow 'pro' gaming? do you even care?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3y--hA6J4o&feature=PlayList&p=13DAE87CAF792419&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHwF1TSwRXU
and should people be recognized, praised, and handed money for being 'the best'? these are just games, after all.
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Beyond that? No, I'd rather play the games myself - at a level no one would ever consider paying me for.
Salmon'd for lies. I follow video games pretty damn closely, and the only "pro" player I've ever heard of is Fatalonety. And his licensed products don't sell very well.
Game leagues for individual games are nothing new, and they're far too niche to really gain big attention outside of people who obsess about a single game for years. Which may be why we still haven't had any big-name "pro" game "athletes"... the areas for specialization are just so darn numerous, splintered and fickle, so there's pretty much no opportunity for a video game Tiger Woods.
Maybe if there was such a thing as a broader game competition, maybe something along the lines of the PAX Omegathon. But competitive gamers usually like to specialize in one or two games at most, so I doubt that'll happen.
Really, if video game competitions were to become mainstream or even within the same area code as mainstream it would have happened many years ago.
Starcraft has a huge following in South Korea, but it's the exception to the rule.
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actually it could be all my friends are massive fans of this shit and it's all i hear about.
That's very probably what's happening. Once again, the tastes of the ultra-hardcore generally aren't what's actually happening among the public in general, or even less-hardcore enthusiasts.
God damn that sounds pathetic.
Lets be honest, it sounds a hell of a lot less pathetic then say pro darts.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
I'd rather go to a darts competition than a gaming one.
So no, it's not less pathetic.
and this is in no way new.. someone needs to go back to the 80's and watch the wizard!
I really don't think pro-gaming is ever really going to take off. If the pro-gamers are going to mostly be douchebags, I think we will all be better for it.
This guy is Denmark's resident pro-gamer. He represented our great nation in some tournament last week, where he got absolutely butchered in Street Fighter. Professional gaming in the Western world often seems like more of a marketing stunt than something that actually accomplishes anything on a competitive level. And it doesn't really work.
I find 'professional poker' pretty sad.
Watching 2 guys playing a super serious game of Command and Conquer against each other though? Bleh.
I'd say it is (darts < 'pro' video games), but that's all opinion and I can accept other people seeing a giant video game tournament as a waste. I went to an MLG event at the meadowlands and watched people play the original gears. It was actually fun, but it also wasn't a very long drive for me so I could drop by watch for a while then leave. I wouldn't go to an event in say Texas like I would consider if I got tickets to see an NFL game, but it was entertaining.
In any case, if people are willing to pay other people to play games I don't really care what they do with their money. Someone in some board room thinks that it is a valid advertising strategy and if their bottom line looks better good for them.
As for the actual structure of the MLG organization, I had played on a few teams on their gamebattles ladder (not sure if it still exists or has been changed or what) and it was cool, but was not worth the effort for me to stay competitive (meaning actual progression). I'd rather just hop on XBL with some friends and play there real quick and win/lose/draw against some randoms than spend the time required to be on top of the game when I have other games I want to play, a job, friends outside of gaming etc etc etc. But again what other people do with their time/money is their business.
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I will never consider PC/CONSOLE/ARCADE a professional sport, I take pity on the people who have wasted hours and hours on their life trying to be "pro" and not really doing something that contributes to society in some way.
If bowling can be a professional sport, I think we've opened a can of worms beyond our ken, Viscount.
Thats just a cardgame/scam thats been around for hundreds of years. Fleecing of sheep so to speak. Fools who like to gamble will always get taken by those who can either manipulate the cards better then their opponents or are able to bluff better then their opponents. I see skill in that but it's pretty hollow if you ask me.
kinda like this
For starters, locations. People get attached to teams that belong to cities they are from. People in New York typically like the Yankees. People in Boston like the Patriots. People in Seattle like the Seahawks.
Now, if I could go down the street in Albuquerque and watch Albuquerque's Halo team play, I might actually do that.
Secondly. The attitudes. People like pro-atheletes to be role models. You don't want the best player of your team being some giant douchebag. So what do you do when 98% of the competitive gaming scene is all douche. There is no reason to cheer for them.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Red X, the hollowest of skills.
But yeah, I appreciate there's skill in being good at poker, but it's still just being good at poker.
edit: screw you for fixing it before I could quote. Screw you right in the ear.
Not really, I was saying that it takes skill to go out and do that sort of thing. As well as bowling has been around for a good long while now too. Looking back around the 1800's. in the USA and
"The first written mention of a bowling-like sport can be traced to the year 1366 in England"
Videogames are in their infancy. So pro gaming might be another 20-40 years away when, Like I said earlier- When the average person can enjoy it.
*edit*
ahahhaha sorry darlysam. I'm a habitual editior of my posts. Always clarifying, always editing. I need to PROOF-READ more.
Wait, are you saying that people who waste hours and hours (or years) of their life trying to be a pro ball-thrower/carrier/kicker are doing something that contributes to society in some way? Or do you pity them as well?
I don't see how it's any less pointless then any other sport. Sure you're not being physical but I don't see how that makes much of a difference? How does the fact that they kick a ball as opposed to twiddling their thumbs suddenly imbue meaning to their lives? And whilst pro-gamers may be dick heads (they probably are) to my admittedly limited knowledge don’t an alarmingly frequent tendency to be rapists.
Edit: Viscount, do you think the average person enjoys Chess more then videogames?
Even TV poker has people competing for pots much bigger than most people will find themselves playing for.
Professional sports are entertainment. So to that degree I could see it. The average person can get around to enjoy a basketball game or a football game or an ice hockey game or watch it on the Olympics.
I don't consider tapping buttons on a controller a true professional skill though. It doesn't really have any real entertainment value and is completely inaccessible as it stands.
And there are PLENTY of people who try for that. At least with most other sports there's at least a longshot of making it big, but with pro games there's maybe one person who can completely support themselves with their winnings, and even then they're not exactly raking it in.
Remember that one kid who dropped out of school with his parents' blessing so he could become a professional Guitar Hero player? Someone needs to dig that article up, it was a wonderful look at depressing delusion.
I think as a skill that's hard to master and that is accessible, then yes. I would figure the average person appreciates the intellect and skill it takes to win a chess game over any modern pc/console game.
Now you have to take into account I'm not the average gamer/person by a longshot so take that as you will. This is one persons arrogant opinion.
That wasn't really my question. Sure, sports are entertainment, but they don't really make a meaningful contribution to society. If you pity someone for devoting their life to Starcraft, you should pity the guy who devotes his life to baseball.
The "skill" behing gaming is knowing what to do in a situation. Since I know we're both familiar with Halo, I'll use it to reference.
So I see an enemy in the distance, what are my options:
-Is my gun ranged appropriately to begin shooting
-Has he noticed me yet? Can I assassinate him?
-Do I have any equipment that can make this an easy kill for me?
-Can I see what weapon he has?
-Can I use geometry to land a well placed grenade on him?
-Where is the rest of my team? Can they reinforce me? Can his team reinforce him?
-Are there any nearby weapon spawns that would make this encounter easier.
All these questions run thru my head when I play halo, so I can only imagine what goes thru some guy being payed to play.
Its the matter of answering those questions, how fast, and how well, thats the "skill" of gaming. Not how fast can I push B.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
I'm happy I've never heard about that guy. He looks like he might make "music" about how great he is.
I watched a pro StarCraft match once. The commentators were absolutely crazy.
The point I was trying to make is that the guy playing baseball is actually doing it. There is a demand for good baseball players. its accessible. Its also another game that's been around for hundreds of years so its very accessible.
The baseball player is also actually going out and throwing/catching/hitting an object moving fast. By actually doing it and not just tapping a controller/kb-mouse I would say that they don't deserve any pity.
Its still inaccessible though. The controller is a contributing factor to it being inaccessible.