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Penny Arcade - Comic - Owls
Dog
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Penny Arcade - Comic - Owls
Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.
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Is that how we arrived at the title of today's strip? Or is that too big of a leap in logic? Is there some other, more simple explanation for the title?
Edit: Overwatch League Seattle, perhaps?
I love how increasingly distant the titles are getting from the comics. It's like a little logic game to play every time a comic comes out.
You can always spot the old and seasoned gamer when you spot the metagame
OWL is the abbreviation for the Overwatch league mentioned in the strip. Everytime I see it I read it as Owl, so I'm sure they're playing off that.
To speak specifically to the topic of the comic, have you actually looked at the team rosters (players)? >> https://overwatchleague.com/en-us/players
Look at where they are from and what team they represent. Blizzard totally fumbled the team origins by tying them to regional cities. Even if you wanted a Seattle team and they obliged, the players would be from everywhere EXCEPT for Seattle.
It is a rare exception that a player is from anywhere near where the team is "based".
I mean, it's pretty rare in most pro sports (or even high level college) that players are from the city in which they're based. I don't think that's the problem. The problem from what I understand is that the teams aren't actually playing these games in the cities they represent. They're playing in some stadium in LA (so I guess the LA team gets a pass). Sure, maybe the Sounders don't have a lot of players from Seattle, but they actually play half their games in Seattle. The problem I think Blizzard will run into is that players can "represent" a city and never set foot in it. I know I would find it hard to get excited about an e-sports team with my city's name in the title if they didn't actually play in my city.
But there are some places where it can't achieve a parallel, at least not yet. As was mentioned, there is only one physical location for games. Understandable that they couldn't build stadiums all over the world for their first season, but a disappointment nonetheless. Hopefully this can chance in the future if the concept takes off.
In general, there aren't that many teams and too many Califronia teams and not enough international teams. Again, understandable given cost/logistics, but in the future it would be great if everyone could have a team that is based somewhere near them.
I'm hoping OWL is successful, as it is unique and the most direct attempt to legitimize e-sports. But I do have my doubts if it will achieve its goals. Mostly if it doesn't bring in enough money to expand to overcome its current shortcomings, I'm not sure Blizzard will be willing to foot the bill themselves.
I tried to explain that horse racing needs to get its act together and put together a unified horse racing franchise of depth and quality, like Madden, NCAA, FIFA, etc..
Alas, most of the people in the room for that discussion panel were over the age of 60, and think of the E.T. debacle when someone mentions video games.
It's frustrating to no end.
The ownership/sponsorship of the teams is ostensibly based in their respective cities, and I have read that the intention after this first year is for each team to have their own "arena" to host games, just like a real sports league. Due to the expense of setting up the studios and everything else, the first season is all at the facility in Burbank.
Yes, you can only buy the team colors with real cash. Just like merchandise for a real sports team. I... don't see a problem with this? It's honestly preferable to the slot-machine like lootbox system for normal cosmetic unlocks, although the price is too high for palette swaps.
I'm not sure what basis is being used to determine who pro-players are, but right now they are mostly recruited out of the previous tournaments and events' teams. I'm not sure who else they should be drafting from? Ultimately, this is how most pro-sports work nowadays too. Your home team is not made of local players, but who the owners/leadership recruit/draft within league rules.
I also don't get what you mean about the general public participating? I think most people were pretty clear it was for the pro-gaming circuit from the get-go. I barely pay any attention to that shit and I understood that much. But they've been streaming international tournaments with these guys for the past year and it's been getting big numbers, so your complaints sound a bit like "well I don't like pro football, so I don't get why the NFL expects people to root for these players and buy their jerseys".
Given that the teams were each willing to pay twenty million for entry into the league, and that Twitch paid ninety million to be the official broadcaster, there is clearly some serious business interest in this succeeding, so unless the first season is an abject failure they'll have awhile to grow the league. But yes, my understanding is that they plan to locate the teams in their cities and to expand the league with new teams as time goes on.
@Einaudi-Enthusiast
There is no official betting on the league, and they don't have commercial fantasy leagues (yet).
The complaints up-thread about microtransactions are talking about the fact that the alternate character appearances using the team colors can only be purchased using a new in-game currency that can only be obtained by paying real-world money (about US$5 per character/team combo). This is compared to the normal system for how the game's many types of cosmetic options (non-League skins, alternate models, emotes, sprays, highlight reel intros, etc) are unlocked; you earn lootboxes through online gameplay participation (or real-world money transactions) that open to grant four randomly selected unlocks (occasionally one of the "drops" will be a different in-game currency that can be used to unlock whichever options the player specifically wants). The two systems are completely divorced from one another (two separate currencies, each of which can only be used in one of the two "storefronts").
The Overwatch League is trying to bring a full-fledged pro-sports style experience, rather than the more freeform team structure most professional gaming leagues have had up to this point. So they've set up a (for now) twelve-team league with private owners and corporate sponsors that are ostensibly representing various cities (mostly in the US, but also London, Seoul, and Shanghai). For instance, my hometown of Philadelphia has a team (the Fusion) that are owned by a local subsidiary of telecom giant Comcast (ugh). Another example is the Los Angeles Gladiators, who are owned by Stan Kroenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL.
The comic is complaining that there's no Seattle team, but I don't think that was Blizzard's decision to make, just that none of the bidding teams could find corporate backing willing to rep the emerald city.
Beyond that I'm not sure quite what you are asking for clarification of?
As far as I'm aware it is. Given how popular turn out can be at cons and major tournaments, I think it might work. It's definitely different from going to see an athletic competition live, but I imagine there's probably something of a party aspect to doing it with a crowd of other people vs a Twitch stream with typical shitty twitch chat thread on the right.
I think that might be skewed data, though. Conventions are concentrators. They take people from all over the place and put them together. Even if only a single digit % of them like a thing, you'll probably have decent turn out. It's like how you can have a Twilight Imperium tournament at GenCon, but having one in your city (even a LARGE city) probably won't work.
Fair point.
This whole push has been a long time coming, I think. E-sports has always had these kinds of aspirations and it feels like it was only a matter of when they could get enough corporate interest. I'm really curious to see how it all pans out.
There is no official betting on the league, and they don't have commercial fantasy leagues (yet).
The complaints up-thread about microtransactions are talking about the fact that the alternate character appearances using the team colors can only be purchased using a new in-game currency that can only be obtained by paying real-world money (about US$5 per character/team combo). This is compared to the normal system for how the game's many types of cosmetic options (non-League skins, alternate models, emotes, sprays, highlight reel intros, etc) are unlocked; you earn lootboxes through online gameplay participation (or real-world money transactions) that open to grant four randomly selected unlocks (occasionally one of the "drops" will be a different in-game currency that can be used to unlock whichever options the player specifically wants). The two systems are completely divorced from one another (two separate currencies, each of which can only be used in one of the two "storefronts").
The Overwatch League is trying to bring a full-fledged pro-sports style experience, rather than the more freeform team structure most professional gaming leagues have had up to this point. So they've set up a (for now) twelve-team league with private owners and corporate sponsors that are ostensibly representing various cities (mostly in the US, but also London, Seoul, and Shanghai). For instance, my hometown of Philadelphia has a team (the Fusion) that are owned by a local subsidiary of telecom giant Comcast (ugh). Another example is the Los Angeles Gladiators, who are owned by Stan Kroenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL.
The comic is complaining that there's no Seattle team, but I don't think that was Blizzard's decision to make, just that none of the bidding teams could find corporate backing willing to rep the emerald city.
Beyond that I'm not sure quite what you are asking for clarification of?[/quote]
Thanks, I though it was something along these lines, but I see the lines are still being drawn. It doesn't help that until the Supreme Court rules on fantasy sports/sports betting, speculation is all we in the gaming (wagering) industry have. I know e-sports and games of skill are going to be the next place to see growth--but only when games of skill can be wagered on legally in the U.S.
The alternative is to continue to watch the Irish beat the ever-loving tar out of everyone with their ExpressBet platform, and PaddyPower, while all we in the pari-mutuel side can do is watch those wagering dollars go to someone else. Just because wagering on something in the U.S. is illegal, doesn't mean it isn't already happening.