eSports - Not gaining comparitive traction / Too corporate?

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

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/RANT.

Competitive gaming has been a thing for for a long time now, I say "long time" when referring to the tech sector. It has been easily over a decade but someone with more knowledge can probably pinpoint more precisely.

Gaming has a "hobby" has seen exceptional growth within the casual market owing to increased game accessibility and increased device accessibility (Mobile devices).

"Core" gaming (Not sure if the right term but seems to be acceptable in these circles) has also seen a substantial growth increase. PC is in a very healthy state (Yes, still not dead ;) ) and Consoles have still not reached saturation point and for the good of the earth, they are slowly morphing into PC's :) HOORAH.

So, taking this into account, why has Competitive gaming been a slow burner comparative to those who actually participate in gaming as a hobby?

There does seem to be a very strong following for a handful of games at competitive level but this does seem to be a relative niche.

It does however seem that the majority of those playing games have ZERO interest in watching/following competitive gaming.

Seems to me like it is a sleeping giant but nobody really knows how to wake it up.

I have tried to follow it on several occasions but to be honest, it all seems a bit too "PRO" if that is the right verbiage to use along with some other problems below.

It has somehow become very corporate which I have no idea how it happened.

Those presenting wearing suits, commentators having to be careful what they say, live event tickets costing a fortune and ultimately, no fun, no heart.

I remember when I started gaming in the 80s it was very "counter culture", anti corporate with those making the games having no blueprint to follow, they just did their own thing, **** or bust.

The closest I got to "eSports" was playing Kingy on Streetfighter II with a load of us crowded round an arcade cabinet in a stinky dirty arcade and rarely was anyone seen in a suit. If they were, it was likely stolen and they had just been to a funeral.

Some will say eSports is healthy. While I cannot disagree to some degree, it can and should be MUCH better.

Where are the regional teams, why are we not talking about the UK scene MORE, who cares about the UK scene. why do the majority of gamers simply not care.

I see it that we are at a crossroads for eSports and something drastic needs to happen. I would say the ESL are now in it for themselves and are not fit to take it any further.

We need a new promoter to come into the fray. Maybe even fork eSports into two separate entities, not recognising each others championships, generate some healthy competition to increase quality of output and exposure. I would like to see someone come into the mix who wants to represent gaming as a whole and an entity who connects with the playerbase who also understands how to make it entertaining without losing sight of what it is.

It could all be soo much more.
 
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Well I've tried watching a few times and its bloody awful for the spectator, if you don't play the game that's being played then you'll generally have no idea whats going on and it just looks a total mess which makes it not very accessible to wider audiences.

I've no interest in DOTA2 at all but that seems to get the biggest following for some reason and watching from a point of view like mine just makes look messy, chaotic and unorganised with no sense of who's winning / losing and with far too much happening on screen. The whole thing is very hard to work out.

In addition the fact that it's generally played by a bunch of trash talking kids wearing headphones is extremely off putting and has you immediately reaching for the off button.
 
Columbo said:
Well I've tried watching a few times and its bloody awful for the spectator, if you don't play the game that's being played then you'll generally have no idea whats going on and it just looks a total mess which makes it not very accessible to wider audiences.

I've no interest in DOTA2 at all but that seems to get the biggest following for some reason and watching from a point of view like mine just makes look messy, chaotic and unorganised with no sense of who's winning / losing and with far too much happening on screen. The whole thing is very hard to work out.

In addition the fact that it's generally played by a bunch of trash talking kids wearing headphones is extremely off putting and has you immediately reaching for the off button.
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I was going to post pretty much the same thing. Ultimately, watching someone else playing a computer game isn't really that entertaining, no matter how good they may be at it (purely my opinion, although I guess the number of videos on Youtube of someone else playing a computer game with an inexplicable number of hits seems to disagree :p)
 
the games are the main reason.

they need to work in the comp enviroment and be exciting to watch.

take fps games the only game that really works is cs at the moment.so there is one choice.there is a big audience for that but thats cause like i said there is only cs really that has enough interest.

cod 4 promod would have worked.in my op better than cs it just went away before cs.

so it will get bigger when developers make the games more tailored to being watched.

the problem with that is developers want the maximum audience so they make their game for that audience . which may not be the streaming tv audience.

car games currently are pushing for this also.which is great news as i personally think thats the next big thing for comp gaming.

some great car games are coming out and with sponsors and devs working to bring it to esl and other places hopefully we see more streaming events.

so while it is quite small compared to normal tv events it is gaining popularity and will be massive in a few more years.
 
The problem with all the communities (CSGO, LoL, Dota2 whatever) is the pure unadulterated toxic atmosphere that pervades.

Its all very elitist crap.
 
Needs a new cs style game and a less toxic community.

Going back to the old wireplay comps and CPL lans, people got on better and i had a semi interest in watching other teams play during downtime. Plus if someone spewed the same sort of trash you see these days, they wouldn't show up at a LAN!
 
Only competitive game I spectated was AG back in the day, played as well.


Good times! Before the gaming community was taken over by toxic little scrotes.
 
1. Stop calling it e"Sports" for a start. eGaming is more apt for the hobby.
2. Gaming makes way for corruption and influences the mind of the majority of younger audiences from advertising. Paddypower, MountainDew, Doritos. Yeh nice one. :rolleyes:
3. Watching pubescent teenagers isn't my thing.
4. Gaming in the competitive side isn't diverse and makes way for too many trolls, online bullies, idiots etc and this issue has always been shoved under the carpet by the Gaming Industry.
5. Watching a few friends entertain on Twitch is different from watching a random bunch of people play a game no matter how good they are. P.S Xinami we need more of your Drum n Bass. :D
6. Hosts are OTT, awful and Americanized.
7. Don't understand what is happening in some games. They do a poor job explaining what is happening.
8. Good luck getting it promoted. Maybe you should talk to the EA's competitive gaming division as games like NBA, Fifa are very popular so maybe you can branch it off from the main Sport.
9. You want to be subjected to this or have your kids mentally think that this is professional and acceptable? Are you going for the parent of the year award? :rolleyes::rolleyes: (You can have 2 rolled eyes for this one):


10. Timmy Mallet is King!

Edit - Video contains swearing, so this is a mandatory NSFW warning. The video emphasises my point.
 
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WOW to that video.

How embarrassing for their parents. They grow up watching so called "Professional" footballers throwing their toys out of the pram so think it is acceptable in other arenas.

The organisers should be clamping down on that. Dare I say, it should be more gentlemanly.

Maybe even have age classes? Maybe just ban upstart twerps, heck, even fine them if they step out of line. Happens in other events at amateur level.

It does not have to be soo toxic.

I agree though with what others have said, it is "Elitist" and it could be much more accessible.

Regarding the presenting of it, they need to get "professional" presenters involved, not just "pro" players who have zero broadcasting/commentating skills. They should be there to enhance the event and explain for those who have no clue what is going on.

Thinking back to the early days of LAN events, the atmosphere was much more cordial.
 
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For me, and I was asked to take part in quite a few tournaments back in my cod1/cod2 days, it's because although I am willing to spend hours playing a game in my own house, I look at esports as a laughable thing and a little bit sad.

Gaming is fun, these people doing it professionally are taking the fun out of it.
 
i have no interest in watching a bunch of shouty sweary elitist kids play a game, it's bad enough playing with them.

and the games where they don't shout and swear are hard to follow, starcraft etc..
 
Dota scene is great. The production quality of The International was much higher than The Olympics. The problem is to watch it you have to play it. The game is very complicated and you couldn't possibly understand what is going on without having played it, and to understand it to a good level you need to be actively playing it consistently.
 

If that is esports or egaming? I have no idea why anyone would want to watch it at all never participate.
 
Gimpymoo said:
Regarding the presenting of it, they need to get "professional" presenters involved, not just "pro" players who have zero broadcasting/commentating skills. They should be there to enhance the event and explain for those who have no clue what is going on.
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Dota tried this with the noob stream, an alternative commentary stream for new players. The problem is do you assume someone who is watching hasn't seen dota every game? You can't explain the entire game every single match. Commentators got fed up of explaining the same skills every match and they just stopped doing it.

In the end if I watch football nobody explains the offside rule to me. you have to assume a knowledge of your audience. If they can't be bothered to watch a 'this is what dota is' video on youtube then they aren't your target audience.
 
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