E-Sports Drawing Big Crowds and Big Money

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
Joined
Nov 27, 2006
Messages
4,646
Remember when Dennis Fong (aka Thresh) won John Carmack's Ferrari in a Quake tournament back in the 90's? The New York Times has an interesting piece about the E-Sports craze so read up if you don't know what the big deal is about MOBAs or why Street Fighter 4 is still relevant today.

Last year, the State Department began granting visas to professional gamers, under the same program used by traditional athletes. This fall, Robert Morris University in Chicago will dole out over $500,000 in athletic scholarships to gamers, the first of their kind in the United States, and Ivy League universities have intercollegiate gaming. Last week, the web giant Amazon announced it was buying Twitch, a hugely popular video streaming service used by gamers, for $970 million in cash.
 
Last edited:
No I don't remember, because it wasn't John Romero's Ferrari...
 
Eh, everything is a sport/competition these days. I know I'm an outlier, but I don't watch sports of any kind. I've participated in some sports (gymnastics [college days], skiing, bicycling, bowling, golf) but I have yet to watch any of these sports being performed by someone else. It's just not entertaining to me.
 
Another venue for big business to make money off the little guy and exploit them as much as possible pushing them into drug / drinking and other addiction problems :D

Where do i sign up?

I do wish this industry was bigger 15 years ago when i was owning in Delta Force 2, Q3 and UT.
 
they are NOT fucking athletes. If you call a steady diet of Little Debbie snacky cakes and Mt. Dew the fuel of champions, then I guess so. I'm gonna go ahead and proclaim myself a 38 year veteran. Been gaming since Pong. Any of you athletes need to hire a "trainer" I am expensively available for hire.

<facepalm>
 
Won't get paid expensively for training any eSports games, though the rate is decent (especially if you're well known in the leagues and have a rep).
 
About time. Never understood how people can watch someone play golf or ride a bicycle for hours, and yet e-sports get no attention which are far more entertaining.

The only problem though is that while games like golf have been around unchanged more or less since the 15th century, most gamers give two craps about a game released three years ago. And it becomes a challenge if the game has to constantly change season to season.
 
About time. Never understood how people can watch someone play golf or ride a bicycle for hours, and yet e-sports get no attention which are far more entertaining.

Come now. Watching someone ride a bike for hours, or run as fast as they can down a track, or lift a big weight above their head is truly entertaining :p

Perhaps one day we'll overcome our fascination with building muscles and focus more on building our minds, and then we'll be able to overcome our need to have athleticism be a requirement of a "sport".
 
they are NOT fucking athletes. If you call a steady diet of Little Debbie snacky cakes and Mt. Dew the fuel of champions, then I guess so. I'm gonna go ahead and proclaim myself a 38 year veteran. Been gaming since Pong. Any of you athletes need to hire a "trainer" I am expensively available for hire.

<facepalm>

I don't see why not, when golf is considered a sport too, golfers are athlete although some of them are out of shape, and they get paid like one as well.
 
Golfers can't even be bothered to walk from one hole to another, they have to use a damn buggy!

Then you have Bowling...yeah they are really "Athletic."

Then there's pool and poker, neither of which requires any great shape or fitness to do.

I think "esports" can easily fit in there somewhere if you want to judge them based on stereotypes.
 
Don't you love how anything is acceptable and taken seriously as long as it makes a lot of money.
 
Most dictionaries classify sports as a physical activity, so I don't think E Sports is a correct thing to call LAN gaming. But, that's what it's called now and there's bassicaly no going back, so that's what I'm gonna call it.
 
It is so bizarre to me how hung up people get on the classification. Who gives a sh*t what they are called? They play video games for money, focus on that part instead. Pretty badass that people can make a living like that these days. Seems to be continuing to grow.
 
The only problem though is that while games like golf have been around unchanged more or less since the 15th century, most gamers give two craps about a game released three years ago. And it becomes a challenge if the game has to constantly change season to season.

I suspect this is more than part of the problem.

A HUGE draw of 'college football' and the like is for the 50-60 year olds talking to their sons about how THEY played the game...and their sons talking to THEIR sons about trying out for the same team and competing on the same fields...

I don't think even "physical" sports would have quite the cachet they do without the cross-generational connection they provide. Hell, nearly everyone I know that still religiously follows any particularly team does so because that's where they went to school, and they used to WATCH those games live! (etc, et al)

And, as you correctly note, "e-sports" are flat-out never going to have that. The games are simply too ephemeral.
 
Most dictionaries classify sports as a physical activity, so I don't think E Sports is a correct thing to call LAN gaming. But, that's what it's called now and there's bassicaly no going back, so that's what I'm gonna call it.

chess would like a word with you

but e-sports is forreal a pretty fucking dorky name.
 
Why is E-Sports a bad name?

Electronic Sports..

It is what it is, except for the physical part of the meaning of sports so yes, semi true..

ARCHAIC A source of amusement or entertainment:

Origin

late Middle English (in the sense 'pastime, entertainment'): shortening of disport.

Now E-Sports i would say involve Mental Exertion, not as much physical, but you are physically straining your body , more so arms, wrist and back while seating and such.
 
Am I the only one that rolls eyes when I think of "E-Sports"? I mean I know it takes skill and dedication but I just can't wrap my head around it.

I think of a athlete in the physical sense I think of someone at the peak of human conditioning in their physicality. But when I think of some super skinny Asian kid (not being racist , most e-sports leaders are of Asian decent , no racism inferred however if I'm still in the wrong) slapping their keyboards and clicking to death their mice. I can see the hand eye coordination required with a very controlled attention span is mighty but is it $10 Million mighty?

I guess I would like to see it spread into the norms of public perception and then see how it manages after say a decade of influence. I suppose that's happening now but after the perception of how lots of the media views gamers or even how the gaming community's developers view gamers (as sexist , vile and basement dwelling nerds of little to no value) I can't help but feel the West isn't anywhere near ready for it.

I know its already a sport across the world but its going to take more than a view articles and a winning pot to push it mainstream here.
 
The word "sports" is a frequently misused thing. Marketing people are constantly preying on peoples' perceptions of what the word means when they describe cars with the term. Sport this and sporty that, it's enough to make someone roll their eyes, but it wouldn't be part of the sales pitch if there weren't people to whom it matters. It really isn't any surprise that people who play video games (or at least the people marketing the activity to the world) would use the term e-sports to create interest and enthusiasm among the apathetic flock so they can prove the value in advertising or sponsorships and therefore pay their own mortgages and afford that "sports" car they've always wanted.
 
Why does maintaining a narrowly confined meaning of this word mean so much to you guys?

Personally I find it fascinating when people excel at something to a degree where they become sublime and only few others in the world can compete. Be it with big thighs (Linebackers), fast arms (Tennisplayer), precise kicks (Tae Kwon Do) or hand-eye coordination, lightning quick reflexes and information processing (Quake etc.).

Does it require better hand eye coordination to master bowling/darts or Quake? Is bowling or darts deemed a sport because you use your legs at the same time? Is playing Quake standing up at an ergonomic desk then a sport? Does "sport" mean that you physically have to translate around using your legs? Are Nascar or Formula One really sports then? Clearly not, these guys sit on their butts all day just barely moving their hands and arms. Primarily they rely on hand-eye coordination, lightning fast reflexes and information processing. Etc. etc.

e-sports is a fine term and takes nothing away from the highly heralded word "sport". The name itself even suggest it is an offshoot of the concept of sports, which is, lets face it, suffering from a very poor definition to begin with.
 
Why is E-Sports a bad name?

Electronic Sports..

It is what it is, except for the physical part of the meaning of sports so yes, semi true..



Now E-Sports i would say involve Mental Exertion, not as much physical, but you are physically straining your body , more so arms, wrist and back while seating and such.

So Rubik's Cube solving competitions now are sporting events.
 
Call it what you want, but there's a good amount of money being spent by corporations with endorsements and people working full time to be the best and a select few making good coin.

Sounds familiar...
 
Call it what you want, but there's a good amount of money being spent by corporations with endorsements and people working full time to be the best and a select few making good coin.

Sounds familiar...

So does that make violin playing a sport now?

Because there are playing competitions, where there are sponsors throwing around a good deal of money, with people working full time to be the best and a select few making coin.
 
e-sports is a fine term and takes nothing away from the highly heralded word "sport". The name itself even suggest it is an offshoot of the concept of sports, which is, lets face it, suffering from a very poor definition to begin with.

Exactly. No one is claiming it to be a physical competition, that's why it's called e-sport and not sport. So it's pointless to compare it to other sporting event and say there's no physical test or something, because no one is calling it a sport to begin with.
 
So does that make violin playing a sport now?

Because there are playing competitions, where there are sponsors throwing around a good deal of money, with people working full time to be the best and a select few making coin.

"Sounds" like it could be :D

Add some over-hyped announcers, some cosplay violin people, and plenty of marketing... and voila it could be possible.

Point is; entertainment is being sold at a profit. They could have called it Competitive Professional Gaming (TM), but someone somewhere called it something else.
 
Article should read "E-Sports drawing more fat, socially inept losers as people become more withdrawn".
 
"E-sports" fits because it is conveying the professional competitive aspect of a regular sporting event, with the "e" thrown in to indicate that it's an electronic competition/event. It's the same thing with mail and e-mail; why this offends people is anyone's guess.

It's not like anyone is watching these events and exclaiming "what an athlete!", because that would be ridiculous, but that doesn't mean we can't call them e-sports and acknowledge the skills of those performing at high levels.
 
"E-sports" fits because it is conveying the professional competitive aspect of a regular sporting event, with the "e" thrown in to indicate that it's an electronic competition/event. It's the same thing with mail and e-mail; why this offends people is anyone's guess.

It's not like anyone is watching these events and exclaiming "what an athlete!", because that would be ridiculous, but that doesn't mean we can't call them e-sports and acknowledge the skills of those performing at high levels.

You make no sense
 
The clash of two common public perceptions; people who play "sports" are athletic and strong and amazing role-models and should be worshiped as gods, and those who play computer games are entirely in-athletic nerds who sit in their mother's basement all day drinking Mt Dew.

When someone tries to say the second group might be participating in a "sport", shit hits the fan.

It's the age old "jocks vs the nerds". I just hoped we'd have grown out of such thinking once we left our teen years.
 
Sports implies physical activity and competition. Professional gaming is more of the latter, but heck, call it e-sports, why not?
 
Article should read "E-Sports drawing more fat, socially inept losers as people become more withdrawn".

Yep, watching the NA Region finals right now..Audience, players, casters all full of nothing but socially inept fatties...:rolleyes:

Try and be a little less of a jackass bro.
 
I suspect this is more than part of the problem.

A HUGE draw of 'college football' and the like is for the 50-60 year olds talking to their sons about how THEY played the game...and their sons talking to THEIR sons about trying out for the same team and competing on the same fields...

I don't think even "physical" sports would have quite the cachet they do without the cross-generational connection they provide. Hell, nearly everyone I know that still religiously follows any particularly team does so because that's where they went to school, and they used to WATCH those games live! (etc, et al)

And, as you correctly note, "e-sports" are flat-out never going to have that. The games are simply too ephemeral.
Never? Never is a long time.

Multiplayer electronic games have not been around that long. Only a single generation so far, which makes the whole multi-generational bonding thing kinda tough. And the technological progress in that time has been immense. We've gone from text-based multiplayer online games to multi-GPU powered Eyefinity/Surround multi-monitor setups.

I expect that as we reach an adequate computing plateau we will start to see some games with easily accessible but difficult to master gameplay (as well as a strong community aspect) take on a life of their own.
 
It's not like anyone is watching these events and exclaiming "what an athlete!", because that would be ridiculous, but that doesn't mean we can't call them e-sports and acknowledge the skills of those performing at high levels.

Actually, I've thought exactly this.

Some of the best FPS players have what seems like superhuman reaction time and accuracy in their ability to control a physical object(a mouse).

Might not require strength or physical endurance, but neither do a lot of "sports". The things that separate the best FPS players are attributes than are no less athletic than what separates top golfers.
 
I was watching SingSing play the other night and he was talking with someone on stream about having difficulty getting a Visa to play in Russia. Pretty interesting stuff.
 
Just wait...
The graphics in Madden are getting so realistic it could become like NFL Gameday 2.0 where you watch two fanboys duke out the game then see the real teams play, and wind up preferring the Madden match because the sport has become so pussified we can't see big hits anymore....
 
I was watching SingSing play the other night and he was talking with someone on stream about having difficulty getting a Visa to play in Russia. Pretty interesting stuff.

Growth of the genre should definitely help in the future. It's always interesting when Singsing is serious, he's actually very thoughtful and articulate haha.
 
Back
Top