Does Professional Gaming Have a Future?

cant think of a better way to take the fun out of the game tbh. esports and pr0 gamers ftl.

hmmmmmmmmmmm

how do u get to the point where u want to be shut-in and pratice for hours and hours....sounds like a nightmare world to me!

Originally Posted by MiNiMaL_FuSS
how do u get to the point where u want to be shut-in and pratice for hours and hours....sounds like a nightmare world to me!

Pussies. :p

But seriously, do we really want computer games to be taken as "seriously" as football? I hope not.

what a boring job, RSI to the max.
Games are for fun, any one that says other wise needs a girlfriend or boyfriend and a life.

problem is physical sporting is refined and has been going on for decades/century

games however have short shelf life, constant expansion, patches that changes gameplay (i remember we got so confused when we were in a team match using an old version of a game), new titles and the community (real sport u cant hide behind the internet, some people just ruin the experience of what "sport" is all about)

Originally Posted by MajestiX
games however have short shelf life, constant expansion, patches that changes gameplay (i remember we got so confused when we were in a team match using an old version of a game), new titles and the community (real sport u cant hide behind the internet, some people just ruin the experience of what "sport" is all about)

One word; Starcraft.

Originally Posted by Gunsmith
cant think of a better way to take the fun out of the game tbh. esports and pr0 gamers ftl.

Did it ever occur to you that those people playing the same game over and over actually enjoy it? Fun is subjective. Not everyone enjoys the same things.

Nexxo has a transfer fee of $70 million.


Professional gamer sounds fun but isn't a real career. Once you get old, sponsors would want a new younger face representing their products.

Originally Posted by UrbanMarine
Once you get old, sponsors would want a new younger face representing their products.

That's true in a lot of areas that manage to be pretty good/well paying professions - modelling, acting etc...

Most of the comments so far also apply to 'real' sports.

I played semi-pro tournaments throughout late highschool and into early college, My total winnings was about 3,000 over 4 years. Yes not a living, but not bad for doing something most would do for free. I ennjoyed it immensely but like trying to become top notch at anything in life it takes a large amount of time and dedication.

I'll tell you I have some great memories and highlights of those super tight matches where everything is on the line and you try to give it your all to pull out the win. The amazing shut-outs or epic upsets. Plus you meet a lot of interesting people and get to travel to some nice cities (to spend all your time in a dark room). The practice was not the most fun, but do you think most atheletes like to practice? I liked nailing really hard moves or coordinating strategies to just wow our opponents.

I think esports will start getting some stand-out titles that become regulars such as CS1.6 starcraft, quake 3, etc these games have survived their shelf life and still are big draws. Also for the sports to grow you have to realize that some games are just not fun to watch, such as WoW which amounts to a series of buttons being pressed while health bars go up and down (I played competitive wow too) Some games such as Smash brothers melee and halo 3 are very easy for the average joe to watch and understand and I think they have better spectator apeal.

I think that's what's going to make or break esports the commentary and being able to build a sense of spectator appeal.

Originally Posted by MiNiMaL_FuSS
how do u get to the point where u want to be shut-in and pratice for hours and hours....sounds like a nightmare world to me!

Makes it pretty obvious that you will never play esports. Not because you don't want to, but because you can't.

The gamers that play esports aren't shut-ins. They aren't losers that spend all day and night playing the game. Most are just naturally good at the game they play.

We gamers that play esports. We love it. It's fun.

Any more ignorant, uninformed things to say?

Will game for bunnies.

I always feel embarrassed to be a gamer when pro gaming is mentioned, it's just a painful reminder how beta gaming in general is /me goes off to lift some weights >_<

I played CS since the start, founded a clan, expanded, ranked 14 in the German ESPL [before they renamed it] and had a lot of fun. Then some people wanted to go professional, that kiled the team but we all accepted it and kept gaming.

As that's what gaming is about: Having fun with others and letting everyone do his or her own thing as long as it doesn't insult anyone or spoil the fun for others.

Just my 2 cents...

I'm not a pro by any means. I play for fun. But as someone mentioned, fun means different things to different people. I can totally see how professional gaming makes sense.

In the last 5 years, I only played three games that I can remember:
1. GTA 3 (I'd play 4 too, but my PC hardware is not ready yet) - finished it in a week or so, enjoyed it, but never played it again
2. Portal - finished in a day or so, enjoyed it, but never played it again
3. Counter Strike: Source - playing it 3 times a week or so for the last 3 years, enjoying it all the time

Now you see that one of those games stands out as far as playing time. I can't say it's better than the other two, but to me it's just more like a SPORT than a 'game'. It's kinda like gathering with some buddies to go play football.
The 'fun' it provides is of a different kind. It's not: "wow, what a funny monster" or "hmm, interesting puzzle", it's different. The 'fun' is in being in shape, improving and beating your opponents, playing good with your team and so on. That's the fun I get from CS:S. (Even tho I know people who like zombie mods in CS:S or whatever, that's just not for me tho.)

tl;dr: not all games are the same, some are more like "sport games"

Tv and games is never going to work. I will never get as much fun or enjoyment, if any, out of watching someone play a game as I can by playing it myself. If I have time to watch someone playing a game, I'll just go play it myself. I just can't see the point of ever watching someone play a PC game I have on the shelf.

pr0 gaming is a about having a 4mb config file and the reactions of a cat :)

Oh, and nice re-hash of the same article from Custom PC magazine (which i guess we'll get more of now).

This topic has certainly gone around the net like a forest fire the last couple of weeks, and even though I think Bit-tech's interpretation of the debate was more open minded than most (such as that New York Times-article...), I think that the whole issue has been made more complicated than what it actually is.

As was briefly mentioned in the article, eSports have already broken through the barriers and reached a huge mainstream audience via TV and live events - in South Korea. I know that some people scoff at the mere thought of professional competition in computer games, and that some might say that the cultural differences between East Asia and Europe makes a comparison between the two unfounded. Personally, I say 'no' to the latter and scoff back at the former - the Korean eSports scene have not only made progaming socially acceptable (actually, 'desirable' is the proper word), it also draws an immense international audience.

Starcraft: Brood War, a game that is 11 years old and with crude, simplistic graphics is the one title that has proven to have the depth, the potential for skill, unpredictability and longevity to support a multi-million dollar industry in Korea - something that Western, credit crunched businesses are longing for. This post is not the place to tell you all why we should not be worried for eSports in these times of financial crisis, but rather hopeful instead - because that is how the best, the financially strongest and longest thriving eSports was born in the wake of the Asian dotcom-fiasco in the late 1990s. Feel free to read this article on my blog though, which deals with that and more:

http://polygonrevue.com/2009/03/the-state-of-esports-part-1-of-4-the-korean-professional-starcraft-scene/

Indeed, eSports as a phenomenon will always be a niche-thing. As such, it will never the less be huge, is my prediction. If you are still doubtful, make sure to surf over at http://www.gomtv.net tomorrow (Easter Sunday, or any other Sunday for that matter) at 10am and watch the best Starcraft-progamers in the world play the game against each other live in front of an audience, all commentated in English and absolutely free. Good Gaming!

Originally Posted by scrumble
I will never get as much fun or enjoyment, if any, out of watching someone play a game as I can by playing it myself.

For me, the same applies to any sport. I can hardly watch an entire football game, it has to be a world championship game or something. But if I play it myself, I could do it until I fall on the ground and can't move anymore. It's just way more fun playing it. The more the match is challenging (a tournament or sth), the better the players the more I enjoy it, more adrenaline, bigger rush.

One problem with watching games on TV is that for the most time you don't see the actual human players during the action. Maybe if they had a semi-POV camera behind players' shoulders it would make it more interesting.
Plus we'd need a decent game (in terms of watchability) and good comentators.

Originally Posted by robi386
For me, the same applies to any sport. I can hardly watch an entire football game, it has to be a world championship game or something. But if I play it myself, I could do it until I fall on the ground and can't move anymore. It's just way more fun playing it. The more the match is challenging (a tournament or sth), the better the players the more I enjoy it, more adrenaline, bigger rush.

One problem with watching games on TV is that for the most time you don't see the actual human players during the action. Maybe if they had a semi-POV camera behind players' shoulders it would make it more interesting.
Plus we'd need a decent game (in terms of watchability) and good comentators.

Providing that you have 15 minutes to spare and don't mind a good RTS-game, I'd like to share a link that encapsulates all the points you made. The Koreans have addressed all these problems and, in my view, made them into features:

MBC Star League: Luxury VS Jangbi

Your article was posted on slashdot. Here's my reply from there:

A little background about myself: I spent the better part of my teens and early 20's playing at a high competitive level in games like Quake and Counter-Strike. I've won semi-major events; I was even on a few teams with notable CPL/WCG winners. You could say that I was right on the cusp of becoming a pro gamer.

There are a few reasons that I didn't go "pro" like a budding career and the fact that only the very cream of the crop players actually made enough money at the time to consider pro gaming a worthwhile endeavor. I knew I wasn't the best player around, and carting myself around to places like the CPL to finish in the bottom half of the top 10 or top 5 didn't make any sense to me. Working a steady job and earning a living from 9-5, 5 days a week, did.

Back then, I watched a lot of demos of other players and teams. You know what? I hated it. It felt like homework to me. When I attended lans, I rarely watched or was interested in spectating matches.

Why? Because gaming, especially at the highest levels, is way more fun when you are actually playing. Gaming, to me, is all about the adrenaline rush that you get when you're storming a base, or grabbing quad damage, or fighting back to win a round when it's 1v3. Spectating, to me, is for losers. Spectating is what I did back in high school when I lost a round of Street Fighter II and had to sit and wait for my turn in a rotation of friends.

I have probably said it here before, but it bears repeating. Pro gaming relies on sponsorship which, in turn, relies on spectators. And gaming is a poor spectator 'sport', or at the best, a niche market.

"Gaming is far more accessible than football though"

...is he joking?

Football = £4 and a free park / cul de sac / school
PC Gaming = At least £700 on a semi-decent rig, £20pm broadband connection, and obesity

I agree iamwhoiam! Not to mention destroying your eyes.