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I've been a fan of esports since I was downloading RealMedia replays of Boxer's Brood War games in the early 2000s, and still watch pro League and Dota2. Have g

by mjr00 4y ago

I've been a fan of esports since I was downloading RealMedia replays of Boxer's Brood War games in the early 2000s, and still watch pro League and Dota2. Have gone to the EVO FGC tournament most years, as well. Plus some live League/Starcraft events in Korea. The hype is fading because it was vastly overhyped and oversaturated to begin with. Games that should have never been made esports were turning into esports. One end of the spectrum was just bad games getting esports leagues prematurely. Remember Infinite Crisis, the DC Comic-based MOBA that had a full "season 1 championship" in beta, then the game itself ended up lasting only 5 months before getting shut down?[0] On the other hand you have games that are popular, but are really bad spectator sports. Fortnite and Rocket League are great examples of hugely popular games which have attempted an esports scene but failed to gain much traction, especially relative to their popularity. And then there's the ugly, which is Blizzard's massive investment into Overwatch League. Despite all the shady metric-gaming in the books (they used to automatically embed OWL Twitch streams into the Blizzard launcher, meaning anyone who launched a Blizzard game while OWL was happening counted as a viewer) OWL has looked pretty bad. They've even had to change the game rules multiple times to "fix" staleness in pro play, and Overwatch 2 is heavily targeted at adjusting pro play as well. You can't just throw money at a game and have it become an esports phenomenon like Blizzard has tried; a lot of things have to go right with the game itself. The map and game state has to be easily readable to a viewer, which is why MOBA, RTS and fighting games to a lesser extent have done a lot better than FPS historically. The balance needs to be there; the GOATS[1] (3 tank 3 healer) setup in Overwatch made the game miserable to watch. The pacing needs to be right; it can't be too slow-paced or too fast-paced. This includes both any fighting that happens, as well as the overall pace of when fighting happens. If any of these factors aren't quite right, pro play is going to be a mess. And sometimes, even with all those boxes ticked, it just doesn't take off. Heroes of the Storm is a great example here, where it was mostly pretty good as an esport on paper, though perhaps a bit slow-paced with too much healing. But the game never really took off in popularity and thus Blizzard killed its esports league. Investors get tricked into thinking they're investing into the NBA or NHL with esport pitches, when in reality they're investing into the XFL, USFL or a lacrosse league. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Crisis_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Crisis_(video_game) [1] https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/25/18239845/overwatch-goats-meta-triple-tank-explainer https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/25/18239845/overwatch-goats-m...

nluken 4y ago
You've got some great points here about companies trying to bootstrap esports out of nothing. Ideally, the activeness of the community would determine what games can support professional play; bottom up, not top down. As for pacing and viewing experience: I'd whittle your list down even further if we're talking about the ideal esport. Most MOBAs are way too visually complex for non-players to understand what's going on. I always thought that fighting games made the most sense for a mass audience. Even if you don't have intimate knowledge of how a particular fighting game works, it's easy for anyone to understand what's going on and parse visually. You can see the entirety of the action instead of having to jump around from player to player. And some fighting games (looking at Smash Bros, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter) are wildly popular already.
- dagw 4y ago
  Fighting games have to compete with watching actual people actually fighting. Sure the UFC has less backflips and fireballs, but no Street fighter tournament will be able give a fight fan the same visceral excitement as watching an actual fight. Much in the same way that very few people who enjoy watching football (any kind) enjoy watching eSport football.
  - nluken 4y ago
    True, but it never really seemed to me like the two were competing with each other, except maybe in the case of something intentionally gory like Mortal Kombat. The detachment from physical injury makes it feel less like a fight and more like a non-combat sport. Could just be my bias showing since I've never liked UFC.
- mjr00 4y ago
  > Ideally, the activeness of the community would determine what games can support professional play; bottom up, not top down. Yep and this is how it's happened for the most successful esports. Brood War was turned into a competitive game by KeSPA with minimal support from Blizzard (and active interference later on). EVO was self-organized and had minimal outside support for a long while. Even League, which was supported by Riot from the start, had a very bootstrapped, labor-of-love feel to it, probably reflecting the actual small indie company Riot was at the start; the season 1 championships are lovingly referenced as having taken place in Phreak's basement, and the season 2 championships were an absolute logistical mess. The huge cash investment and sponsorships didn't come until way later. > Most MOBAs are way too visually complex for non-players to understand what's going on. Definitely, especially if you haven't played the games and know what items or abilities do. But at least as a spectator you have a full visual of the playing field and largely see the same thing the players see.

by mjr00 4y ago

nluken 4y ago

You've got some great points here about companies trying to bootstrap esports out of nothing. Ideally, the activeness of the community would determine what games can support professional play; bottom up, not top down. As for pacing and viewing experience: I'd whittle your list down even further if we're talking about the ideal esport. Most MOBAs are way too visually complex for non-players to understand what's going on. I always thought that fighting games made the most sense for a mass audience. Even if you don't have intimate knowledge of how a particular fighting game works, it's easy for anyone to understand what's going on and parse visually. You can see the entirety of the action instead of having to jump around from player to player. And some fighting games (looking at Smash Bros, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter) are wildly popular already.

dagw 4y ago
Fighting games have to compete with watching actual people actually fighting. Sure the UFC has less backflips and fireballs, but no Street fighter tournament will be able give a fight fan the same visceral excitement as watching an actual fight. Much in the same way that very few people who enjoy watching football (any kind) enjoy watching eSport football.
- nluken 4y ago
  True, but it never really seemed to me like the two were competing with each other, except maybe in the case of something intentionally gory like Mortal Kombat. The detachment from physical injury makes it feel less like a fight and more like a non-combat sport. Could just be my bias showing since I've never liked UFC.
mjr00 4y ago
> Ideally, the activeness of the community would determine what games can support professional play; bottom up, not top down. Yep and this is how it's happened for the most successful esports. Brood War was turned into a competitive game by KeSPA with minimal support from Blizzard (and active interference later on). EVO was self-organized and had minimal outside support for a long while. Even League, which was supported by Riot from the start, had a very bootstrapped, labor-of-love feel to it, probably reflecting the actual small indie company Riot was at the start; the season 1 championships are lovingly referenced as having taken place in Phreak's basement, and the season 2 championships were an absolute logistical mess. The huge cash investment and sponsorships didn't come until way later. > Most MOBAs are way too visually complex for non-players to understand what's going on. Definitely, especially if you haven't played the games and know what items or abilities do. But at least as a spectator you have a full visual of the playing field and largely see the same thing the players see.