do you consider fishing a sport? a sport in which it is possible to take a 3 hour nap?! that's a little silly i think. oh, and then there was talk of making chess an olympic sport. gee, that's really athletic. not to mention dull to watch (for the most part).
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Oddly enough, I think I remember mouth. I know we didn't get along in the past, but I think I have to agree with his point here.
Rizzuh, the phrase you used in the article "the importance of recognizing video games as a sport" is a rather loaded sentence. It's like when the NRA talks about the "essential right" to bear arms. Regardless of your views on gun control, I don't think it's imperative that 100% of America owns a piece.
It's amazing how many people are fooled by Angel's little racket here. I may be going out on a limb here, but the man was a stockbroker beforehand - hint, people who make a living making money for other people and making money for themselves in the process. Do you really think he's this visionary with this amazing quest to make gaming a legit sport? Hell no. He wants money. Lots of it. He knows if this works he can be the first, the founder, the originator. And that, people, is good business. Ladies and Gentlemen, the CPL needs you. Angel wants a bigger yacht.
Now, as far as "pro" gaming goes, admittedly a huge portion of this is money. Do you think NASCAR would survive, even at $75 a ticket, if there weren't BIG sponsors for each vehicle/driver? Without the sponsors, you simply wouldn't have events.
As far as auto racing's "skill", it is a very amazing feat of engineering skill and more stress is on the crew than anyone else to keep a volatile machine in peak condition. There are hard standards for machine spec, ones that cannot be violated. In video gaming there are 29192 different configurations of machine, pings from 1-500+ ms, etc. Hell, even if you're playing pickup basketball, the ball is a regulation spec. An unregulated environment is the hallmark of a hobby, a game, or a liesure pasttime, not a sport.
Now, let's compare "sports" on the level of what it takes to be considered "good". The fundamentals of basketball, no matter if they change the length of the shot clock, the distance of the free throw line, etc. will always be the same. You must be in good physical condition, gravity will always be 9.8 m/s^2, etc. Baseball's rules might have changed, but it is still the same game it was 80+ years ago.
Video games have an average lifetime of less than a year. Computer hardware changes, people get bored with a particular game, companies go bankrupt, etc. Valve has persisted because they constantly updated their game with new features, something unheard of previously. Despite these changes, I can practically guarantee you that in 5 years the biggest game on the net will NOT be counter-strike. Plus, when you change a game, the fundamentals change along with it. When 1.4 came out, the idea of hopping with a pistol sent people scrambling for other tactics. Therefore, how well you do at a video game is directly proportional to how much time you spend on it or how much money you put into your system, alas. On the other hand, give me 500 years and I will still not be able to outhit Barry Bonds.
Finally, whether we like it or not, pro athletes are taken as role models. We all wanted to "be like Mike", eat some shitty sandwich from BK because Shaq endorses it, or buy Kobe's shoes. The current state of "pro" gamers is pathetic in comparison. Do you really want some 15 year old (acne scarred or not) with this "better than you" bullshit cocky attitude on your box of Wheaties? They're teenagers, hormonally imbalanced people who are SUPPOSED to be whiny, rude, and immature as they figure life out. It's creating a scary montage of Gary Coleman when you tell them they are "stars". However many ways you put it, age is a major detraction for taking someone seriously. I might be a bit of an asshole myself, but I sincerely hope the cpl winners get their winnings put into a college fund of sorts, not just dumped into their grubby little hands.
A direct comparison:
If video games were like baseball: Valve would have gone out of business in 1902 due to the inability to make any more money, everyone having bought their game once. The reason for new games is because gamers buy them, creating revenue. Go Go gadget economics.
If baseball were a video game: We'd tear down and totally rebuild Fenway Park in a different configuration every year. You'd have maybe 50 spectators tops, the game being pre-recorded on tv. Ballplayers would make fun of little league games, call them "noobs", and insist on playing them a few times per day to "own them". We'd find that the Yankees first baseman, Funk, had been using a metal bat painted to look wooden.
My overall point is, this just ain't The Wizard. If your event has the same mass appeal as watching paint dry, don't expect much. I expect at its peak, watching video games on TV will be about the same level as "professional" paintball was.
I personally think taking ourselves too seriously in video games was the worst thing we ever did. It ruined the casual fun the majority of us enjoy playing in pubs or scrimming between clans of our friends. It unleashed the waves of cheaters, born out of those who wanted to say they were "the best", and set them upon the online community. It created this rift of discord in which intolerance for a differing opinion was preached, and in which people call the very company which provided them with their enjoyment "a piece of shit" when it changes something not to their liking. It has taken a lifestyle of sitting at a computer while failing school/socially and made it acceptable where it was once appalling.
Say it ain't so, guys. Say it ain't so.
-RavComment
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rav, you bring up many good points. personally, i vascillate between wanting it to be a sport and calling the whole idea foolish. i agree with you on many points in fact. hardware will change. the popular games will change. but one fps plays much like another. i can jump from a game of cs to a game of rtcw to a game of quake 3 and not have to adjust much, if at all. and as was pointed out by angel munoz, all the pc's at a tournament are the same. sure, you can bring your fav keyboard/mouse, but the rest is all the same. no hardware advantage there. and if players know beforehand what the server settings are ie. gravity, then one can practice with those settings before a match. now i'm not saying that it should be a sport. and i'm not saying that it shouldn't be one either. and this is a debate that will probably go on for some time. but i think that it is worth looking at the pros/cons of both sides before making any kind of pernanent decision.Comment
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I think it's just the image of Rizzuh on a box of Wheaties that makes me shudder ;-)
-RavComment
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Ravenium wrote..
lol
I think it's just the image of Rizzuh on a box of Wheaties that makes me shudder ;-)
-RavComment
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