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I remember when e-sports wasn't worth a commercial damn, and I remember my showing for a Halo: Combat Evolved 2v2 MLG prelim years ago, getting upset at a MtG championship, trying to focus my team in CoD:2 for scrims and trying to climb ladders in sc: bw for years.I also remember playing bets for quake 2, CS, WC3, and sc: bw at lans in comic shops. The bets functioned to facilitate a good victor. You put your money down and it ensured you played your best, and you shook hands when it was done, and you probably got something to eat together.
The truth is nothing in those endeavors had any real monetary benefit. Everyone played the games because they loved the games. Even though I never accomplished anything in sc:bw, a well played in a 2v2v2v2 BGH was enough to put me to sleep. Or losing over and over again to my sparring partner Zedai, and finally snatching some weird win with a PvP shield battery rush.I still remember after a lay in the sack with my girlfriend -- staying up (and being repeatedly reprimanded) staring at my monitor to watch Flash v. Fantasy in the 2010 OSL. Likewise, I remember staying up, when I had to teach the next day, to watch Jinro's stream and all of his matches.
I also remember attending Blizzcon 2009 and being too shy to ask effort (the victor) for an autograph even though someone told me it would be alright. Now I'm a bit older and have a bit more understanding than I had (isn't that always the case?). It's funny to me to think that I was too shy to ask Effort for an autograph, but I have no problem asking my law professors a gut question.
To tie things together, my point is that e-sports isn't grown or upheld by a communities tacit demand that a game should be more or less popular. You just gotta love the game.
  
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Truth. Thanks for being truthful with yourself and others. Love the game and everything else will fall into place. If you can't really enjoy the game then don't play it.
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Sometimes I feel like esports used to be filled with a bunch of passionate and intelligent people who chose a hard path where they would make less money because they really cared about it, and now it's filled with people too afraid to get real jobs who think playing games for ez money is all that matters. The types who like to feel like ballers and want to throw money around and act like a star. Not really talking about players in this instance, though.
An intense game is its own reward. Watching two professionals have an intense game is a (worthy) vicarious experience of that. The crowd and the anticipation and the video production can all serve to increase that intensity, and that's certainly good too. But at some point there is a line where it starts to feel fake, where there's too much pandering for $$ and you question if any of it is really about the game still. Purposely creating an esport and micromanaging its progress for the express purpose of milking ad rev. seems like the the clearest expression of that non-genuineness. It's one reason esports as it is today hasn't been able to grab me. I don't like being treated like a wallet or for companies to treat me like an idiot to be manipulated with petty catch phrases like 'support esports.'
Guess my point is how much big business bullshit can you tolerate before you stop loving games? It really surprises me how many people can stand it.
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Last BW Proleague final in its entirety shows a level of commitment, teamwork, hard work and strategy of the utmost level comparable to any other sport. I recommend everyone to watch it, even if you have never played bw.
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I don't know what inside the industry is like, or anything of the sort, chef. What I do know is I've always tried to distance myself from video games as I enjoy them, and anything commercially beneficial. I have mad props for people like Wheat, and I admire a man that's made his own way doing and supporting what he loves. That's powerful to me.
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It feels like I just "watched" a commercial and had no idea what the commercial was about and then screen goes black and I get inspired...
On December 13 2013 04:28 Batssa wrote:
You just gotta love the game.
Well played.
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On December 13 2013 04:28 Batssa wrote:
I still remember after a lay in the sack with my girlfriend -- staying up (and being repeatedly reprimanded) staring at my monitor to watch Flash v. Fantasy in the 2010 OSL.
lol wtf
Such a weird thing to throw out there in the middle of a blog about esports.
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It reminds me, in 1989, after 6 hours of torrid sex with the hottest twins you've ever seen, the Dodgers were going against the Phillies...
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intrigue
Washington, D.C9934 Posts
On December 13 2013 08:45 Chef wrote:
Sometimes I feel like esports used to be filled with a bunch of passionate and intelligent people who chose a hard path where they would make less money because they really cared about it, and now it's filled with people too afraid to get real jobs who think playing games for ez money is all that matters. The types who like to feel like ballers and want to throw money around and act like a star. Not really talking about players in this instance, though.
An intense game is its own reward. Watching two professionals have an intense game is a (worthy) vicarious experience of that. The crowd and the anticipation and the video production can all serve to increase that intensity, and that's certainly good too. But at some point there is a line where it starts to feel fake, where there's too much pandering for $$ and you question if any of it is really about the game still. Purposely creating an esport and micromanaging its progress for the express purpose of milking ad rev. seems like the the clearest expression of that non-genuineness. It's one reason esports as it is today hasn't been able to grab me. I don't like being treated like a wallet or for companies to treat me like an idiot to be manipulated with petty catch phrases like 'support esports.'
Guess my point is how much big business bullshit can you tolerate before you stop loving games? It really surprises me how many people can stand it.
hm, i kinda agree with you but it may be a mistake to attribute noble traits to the first generations of diehard esports fans (and thus lament the lack of these traits in the new fanbase). i mentioned this in filter's retirement thread, but there just wasn't the option to really monetize these things until recently. this is probably the primary reason the TL and foreign stream-watching pre-2010 wasn't tainted by this shit. i guess for better or worse money and "business models" help to 'legitimize' esports, whatever that means. all i can still care about is game quality though
edit: also batssa, fine post, best response to haters is to just ignore them!
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EPT
