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On May 07 2012 00:56 Chef wrote:Show nested quote +On May 07 2012 00:51 Torte de Lini wrote:On May 07 2012 00:46 wassbix wrote:On May 07 2012 00:14 Torte de Lini wrote:On May 07 2012 00:10 Marti wrote:
5 : a mean for a company to promote its (new) game and make money off of it until the next one comes out ...
Sadly I think that's very cynical. The correct way to see it would be: 5. Orienting a game towards a competitive nature that both balances the enjoyment of spectating the game being played as well as creating an aspect of skill-level and diversification to make it both accessible to play, but difficult to master (a la Blizzard). E-Sports increases the longetivity of life and worth to a game and thus, indirectly, increasing sales. Why is that cynical? Game Dev's main source of income is actually selling the game. One could argue that promoting "Esports" will indirectly lead to brand appreciation, which will drive future sales (a sequel), but it all boils down to studio wanting to sell current or future games. Longevity of a game means very little to most developers, and more often than not you see big studio actively killing niche community games (server shut downs / dropping all support). AOM had a small but healthy community till the servers were killed off. War3 had a huge following in China yet complete lack of new ladder maps (some would argue lack of BM nerfs/UD buffs) (The patch last year doesn't count, it was way too late for way too little) BW got sued for not paying blizzard It's cynical because you're placing an importance on something that is fundamentally obvious and normal. To state it is to admit there is something to note and generally, the understanding that developpers make games to make a lot of money has a negative viewpoint from a lot of people. It's not obvious and normal, making games into an eSport is a very new thing and worth taking note of because sports are usually public domain. Ya, ok, companies try to make money. That's not what he or I were saying. We're saying it's not necessarily good for an eSport to have been contrived, and that maybe if it is contrived it loses legitimacy.
We're not talking about the same thing. It's obvious people make games to make money and will aim their products in a certain direction to which they know will make them more money. Read the quote tree.
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All of you have such different conceptions of what it is and means. How the heck do you expect an outsider to understand it when you guys cannot even wrap your heads around it? There is no agreement between the community.
The term is too vague.
If you want to talk about SC2. Talk about SC2.
If you want to talk about LoL. Talk about LoL.
If you want to talk about BW. Talk about BW.
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I have my own definition that I prefer.
Competitive multiplayer video game = Esport
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3 Seems like a good definition. To me, if all of the references to games and such were taken out, it would also work as a definition of a sport.
I find that a sport or e-sport doesn't need to have huge turnouts or huge prize pools involved, they just need to have a decent level of competitiveness (not sure if that's the word) and let people actually make a career out of it. Also, the game/sport itself has to have some degree of skill gap between casual and professional.
I'd argue that the part about attracting large numbers of people to events doesn't really need to be there for the definition though. For example, let's go the invention of a brand new sport. It has the required competitive level (no, I don't know how to calculate that) and it lets its top players make a decent income. However, it has only just started out, and it doesn't have too many fans. It is still a sport, regardless of fanbase size.
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I don't know what's with people and the term eSport. It's obviously something ambiguous and there won't be a consensus. Breaking down the term you get "e" for electronic and "sport" which can have all kinds of goofy definitions. It can obviously apply to any game played competitively.
If we're actually going to use a game's notoriety and the size of its competitive scene to define "eSports", then clearly we have a fully fledged dick size contest on our hands and that shit has got to stop.
Edit: Oh and you should be ashamed of yourselves. =)
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At least $80k salary killed it for me on number 2.
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Who gives a shit? If I think that something is an esport ill call it an esport - there are no concrete definitions.
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There is no such thing as esports. There is competitive gaming.
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Hmm. An interesting question. The way I view an esport, it must have a competitive scene, and there must be money involved and at least a few players earning enough money to live by. So maybe a [3] or a [2]?
I don't think it necessarily has to be really large like BW was, but at the same time I think it has to have at least a sizable audience for me to consider it an "esport." In my mind, an esport is not just any old game that can be played competitively with your buds, there has to be a certain level of recognition and a certain degree of professionalism involved.
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EPT
