Starcraft from the stands

NPF

Canada1635 Posts

May 17 2011 14:36 GMT

Hey,

I'm making this post to share a paper that I found about why do people find Starcraft enjoyable to watch. It's from the University of Washington by the author of Gifford Cheung and Jeff Huang. I have no affiliation with any of this and I thought it would be a nice read for the community.

http://jeffhuang.com/Final_StarcraftSpectator_CHI11.pdf

It describes the asymetry of information and that is why Starcraft is an enjoyable spectator sport.

The ultimate perpose of this thread would be to view people reaction to the article. I'll state my opinion on a later time to commente on other members viewpoints.

If it happens to be more appropriate in TL community please change it's location.

Edit: I suppose an equally valid question is which speactator persona do you fall under?

Twistacles

Canada1327 Posts

May 17 2011 14:50 GMT

THis would have been good for the paper I wrote on e-sports like, a week ago. DamN!

bonifaceviii

Canada2890 Posts

May 17 2011 14:52 GMT

Here's an interesting project for someone: centralize all scholarly research on Starcraft into one thread.

Techno

1900 Posts

May 17 2011 15:05 GMT

Thanks for the link on this. Incoming rant though:
After working in a Computer Science Lab this summer, I've lost alot of respect for the academic community. Most papers are hysterically full of fluff around empty arguments about the precise definition of words. Mostly written by Grad Students who don't give a shit, and are getting their Ph.D. merely for prestige. This one though, was probably written by students who care. It's an interesting topic, especially since it seems as though the SC2 spectators are out numbering the players.

I dont like this kind of necessitated repetition:

Video games are primarily designed for the players. However, video game spectating is also a popular activity,
boosted by the rise of online video sites and major gaming
tournaments. In this paper, we focus on the spectator, who
is emerging as an important stakeholder in video games.

Video games are primarily designed for the players. However, the players are not the only people engaged with the
game. In this paper, we turn our attention to the spectators,
those who watch but do not directly interact with the game.

Interesting read. The TL;DR is that Starcraft is awesome because it generates suspense for the spectator. Certain things, like nukes, are more applicable to this. An analogy is made to a spectator watching a race in the stands, they only see the cars drive by at one point, and the suspense of who will be first is the real crowd pleaser.

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