April 28th, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^
You've called me dumb and stupid and it's really uncalled for. I'm simply pointing out that the aforementioned stigma against professional video gaming isn't based on nothing, though you might feel it's unwarranted. Like it or not there is a tangible, physical difference between video gamers and athletes. Equating the playing/viewing of videos with the playing/viewing of sports as structurally identical is dumb. My response to the poster was that video games fit neatly within modern "nerd culture" but not (yet) a sports frame of reference because of the cultural and physical difference between the groups. I "randomly" brought up Harbaugh to illustrate my point (admittedly speculating on Harbaugh's viewpoint) because this is a Michigan blog. Do you think you're clever by mimicking my post but inserting Dr. Sanjay Gupte? As if the basic act of "bringing in another significant Michigan alum" alone points out how "stupid" my post was? Unfortunately that doesn't work since the comparison at hand is professional athletics versus video gaming, not academics. Your conceptual subsitutions don't even make sense. Me: Videos games viewed through a nerd culture lens makes sense, not through a sports lens. You: athletics viewed through an athletics lense makes sense, not through an academics lense. Umm okay, nailed me. Besides, Gupte probably played sports anyway; he seems to be a well rounded Michigan person. At minimum my speculation on Harbaugh's view of professional video gaming is more supportable than your speculation on Gupte's view of professional athletes. Then again you're clearly a genius. Reducing my argument to something that it's not (perspective is important!) then calling it obvious is completely amateur hour. And finally, for needlessly calling me dumb and then stupid in consecurtive posts, go fuck yourself and your high horse.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:48 PM ^
Well, no difference except athletics require some semblance of physical fitness. (John Daly and Bartolo Colon excluded, of course)
People rail on football for being dangerous. I'd rather crack my head on another angry person for 8+ hours a day than lead a completely sedentary lifestyle while playing video games 8+ hours a day. Guess which one will probably kill you faster.
April 27th, 2015 at 12:02 AM ^
April 27th, 2015 at 12:12 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
April 27th, 2015 at 12:36 AM ^
April 27th, 2015 at 12:51 AM ^
Cool story bro. Too bad economics of the professional gaming industry disagree with you.
No average joe can win these things after days of playing or else there wouldn't be a market for it, since everyone would be just as good as one another thus no need to watch professionals play.
Yeah, that competitive Zelda scene is pretty wild. I bet you had a ton of haters.
CSB.
I am curious as to which Zelda because if it was Ocarina Of Time, I have always wondered what the Windmill music sounds like when one is on something. It was maddening enough sober and made for a terrible earworm, but I was always timid because some place like the Shadow Temple seems like it would be virtually impossible in an altered state....or it could be hilarious. Maybe I should fire up the version downloaded to the Wii when I get home today.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
You don't know what you're talking about. First of all, most competitive gamers(at least in the Dota scene, which is the one I'm most familiar with) are NOT unfit and definitely less overweight than the average American. Over the last two The Internationals finals, only 1 out of 20 players was overweight.
Secondly, even Soccer players have shorter life expectancies than the average person. There's not a strong correlation between physical activity in early adulthood and total life expectancy. Actually, extreme physical activity(like cracking your head on another angry person for 8+ hours a day) might render you unable to sustain moderate physical activity later in life when it actually counts.
Also,there are a lot of pro gamers who were athletes that had some injury or medical problem and switched their competitive edge from sports to video games.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:15 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
April 26th, 2015 at 11:33 PM ^
No, not in terms of the worthiness of the relative activities. I understand that some people will enjoy one and not the other. That is perfectly fine by me, no argument there.
It is confusing to me that someone who thinks it is worth their time to watch other people play an athletic game on tv think it is dumb to watch a competitive esport on tv. Reading this thread it seems there are a lot of them.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:53 PM ^
Aside from the social aspect? I mean, rooting for your team (or tribe) against another team (or tribe) is basically hardwired into our beings. That could certainly be applied to video gaming. But as of now, it hasn't. I doubt it will ever reach that level.
April 27th, 2015 at 12:55 AM ^
What social aspect do you think it's missing?
"That could certainly be applied to video gaming. But as of now, it hasn't. "
lol... and how do you know that? You're clearly not familiar with the E-Sports scene.
There are some big rivalries in esports already. I mainly follow League of Legends so in north america the big ones are Cloud9/Team Solomid and Counterlogic Gaming/Team Solomid.
It definitely has been applied to video games. Top teams in various games sell jerseys with players names on them.
http://www.esportstore.com/team-store
People go to arenas and cheer loudly for their team. People wait in big lines and storm the stage to try to get autographs from the top players.
What is it missing in the social aspect?
April 26th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^
People will pay to watch the best. Whether that is football or video games. The market for competitive video games has exponentially increased since the late 90s with the advent of streaming services and global broadband internet.
There is 0 difference between watching competitive athletics vs video games. At the end of the day, you're still watching someone else make money doing something they're better than 99% of the population at.
April 27th, 2015 at 12:27 AM ^
April 27th, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
April 27th, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
I'm not a gamer* but thinking there's any meaningful distinction between consuming an hour of NFL draft content or an hour of celebrity gossip or watching an hours worth of video game strategy is ridiculous. At their most basic, they're meaningless forms of entertainment and nothing more.
*I played N64 growing up and have a PS3 for occasionally playing one of my three games, NCAA 14, Little Big Planet 2 and the GTA4 with all three versions.
April 26th, 2015 at 10:55 PM ^
I mean, this is basically a dorkier, serious version of Nick Arcade...
But that doesn't make it right.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:00 PM ^
April 27th, 2015 at 12:53 AM ^
The announcers do it as a profession. Artosis and Tasteless live in Korea and cast major SC2 tournys for a living (have for a few years now). Day9 has made a living off of casting and steaming for 4 or 5 years now too. All 3 are former pros as well.
EDIT: Hehe, replied to someone on the android phone app and that post doesn't show up here. :)
April 26th, 2015 at 11:02 PM ^
April 26th, 2015 at 11:08 PM ^
Mom! More Hot Pockets!
April 26th, 2015 at 11:10 PM ^
I find it interesting that no one actually said what the game(s) being played were.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^
Heroes of the Storm
April 26th, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^
April 26th, 2015 at 11:15 PM ^
....ELI5
April 26th, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^
10 people; 2 teams of 5; destroy opposing team's base; most popular type of game out there these days.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
Usually the game involves killing the enemy heroes and gaining items that makes your heroes' abilities stronger thus making it easier to dispatch the enemy team.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:36 PM ^
lol.. Heroes of the storm isn't "blizzards" version of DOTA... DOTA started on warcraft 3, made by a regular player who made it thru Blizzards custom map creator..
All these other games like League and what not all spawned from the original DOTA on warcraft 3
April 26th, 2015 at 11:39 PM ^
Tell me where I'm wrong in saying that Heroes of the Storm is Blizzard's MOBA that is competing with League, HON, and Dota2.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:50 PM ^
The original creator of the WC3 mod (Eul) got hired at Valve with the 2nd modder who popularized the 1st guy's work (icefrog).
The 3rd guy (guinsoo) got hired by Riot to develop LoL. HoN got created by S2 Games who asked all 3 of them for permission to use their ideas and essentially copy them on a different engine.
April 27th, 2015 at 12:24 AM ^
Most of us in this thread went to Michigan. We're all nerds in some form. Only differences include drinking ability and hate for OSU.
I'm pretty sure the guy who called you a nerd didn't.
April 27th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^
They kinda did...
Saying dota was Blizzard's idea is like saying cab companies are Ford's idea because they invented the model T.
April 26th, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^
April 26th, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^
April 26th, 2015 at 11:26 PM ^
It's a strange world we live in...
April 26th, 2015 at 11:27 PM ^
It's been 10 years since this beauty came out. God those were the days.
The last good game in the series. And that menu soundtrack of 90s punk...........
April 26th, 2015 at 11:30 PM ^
April 26th, 2015 at 11:40 PM ^
Played that game non-stop as a kid so the song order is embedded in my head. I made a playlist and have the whole sountrack so I can play it in my car.
Me, Myself and I by De La Soul and Nowhere by Therapy? is a "you can't have one without the other" combo due to the game.
Good times those were. Such a damn travesty they stopped making those games.