OT: What is eSports
http://esportsguy.com/what-is-esports/
Pretty good discussion of eSports, kicking off with a metaphor I think we can all relate to.
Is this your blog? If so, plug away but don't be coy about it. Give us more info!
OT: One of my biggest pet peeves is the "Here's a link" original post. Gie me something to care abotu reading that article! Or gie me enough info to know I don't want to spend 20 minutes reading the article.
WTF is eSports?
>Gie me something to care abotu reading that article! WTF is eSports?
Yep! I wrote this article and was pretty happy with it so wanted to share since I know a lot of fellow Wolverines that love eSports or are at least intrigued by the idea, even if they don't embrace it.
The name and subject of the piece are literally "What is eSports," so if you're burning to know "WTF is eSports" I would recommend reading the piece.
If you're not willing to check the first three or four lines of an article to get a sense of whether it's worth reading, you're probably not the intended audience. Feel free to prove me wrong, though!
It's common courtesy to not clickbait. If you're going to create a thread, don't be lazy and just post the link.
All you have to say is "Anyone into competitive video gaming? eSports are growing at pretty quick rate - I wrote an article over on my blog, I suggest you check it out if you're interested. I even threw in a Michigan football reference :)"
The point is: I want to know what I'm clicking before clicking it. For all I knew, it was a betting site or something.
He's not being a dick about it or anything, and I don't think any of us want the MGoBoard full of posts that are just links with no context.
The prize pool for The International 2014, Dota 2 tournament equivalent of the Super Bowl for Dota 2, is up to $6.5 million right now, already the largest esports prize pool ever and approaching The Masters levels.
http://www.dailydot.com/esports/dota-2-international-prize-pool-6-milli…
i don't get why its called e-sports. Why not just e-games or something. Sport involves physical exertion, not sitting in front of a computer. Not a big deal, just kind of misleading. It is one thing if it refers to a sports game such as Madden or FIFA, but I don't see how alien war strategy games are related to sport in any way.
I mean that's an issues of semantics with sports vs. athletics. Do you consider chess a sport?
It's a fair point, but there is a lot of physical exertion and reflexes involved in most eSports.
Would you consider Shooting or Table Tennis to be sports? Both are Olympic sports, and I think pretty comparable to level of exertion you see in many eSports.
The reflexes (retirement age is generally 25) and practice required to stay in peak condition (carpal tunnel is a common career ender) are grueling!
No matter where you come down on the issue, it's of interest that the US government issues P-1 visas (the same visas MLB and NBA foreign stars use) to eSports stars as of last summer.
The tent of "sports" is pretty wide, many would say.
Your definition of grueling is a little different than most people's I think... table tennis at the highest level looks exhausting physically. If you're going to call video games a sport, then something along the lines of intense coding or a particularly challenging math assignment would have to fall into that category as well.
All of that to say, I couldn't care less what word you use to describe it. eSports is fine with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UjZYMI1zB9s#t=2…
Seconded, really great film. Jeremy Lin even makes an appearance!
My job is somewhat what connected to this industry and I still cringe everytime I read or write or "esports". I am a pretty regular gamer myself, and have even played competitively in the past, but I still can't call this a sport. I respect what these guys do, I even enjoy watching some of these competitions but to me it just isn't a sport. It's a game played competitively. It's poker, chess, etc, a game. There can be serious endurance involved, and great reflexes but the athleticism required is lower than that of darts, pool, etc, and I believe those are on the edge or what should be a sport. All that being said, the industry is growing big time, and it's kind of cool to see the stigma of "gamers" begin to erode.
That's fair, though I think there certainly is an argument, especially in a world where Table Tennis and Shooting are Olympic sports.
Whatever your feelings on the subject, it's thought-provoking that the U.S. government considers video games to be sports, as pro gamers now get P1 visas just like any other international sports athlete.
You've said this twice about the government. Since when is the government an authority on the defininition of sports? These gov references have nothing to do with anything.
No one has a monopoly on the definition of sports, neither the U.S. government nor a random guy on an internet posting board. For legal purposes (see: Title 9 case on Cheerleading http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8245864/appeals-court-affi…) the judiciary may weigh in on the matter, but the definition of a sport is fluid.
I brought it up to point out that even if you disagree that eSports are technically "sports," you might still find it thought-provoking that the belief that competitive video games are a competitive sport is popular and influential enough that the federal government has taken a stance on the matter-- in favor of eSports being a sport.
That would have been unthinkable even a few years ago.
It's a bellwether, and one with very real-world consequences for eSports professionals.
The point is not to win an argument, it's to exchange ideas. The point is not that the government decides what is a sport (though that is relevant for Title IX purposes), but that the idea has some momentum and serious credibility behind it.
sorry double comment