Opinions on eSports

[-AJ-]

Three years ago, I was cringing when I saw video clips of thousands of fans going nuts over professional gamers playing a video game at a live event. "What nerds, how can they get so excited over watching a video game?" I said to myself. Now, I'm one of them.

 

The world of eSports has been fascinating one for me to venture into. I have been gamer for most of my life as it is one of my main hobbies, but the eSports scene was a totally new one for me. It began with me when I regained interest in one of the most popular games in the world, League of Legends. After beginning to take the game more seriously for about 4 or 5 months, I began to dabble into the North American professional scene to see what it was like.

 

To my surprise, I saw a number of similarities between watching a traditional professional sport, like hockey, and watching an eSport, such as League of Legends. Interestingly enough, the eSports scene is one of the fastest growing sport-related industries worldwide. I watched a recent video by TheScore on the growth of eSports and wanted to share it for some perspective:

 

I'm curious to know your opinions on eSports as we all have the common interest of a love for hockey, a more traditional sport. Is it a joke? Is it a legitimate industry? Do you expect it to one day rival traditional sports more competitively?

 

[BananaMash]

It's entertainment just like any other sport, but it does absolutely nothing for me personally. I can see the appeal, but I'm more interested in athletic based sports.

 

 

[goalie13]

Personally, I don't get it.  

 

I know a guy who is totally into eSports.  When we were in training at work, every time we were on a break he would be on his phone watching eSports.  Now, he has a part-time role as a coach for an eSports team and they traveled to Europe for some big competition.

 

So it's obviously a thing.  I just can't see what the appeal is.  I used to joke that the graphics were getting so good that you could play NHL or Madden on the TV at a bar and drunk people would think it was a real game, but I never dreamed that eSports would be a legit business.

[GLASSJAW]

been following "esports" for a very, very, very long time. my interest comes and goes though.

 

i think the "industry" (as a collective whole) needs far more regulation or mediation or something to keep people honest, but yeah, there's absolutely no question this stuff will continue to grow. hat is off to Valve and Blizzard for recognizing and trying to rectify this problem

 

there are other issues: brand loyalty makes literally zero sense in esports imo. players are in and out the door every month, and so the brand essentially just becomes a vehicle for sponsors for a single tournament (two if the player is lucky), and then someone new signs on. rinse, repeat. of course there are exceptions, but this seems like the going rate. i dunno, there just seems to be a very extreme cultural volatility. so in that sense, I'm not sure how, or if, it could replace sports where logistics or team philosophy play a part in how fans identify or relate with individual teams. In Dota, for example, I usually watch tournaments and cheer for teams based on my appreciation of 1 or 2 individual players. Once those players leave, I don't care about the team. 

 

I guess one way to overlook this is how many soccer clubs are actually picking up eSports rosters. if something like this continued, then it would solve that "identity" problem

 

[Tre Mac]

For starters it should be  E-Games not E-sports, they don't even play sport games lol.  I cringe the other night when some sport show was discussing the LoL tourney on 1040.  Oh well, just another thing to add to poker, golf and NASCAR as activities I don't considered sports.  To each their own.

[-AJ-]

1 minute ago, GLASSJAW said:

been following "esports" for a very, very, very long time. my interest comes and goes though.

 

i think the "industry" (as a collective whole) needs far more regulation or mediation or something to keep people honest, but yeah, there's absolutely no question this stuff will continue to grow. hat is off to Valve and Blizzard for recognizing and trying to rectify this problem

 

there are other issues: brand loyalty makes literally zero sense in esports imo. players are in and out the door every month, and so the brand essentially just becomes a vehicle for sponsors for a single tournament (two if the player is lucky), and then someone new signs on. rinse, repeat. of course there are exceptions, but this seems like the going rate. i dunno, there just seems to be a very extreme cultural volatility. so in that sense, I'm not sure how, or if, it could replace sports where logistics or team philosophy play a part in how fans identify or relate with individual teams. In Dota, for example, I usually watch tournaments and cheer for teams based on my appreciation of 1 or 2 individual players. Once those players leave, I don't care about the team. 

 

I guess one way to overlook this is how many soccer clubs are actually picking up eSports rosters. if something like this continued, then it would solve that "identity" problem

 

From what I understand many eSports games are beginning to venture into franchising, making it even more like traditional sports. I wonder if we'll see longer careers and more stability in the scene overall as a result. The security of knowing a team can't be lost as easily has to be attractive to sponsors.

[SabreFan1]

Nerds!!!  Go outside and get some exercise if you want to participate in or watch a REAL sport.

 

Competition does not equal sport.  Sports at a minimum involve total physical exertion.

[GLASSJAW]

3 minutes ago, Tre Mac said:

For starters it should be  E-Games not E-sports, they don't even play sport games lol.  I cringe the other night when some sport show was discussing the LoL tourney on 1040.  Oh well, just another thing to add to poker, golf and NASCAR as activities I don't considered sports.  To each their own.

well, the "e-" in "e-sports" is there to modify the word "sports" to suggest that it isn't actually a sport--nor is it pretending to be...

 

but just for the record: games like FIFA, many racing games, and fighting games are extremely popular and get picked up by actual teams of those respective sports. Again, the soccer club PSG has its own FIFA (video game) team. I believe Dortmund does as well.

 

 

[-AJ-]

1 minute ago, SabreFan1 said:

Nerds!!!  Go outside and get some exercise if you want to participate in or watch a REAL sport.

 

Competition does not equal sport.  Sports at a minimum involve total physical exertion.

To me, the specification of "eSport" over just "sport" is enough to make it obvious that it's in a different category.

[GLASSJAW]

5 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

From what I understand many eSports games are beginning to venture into franchising, making it even more like traditional sports. I wonder if we'll see longer careers and more stability in the scene overall as a result. The security of knowing a team can't be lost as easily has to be attractive to sponsors.

Yea, I think Blizzard took steps towards this with how they structured the competitive scene in Overwatch, but maybe I'm mistaken.

 

I know Valve tried to do this with its tournament cycle as well, but I still think team rotations exist every few months during "transfer windows"

 

Either way, the future is bright

[SabreFan1]

1 minute ago, -AJ- said:

To me, the specification of "eSport" over just "sport" is enough to make it obvious that it's in a different category.

Potato-patato, tomato-tamato.  Using the word "sport" is a stretch. 

 

It's taken over a couple of decades but I'm only now coming around to the idea that cheerleading is a sort of sport.  They're basically loud perky talented gymnasts in short skirts these days whereas back when I was an athlete, they were just loud and perky....

[Ossi Vaananen]

I made MLG in 2007 for CS:S as a teenager. So you haters can suck it.

 

It's a massive growth industry. I know a few sports franchises are aligning with e-sports teams, like the Bruins here: http://www.tsn.ca/bruins-enter-esports-with-investment-in-splyce-1.667713 . Nvidia (NVDA) was one of the biggest gainers last year because of their monopoly on graphics cards. Some speculate AMD could do the same. 

 

I'm not a hardcore viewer, but it's definitely entertaining. I'll only watch tournaments or knock out stages, the 'splits' are too slow and are essentially mean nothing games. There will be issues of parity heading forward, as teams can still throw money at top players. But as an investor and avid gamer, I love this.

 

As a sidenote, if you're good at Overwatch, they're giving you a chance to go pro: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/esports/open_division

I'm only Platinum myself. It's honestly not the most entertaining e-sport game. 

[Sygvard]

I am actually a big fan of it. I started watching it a couple years ago, and was surprised to me immediately hooked. It is now one of my strongest guilty pleasures, and has a lot of the same draws for me as sports. I admit to owning a "sports" jacket with the logo for a team entirely made up of nerdy 20 year olds. We live in a strange and wondrous age. But I will never turn down more sports to cheer for. 

 

In terms of people being hesitant to call it a sport: They are actually shockingly intense with it. I had the same qualms at first, but if you look into their day to day it is instantly recognisable (especially the Korean teams, who see much of it as a sort of national sport). Most teams actually live together in training houses, and practice in "scrims" daily. They spend the rest of their time breaking down film with various coaching staff, practising plays, and working on team communication. A lot of the teams have gone as far as employing sports psychologists, and food and sleep experts. I think the burnout in the industry is quite intense: not many people can keep up with the year round constant coaching for more than a few years. 

 

You guys are right on the franchising. I looks like it will go a long way towards permanence, although it will hurt the chances of people breaking into the sports via relegation tournaments. 

 

Weird to think of though eh? 

[-AJ-]

9 minutes ago, Ossi Vaananen said:

There will be issues of parity heading forward, as teams can still throw money at top players. But as an investor and avid gamer, I love this.

I've been wondering if we'll ever see salary caps ever introduced. I recently heard that for North American Pro League of Legends players, the new minimum salary as of 2018 will be $75,000. Still nothing compared to traditional sports, but I could see star players earning significantly more than that. Currently, certain teams are generally the perennial leaders in the league (at least in League of Legends) and I suspect that large amounts of funding have much to do with it.

 

I'm also curious to see if a drafting system ever gets created. it'd be interesting to see poor teams get the best of the new young players.

[GLASSJAW]

4 hours ago, Sygvard said:

I am actually a big fan of it. I started watching it a couple years ago, and was surprised to me immediately hooked. It is now one of my strongest guilty pleasures, and has a lot of the same draws for me as sports. I admit to owning a "sports" jacket with the logo for a team entirely made up of nerdy 20 year olds. We live in a strange and wondrous age. But I will never turn down more sports to cheer for. 

 

In terms of people being hesitant to call it a sport: They are actually shockingly intense with it. I had the same qualms at first, but if you look into their day to day it is instantly recognisable (especially the Korean teams, who see much of it as a sort of national sport). Most teams actually live together in training houses, and practice in "scrims" daily. They spend the rest of their time breaking down film with various coaching staff, practising plays, and working on team communication. A lot of the teams have gone as far as employing sports psychologists, and food and sleep experts. I think the burnout in the industry is quite intense: not many people can keep up with the year round constant coaching for more than a few years. 

 

You guys are right on the franchising. I looks like it will go a long way towards permanence, although it will hurt the chances of people breaking into the sports via relegation tournaments. 

 

Weird to think of though eh? 

Does anyone ever comment on it?

[Sygvard]

1 minute ago, GLASSJAW said:

Does anyone ever comment on it?

Yeah, all the time actually. The jacket is for TSM, the League of Legends Team. It is black and white, and subtle enough that most passing people don't pick up what it is. But every now and then some passing person is like "HEY TSM!". Probably a lot more of an active response and positive recognition from the fan base than I would get wearing my Canucks stuff, just due to it being somewhat more rare and niche. 

[CanadianRugby]

It's not a sport.. but I wish it was around when I was a kid and owning people at every game.