I think you're missing the scale of LoL more than anything - more individual people have likely played it this month than, say, have ever played a Halo or Resident Evil or Madden, yet even as an MP-only game its OT count isn't that far from the commercial failure SF5 or the SP-only AA JRPG Persona generals that started long after the most recent mainline Persona released in English.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
LoL Pro Faker Signs Up For Twitch, Immediately Breaks Record (245k concurrent)
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
- Start date
I think you're missing the scale of LoL more than anything - more individual people have likely played it this month than, say, have ever played a Halo or Resident Evil or Madden, yet even as an MP-only game its OT count isn't that far from the commercial failure SF5 or the SP-only AA JRPG Persona generals that started long after the most recent mainline Persona released in English.
same here. ~—~..I'm out of touch. But I also never tried LoL.
thestopsign
Member
12 OTs over the course of 7 years isn't a whole lot for the biggest video game on Earth. Really it is a rotating bunch of 10-15 posters that keeps those threads moving too.
I bet that if you were to make a Venn diagram of "people who care about eSports" and "people who care about video games not within the realm of eSports", the intersection between the two would be fairly small.
GAF happens to be mostly the latter.
And there's nothing wrong with that. People have different interests, and thinking that video games is a single homogenous blob is pretty silly.
GAF happens to be mostly the latter.
And there's nothing wrong with that. People have different interests, and thinking that video games is a single homogenous blob is pretty silly.
I must admit, I only looked at the banner of the article and also came across this while googling the guy:
I mean there must be better ways to present these kids right?
I mean you also don´t present a chessmaster like a footballl player.
that is a very comical picture.
Newtype-001
Member
for Overwatch in terms of popularity probably Seagull, and he gets about 24-25k avg on his streams
On the one hand, this. On the other, those viewership numbers strongly imply that we're the strange ones. I never got into MOBAs, though.
The interesting part, from my perspective, is that this is the first time GAF hasn't "made the jump" - in 2003 it wasn't still Dreamcast diehards refusing to touch an RPG or open-world, by 2008 FPS fandom was well-established and even the highly-evolved weebs were doing most of their gaming on XBL, and by 2014 the outsider perception was back to it being an SDF hub.
Mainstream gaming has changed repeatedly, leaving the old ways behind. This is the first time GAF hasn't changed with it. Is it just because Reddit and /v/ are viable now like they weren't in the past? Is it a purely generational thing, even though in MOBAs we're talking about a genre that's basically Streetfightercraft? Does it show GAF as a place for all console fans, and the -craft is what's making its posters miss the boat? Or perhaps as a place for all narrative gaming fans, and the lack of story structure is what does it? (Does this imply that the established rivalries of pro sports are what drives GAF interest in Madden or FIFA, and that Rito and Blizzard and Valve could tap into a new market with more lore events?)
ScriptedReality
Member
Thats what I was thinking. Now youre either old or not normal for not knowing who this guy is lol.
BSJ for Dota
The Hermit
Member
I don't mind people liking lol. But it still eludes me how can someone watch that.
And I like e-sports in general, specially SF.
killatopak
Member
Just to point out how good faker is, he dodges skill shots scripts that automatically calculates your position.
He literally beats a cheat code.
He literally beats a cheat code.
I don't meant to be confrontational but a lot of people post stuff like "i'm into esports and I don't know this guy", when what they really mean is "I follow one or two games with an esports scene and don't know about others".
I, at least in my opinion, follow "esports", and what that means is I'm familiar with league, dota, hearthstone, overwatch, FGC, some starcraft II, as well as the advancement of competitive gaming and the various issues and histories that are idiosyncratic to every scene. My only major gap in knowledge is CS:GO.
Most of the people who play Mobas from my experience only stick to that game. They don't care about the rest of gaming and are pretty casual in that regard . I guess that's why they don't wanna join Neogaf. Also a large portion of LoL is in China. So id still say league is accurately represented among the gaming enthusiast community.
Also it's pretty dumb to compare a F2p title to a retail one. Piracy is huge in Asia so I am sure a lot more people have played COD or RE than sales numbers suggest. This ofc isn't an issue with a free game.
killatopak
Member
davidwhangchoi
Member
korea best!
#1 Faker
#1 Faker
Conkerkid11
Member
Weird views in regards to professional gaming being expressed in this thread.
Remind me to go over to OT and behave this way in sports threads.
Remind me to go over to OT and behave this way in sports threads.
atomic moth
Member
I know what Twitch and LoL are. I didn't know who Faker is until this thread.
Sue me.
Sue me.
Leafhopper
Banned
Sonic
Oh, some of you with this "oh, I DO NOT KNOW WHO HE IS AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY", get out! Get the **** out, seriously 
I was like you once. I was like "what? LoL? Please, SCII is the true esport, yo, and of course fighting games."
Then you know what happened? I actually installed LoL.
And now? I am able to watch LoL games and appreciate them for what they are: an insanely followable, very watchable esport. Turns out, it is the BIGGEST on the planet in its genre too.
If you are a gamer, and you cant muster enough energy to just check LoL out, then...I do not know what to say. Do you check out new operating systems, or do you stick to win98 for that smooth Quake 1 experience? Do you still use CRT's? Of course not.
I was like you once. I was like "what? LoL? Please, SCII is the true esport, yo, and of course fighting games."
Then you know what happened? I actually installed LoL.
And now? I am able to watch LoL games and appreciate them for what they are: an insanely followable, very watchable esport. Turns out, it is the BIGGEST on the planet in its genre too.
If you are a gamer, and you cant muster enough energy to just check LoL out, then...I do not know what to say. Do you check out new operating systems, or do you stick to win98 for that smooth Quake 1 experience? Do you still use CRT's? Of course not.
pokeystaples
Banned
Same. I am learning quite a bit today.
jonscrambler
Member
twitch has only been around for 5? years, of course there are GAFer's playing games in their old ways and are oblivious to how the younger generation play/watch games now, gaf is a tiny niche of older gamers compared to the number of people following esports/twitch
Haha, add me to the list that had no clue how to read the title to this thread.
Never heard of that guy...and have zero interest in League of Legends (tried it, don't like games like it). Also can't stand watching other people play games, I don't have that time to waste when I could play myself (as a response to some in here).
However, that is a TON of viewers...crazy!
I don't have a clue who Daigo is. I don't follow ANY "pro" gamers (assuming that's what "Daigo" is). There's nothing wrong with people not knowing anything about these people.
Never heard of that guy...and have zero interest in League of Legends (tried it, don't like games like it). Also can't stand watching other people play games, I don't have that time to waste when I could play myself (as a response to some in here).
However, that is a TON of viewers...crazy!
I don't have a clue who Daigo is. I don't follow ANY "pro" gamers (assuming that's what "Daigo" is). There's nothing wrong with people not knowing anything about these people.
This is a process that's been repeated over and over, though. People play what's big and then drop it like a rock when the new hotness comes along; would you argue that the open-world and FPS playerbases of the late 2000s were casual? (And if you would based on their rejection of cinematic JRPGs and collectathon platformers, then shouldn't you also casualize THOSE fans for passing on side-scrolling action, and THOSE for never really getting into shmups, and even the twitch-action shmup kids for not embracing the deeper and more intricate MUD/MUSH/MOO ecosystem?)
The notion of the mid-2010s being exactly when a canon solidified, before which each expanding wave established a new mainstream but after which each expanding wave is disengaged casuals, doesn't pass the sniff test.
And while piracy certainly needs to be accounted for, I'm also going to stand by my statement. There have been nine mainline REs by this point; a single person who's bought every one tucks eight pirates under his wings in terms of total lifetime players, and in turn I'm comparing lifetime players to literally within the past 30 days players.
In before "who the F is Daigo? I only follow Doom 1 offline championships!'
But I wonder however if more people in this forum would recognize the name Daigo Umehara.
I'm part of the group that wasn't sure how to parse the thread title at first, but I got it after a few seconds.
I watched the allegedly ruthless Faker clip the Kotaku article linked to, and I can't say I get it.Well, it has gone through tremendous (lol) amounts of graphical overhauls. Champions get redesigns all the time, the whole main level was completely redrawn 1 or 2 years ago, so.... yeah. It looks amazing now.
Oh, some of you with this "oh, I DO NOT KNOW WHO HE IS AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY", get out! Get the **** out, seriously
I was like you once. I was like "what? LoL? Please, SCII is the true esport, yo, and of course fighting games."
Then you know what happened? I actually installed LoL.
And now? I am able to watch LoL games and appreciate them for what they are: an insanely followable, very watchable esport. Turns out, it is the BIGGEST on the planet in its genre too.
If you are a gamer, and you cant muster enough energy to just check LoL out, then...I do not know what to say. Do you check out new operating systems, or do you stick to win98 for that smooth Quake 1 experience? Do you still use CRT's? Of course not.
Some of us simply don't care about video games as a competitive activity. We enjoy video games for the escapism.
Is that so wrong?
RightChandMan
Member
Chezzymann
Member
It's not just GAF, /r/games has very few LoL threads. I think "console gamers" and "esports gamers" are just two very different groups.
It's certainly fair to have that position, but it's also quite niche - compare the antipode, a gamer who would choose 2-player Pong over solo anything.
(This is especially so when considering how energetically League's design, or hero games in general, focus delivering on a core fantasy for each character regardless of their overall fortunes in battle. I know that my peak moments in the game aren't when I'm on a winning streak. It's when I get to go down taking someone or two with me as the embodiment of heroic spite, or sneak a rare kill as the rose-with-a-single-thorn, no matter if I'm hopelessly outmatched or mopping up practice-mode bots.)
Chezzymann
Member
No one has an obligation as a gamer try LoL and it's ridiculous to compare it to still using a CRT TV. It's also not niche to not be interested in eSports. I like playing games like the Witcher 3 and Minecraft, and I do play multiplayer games like Mario kart but it's just to goof around. All those games have huge sales, they may not be as popular as LoL or Dota, but it's not a niche.
Edit: whoops I thought you were the same person as the other guy
ChrisMahoney
Banned
True there are some places where every real sport is niche and places where those sports aren't niche.
esports is niche everywhere
LoL epsorts is niche because only a very very very small % of anyone on the street would know who Faker is.
It doesn't help that esports is so divided up. I don't know any LoL or CS pros. LoL pros don't know CS pros generally. etc.
Hmm I expected as much, but this definitely explains a lot of things.
Puts into perspective the fact that some people in that age range or older still instigate & participate in console wars, but I digress.
chillybright
Banned
I see you haven't been to South Korea.
I didn't know Faker, but I kinda know Daigo. I know he plays fighting games, but don't know which ones.
But how many of you know Chuan? Those who don't are filthy casuals tbh and shouldn't call themselves gamers. Or they are just really old and out of touch.
Dreams-Visions
Member
I was one of them.
Hydrophobic
Member
Has BSJ ever won anything though?
Hierophant
Banned
nah they just have a dota hardon, every international thread gets like 2k+ up voted and every world's thread gets like 300
Not that it's bad or anything but it shows where biases lie
Lol right? I'm about to be 33 and I watch pro league and play it every day
That was a joke, something that ChiLongQua would say.
BSJ is a terrible player, at least when compared to other pros.