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[Bragr]

The show starts, 5 chubby super nerds guys stand there with their arms crossed trying to look serious. Some "e-sport coach'" zooms into view, with a bowl cut and a neckbeard. "Epic" orchestrated music plays in the background, the crowd chants, waving glow lights.

That's when I tune out. It's so embarrassing to watch I can't take it. There is an image problem with e-sports, they try too hard to make it cool and fancy rather than build it towards normal people. It's computer nerds playing games, not hardcore athletes, don't pretend they are.

Every time a presentation at E3 or whatever tries to cater to e-sports, it's always the worst thing to watch.

I am sure there are plenty of people here that watches it. I can understand it if you watch it for a game you play a lot, but if there is a game you don't play, do you find it enjoyable to follow just for entertainment?

 

[SJRB]

E-sports that take itself extremely serious are very cringe, I agree.

 

[01011001]

the big esports tournaments already outclass almost any sport out there in terms of viewership...

so yes, it's the future

 

[HTK]

Sports and eSports will co-exist.

 

[A.Romero]

Thing is it obviously resonates with a lot of people. The formats might be refined in the future to suit wider audiences as it has been happening during the last decades.

it will change to fit what people want to see but it might not be what some people like.

Personally, I find ridiculous some of the stuff that happens with traditional sports. For example, soccer teams lining up and singing anthems or getting pictures done with their kids or the weight measuring event in boxing among many others. They are just rituals.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

uncomfortably cringey.

its presented similarly to drone racing too.

 

[Punished Miku]

I've never really watched anything but EVO. It just seemed like normal people playing games.

 

[killatopak]

Nobody enjoys a sport they aren’t interested in either. That isn’t exclusive to e-sport.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

I think it's already very wrong to try to put sports and e-sports on the same league. Many sports takes kids from suburbs and put them on a good place, with discipline and all that. It's just accessible to everyone and very inspiring! E-sports not only does not have the healthy / athletic part of a physical activity, but it also is much less accessible to the general public... (you'd need a computer to play, a good controller or mouse and keyboard set, headphones and all that).

I can agree that e-sports might make a good competition; it might be fun to watch; but I don't agree with the sports element. Although I also understand that the concept of sport can be much broader than this.

 

[ViolentP]

E-Sports are a joke. It's the NFT of people.

 

[bender]

5 chubby super nerds guys stand there with their arms crossed trying to look serious. Some "e-sport coach'" zooms into view, with a bowl cut and a neckbeard.

This characterization is as fucking dumb as calling professional athletes "dumb jocks".

 

[Neff]

I spent all my life mocking both the ridiculousness of following sports and the idolising of those who play them, and the fact that one of my favourite hobbies is now firmly a target of the same business model changes nothing. If anything, it's even more embarrassing. E-sports are not at all what gaming is about in my opinion.

I may change my mind if we ever get cheerleaders, though.

 

[M1chl]

E-sport is Dark Souls of cringe.

 

[Aenima]

The show starts, 5 chubby super nerds guys stand there with their arms crossed trying to look serious. Some "e-sport coach'" zooms into view, with a bowl cut and a neckbeard. "Epic" orchestrated music plays in the background, the crowd chants, waving glow lights.

That's when I tune out. It's so embarrassing to watch I can't take it. There is an image problem with e-sports, they try too hard to make it cool and fancy rather than build it towards normal people. It's computer nerds playing games, not hardcore athletes, don't pretend they are.

Every time a presentation at E3 or whatever tries to cater to e-sports, it's always the worst thing to watch.

I am sure there are plenty of people here that watches it. I can understand it if you watch it for a game you play a lot, but if there is a game you don't play, do you find it enjoyable to follow just for entertainment?

I find watching GT Sport competitions more enjoyable than watching real racing on TV. They always have great production values for the competitions, with a bunch of comentators for diferent languages, great camera angles both for the ingame and for the drivers.

I can understand it if you watch it for a game you play a lot, but if there is a game you don't play, do you find it enjoyable to follow just for entertainment?

No, i only enjoy watching e-sports from games i play. The reason is simple. Im familiar with the game and how it plays, watching a competition with a familiar game makes you apreciate more the skill level of the players so you understand better whats going on the screen. Another layer of enjoyment comes after you get a few players you simpatize with and you start rooting for them.

Only e-sports competition i watched was from Street Fighter 5 (Capcom cups and Evo) and GT Sport, usually just the finals.

 

[ReBurn]

Watching other people play video games is just as boring as watching people play sportsball. Come at me.

 

[Kenpachii]

e-sport is the future of sport

 

[Banjo64]

Not to shame anyone but I actually laughed aloud when I watched the Game Awards nominations yesterday and the ‘esport athlete’ award rolled.

 

[Fbh]

I think they'll both coexists, I don't see regular sports going anywhere.
But anyway, yeah I think it would be better if they toned down the "badass" angle. Though it's not exclusive the E-Sports, all the "gamer" stuff is full of this cringy "badass" aesthetic, so much gaming hardware looks like it was designed by a 12 years old who is into transformers and RGB.

 

[WitchHunter]

I find watching GT Sport competitions more enjoyable than watching real racing on TV. They always have great production values for the competitions, with a bunch of comentators for diferent languages, great camera angles both for the ingame and for the drivers.

I can watch a Formula 1 race without someone forcing me, and that's a feat in itself, but this reeks like used socks from a sneaker. Also has this terrible artificial feel to it, like it's an alien thing. Maybe with photoreal graphics.

 

[Skifi28]

Gt sport and starcraft 2 are amazing to watch and I would pick over any other sport. The rest.... Kinda meh

 

[Saber]

Reminds me of my younger days reading gaming magazine.
Theres a section about Pokemon Championship, showing a guy just like you described with an overpower number of monsters. I was like...ok?

 

[Mikado]

I think John Blake, Former NFL Assistance Coach and Nike Rep said it best:

 

[009EspadaSageJay]

The fact that you cant trash talk or have any sort of edge will never put e-sports on the level of real sports watching FGC events now is like watching a infomercial reminding you every 5 mins to pleas buy this Ben-q 240 HZ and these hyper X earphones.

 

[WitchHunter]

I am sure there are plenty of people here that watches it. I can understand it if you watch it for a game you play a lot, but if there is a game you don't play, do you find it enjoyable to follow just for entertainment?

Nah, it's unwatchable. They try to use the same sports broadcast formula to make it digestible, but it's deffo not a live event kinda thing. With heavy post editing, maybe then.

It's on the same level as VR. It MUST be made mainstream and profitable. It will take time to shove it down the throats of the forthcoming generation.

 

[Aesius]

the big esports tournaments already outclass almost any sport out there in terms of viewership...

so yes, it's the future

Probably because they reach global audiences more easily than any other sport outside of something like the World Cup.

 

[CitizenZ]

"5 chubby super nerds guys"

Profile much?

 

[Danknugz]

we need a LGL (Lingerie Gaming League) and maybe i'll watch. With the aforementioned heavy set male nerds wearing the lingerie hopefully.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Nobody enjoys a sport they aren’t interested in either. That isn’t exclusive to e-sport.

The truth. Well, and that could be said about literally anything that people aren't interested in, haha.

I mean, I don't think passion is "cringe", I actually love seeing people being super passionate about something they love.

Honestly in the long run it's less on the competitors and more so on the direction and production teams. I mean, they're the reason so many video game related streams and related are as eye rolling as they are, lol.

 

[Keihart]

E-sports that take itself extremely serious are very cringe, I agree.

 

[norm9]

I wish that shit was easier to follow. Having gone to a live Overwatch event, that was fun. But half the time I'm not sure what I'm looking at when I watch on a stream.

 

[TheMan]

calling it the future of sports almost implies it will replace traditional sports, which of course will never happen. Does e-sports (kind of a dumb name to begin with) have a good chance of carving it’s own path? A lot of signs point to yes but you never know. Wrestling used to be a hugely popular mainstream things for years and now look at it.

 

[Keihart]

I think it's already very wrong to try to put sports and e-sports on the same league. Many sports takes kids from suburbs and put them on a good place, with discipline and all that. It's just accessible to everyone and very inspiring! E-sports not only does not have the healthy / athletic part of a physical activity, but it also is much less accessible to the general public... (you'd need a computer to play, a good controller or mouse and keyboard set, headphones and all that).

I can agree that e-sports might make a good competition; it might be fun to watch; but I don't agree with the sports element. Although I also understand that the concept of sport can be much broader than this.

To be fair, the "accesability" angle doesn't work worldwide, there are several countries with netcafe culture where most kids get started.
The time needed to invest in it and the perception of most people about it tho, that's a real barrier.
Either way, there is no much real ability gained from spending all your day playing video games or a specific sport besides being good at that specific game, so the risks are pretty similar i would say if we disregard the fact that regular sports can get you scolarships and what not, maybe esports will get the same tratement in the future, but i doubt it.

 

[Bragr]

Who looks at this and thinks it looks badass? they need to drop the tough guy act, it looks so odd.

 

[Lethal01]

The show starts, 5 chubby super nerds guys stand there with their arms crossed trying to look serious. Some "e-sport coach'" zooms into view, with a bowl cut and a neckbeard. "Epic" orchestrated music plays in the background, the crowd chants, waving glow lights.

That's when I tune out. It's so embarrassing to watch I can't take it. There is an image problem with e-sports, they try too hard to make it cool and fancy rather than build it towards normal people. It's computer nerds playing games, not hardcore athletes, don't pretend they are.

Every time a presentation at E3 or whatever tries to cater to e-sports, it's always the worst thing to watch.

I am sure there are plenty of people here that watches it. I can understand it if you watch it for a game you play a lot, but if there is a game you don't play, do you find it enjoyable to follow just for entertainment?

That's my reaction to any sport trying to take itself seriously, It's a bunch of sweaty guys trying to do something or another with a ball. no need for all the chanting or theatrics.

Esports is no worse, it just has the benefit of me actually enjoying seeing the action

 

[Lethal01]

Who looks at this and thinks it looks badass? they need to drop the tough guy act, it looks so odd.

Same goes for this, would be just as lame with it were a bunch of muscular basketball players

Edit: was meant to be one post

 

[fart town usa]

Kudos to the professionals for making a career out of it but in no way is it anywhere near as impressive as professional athletes. Not trying to knock e-sports, just outlets acting like it's a game changer. Even if it were to be the future of sports, I still wouldn't have any interest. But if that's your thing, power to you. Enjoy the hell out of it and ignore people like me.

That being said, I do enjoy SGDQ and AGDQ. Haven't watched them in a while but I like what they do for cancer charities.

 

[Bragr]

Same goes for this, would be just as lame with it were a bunch of muscular basketball players

I don't know about that one.

 

[Pejo]

I think that the business around eSports grew up before the actual thing itself did. We still have people using stupid handles like "fartTrigger69420" and we're supposed to take any of this seriously? I don't like eSports on concept, making a big deal about people playing video games, but I'm not one to want to ruin it for those that do enjoy it.

Still, if they want to get some mainstream appeal with this, they really should start being a little more grounded and genuine with the presentation and players. It's almost like a living oxymoron though because who but the most immature of us would try and succeed to make a profession out of playing video games against other likeminded people?

I'm probably not one to ask about this though. Twitch, D*scord, let's plays, eSports and other "let's watch people play games and build gaming communities instead of actually playing games" seem like superfluous chaff designed by corpos to make money, at least to me. It's just noise that surrounds games without actually making the game experience better in any way, and usually just attracts the unsavory and controversial.

ok Discord doesn't really fit with the rest of those but I just really dislike it so I wanted to include it.

 

[WitchHunter]

calling it the future of sports almost implies it will replace traditional sports, which of course will never happen. Does e-sports (kind of a dumb name to begin with) have a good chance of carving it’s own path? A lot of signs point to yes but you never know. Wrestling used to be a hugely popular mainstream things for years and now look at it.

People will live in the VR metavile system and their bodies will be fragile and robots will wipe their arses...

 

[WitchHunter]

Who looks at this and thinks it looks badass? they need to drop the tough guy act, it looks so odd.

Sour grapes...

5 US Gamers Have a Legion of Female Groupies in South Korea

I had an older cousin named Steve who would try to give me pimping advice. He would always say, you will never get girls playing Nintendo. YOU LIED TO ME STEVE!!! YOU LIED!! Once confined to their dimly-lit basements, videogamers are now flocking from America to South Korea where they are lauded...

blacksportsonline.com

 

[Lethal01]

I don't know about that one.

Thanks for proving my point, these guys look lame super lame.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Same goes for this, would be just as lame with it were a bunch of muscular basketball players

Edit: was meant to be one post

Exactly. It's clearly not even about the sport, but more so the person that decided these type of photos were good in the first place, lol.

"Hey, I know this is just about sports, or whatever. But try to look intimidating, like you're gonna beat someone's ass!"

I don't know about that one.

That's just one picture. There are plenty that say otherwise, for example.

 

[Javthusiast]

FGC thuggery for life.

 

[TLZ]

Who looks at this and thinks it looks badass? they need to drop the tough guy act, it looks so odd.

Omg so much nerds.

 

[Diddy X]

I thought the guy in the middle was touching the other guy's chest, can't unsee now.

 

[6502]

E sports is the new Darts.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Athlete - Ronaldo plays the game controlling the ball with his feet

E-gamer - Plays the game pretending to be Ronaldo and controlling the ball with a gamepad

E-gamer audience - Watches a gamer playing a game pretending to be Ronaldo

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I thought the guy in the middle was touching the other guy's chest, can't unsee now.

Guy on the left is awesome. Flexing his muscles for an activity which involves sitting on a couch, holding a controller and wearing a headset.

 

[Diddy X]

Athlete - Ronaldo plays the game controlling the ball with his feet

E-gamer - Plays the game pretending to be Ronaldo and controlling the ball with a gamepad

E-gamer audience - Watches a gamer playing a game pretending to be Ronaldo

Forum poster - writes about audience watching a player pretending to be Ronaldo

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Forum poster - writes about audience watching a player pretending to be Ronaldo

Forum poster 2 (you) - responds to a poster who wrote about an audience watching a player pretending to be Ronaldo.

Forum poster 3 (me) - responds to a poster who responded to poster who wrote about an audience watching a player pretending to be Ronaldo.

lol