Katastrophe
I feel infinite.
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- Seen Nov 9, 2013
Just looking to spark a bit of discussion.
As some of you may or may not be aware, there's a not-so-little thing called eSports out there. Some of you might scoff at the title of eSports, it's nothing to scoff at. Last month in Columbus, Ohio, the second event for the 2011 Major League Gaming (MLG) season was held. For the 2011 season, MLG holds competitions for Halo: Reach, StarCraft II, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. At this event, there were over 15,000 live spectators, 1,300 competitors, and over half a million people from 164 different countries that tuned into the live stream on the website. Nearly $100,000 was given away in cash prizes. The first place Halo: Reach team took home $20,000 of that - that's $5,000 per player in 3 days. Bam. This, of course, is on top of money earned by giving lessons, ad campaigns, and sponsorships.
But although MLG is arguable the largest pro-gaming community in North America, it's dwarfed by the Global StarCraft League, or GSL. StarCraft has long been the pro game of choice for most countries, namely Korea where StarCraft players are viewed as celebrities with three or four television stations devoted to professional StarCraft play. In fact, most of the competitors in the Top 8 from StarCraft at MLG Columbus weren't even from the US.
Although, there's more to this then just shooters and RTS. In fact, most games have some sort of competitive aspects, as far back as pong. Something we're all aware of is the competitive aspect of Pokemon and although it may not be on the MLG Pro Circuit, it's still competitive with online tournaments and leagues.
So, my topic for debate is... as video games change and grow, where do you stand/how do you feel about the whole concept of eSports? Are competitive gamers just try-hard nerds who suck the fun from these games, or can eSports become as legitimate as actual sports like baseball?
As personal experience, I played Halo 3 in 2009 and 2010 at MLG events and local tournaments in Free For Alls at the "semi-professional" level. I never kept track of how much money I won, but I made around $400 in the summer of 2009 after MLG Columbus through selling High Skill 50 accounts and giving lessons. Despite the fact that some people see this as a waste of my time, the friends I've made and the experiences I've had were the most important things I gained.
As some of you may or may not be aware, there's a not-so-little thing called eSports out there. Some of you might scoff at the title of eSports, it's nothing to scoff at. Last month in Columbus, Ohio, the second event for the 2011 Major League Gaming (MLG) season was held. For the 2011 season, MLG holds competitions for Halo: Reach, StarCraft II, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. At this event, there were over 15,000 live spectators, 1,300 competitors, and over half a million people from 164 different countries that tuned into the live stream on the website. Nearly $100,000 was given away in cash prizes. The first place Halo: Reach team took home $20,000 of that - that's $5,000 per player in 3 days. Bam. This, of course, is on top of money earned by giving lessons, ad campaigns, and sponsorships.
But although MLG is arguable the largest pro-gaming community in North America, it's dwarfed by the Global StarCraft League, or GSL. StarCraft has long been the pro game of choice for most countries, namely Korea where StarCraft players are viewed as celebrities with three or four television stations devoted to professional StarCraft play. In fact, most of the competitors in the Top 8 from StarCraft at MLG Columbus weren't even from the US.
Although, there's more to this then just shooters and RTS. In fact, most games have some sort of competitive aspects, as far back as pong. Something we're all aware of is the competitive aspect of Pokemon and although it may not be on the MLG Pro Circuit, it's still competitive with online tournaments and leagues.
So, my topic for debate is... as video games change and grow, where do you stand/how do you feel about the whole concept of eSports? Are competitive gamers just try-hard nerds who suck the fun from these games, or can eSports become as legitimate as actual sports like baseball?
As personal experience, I played Halo 3 in 2009 and 2010 at MLG events and local tournaments in Free For Alls at the "semi-professional" level. I never kept track of how much money I won, but I made around $400 in the summer of 2009 after MLG Columbus through selling High Skill 50 accounts and giving lessons. Despite the fact that some people see this as a waste of my time, the friends I've made and the experiences I've had were the most important things I gained.