How this mytake happened
Esports is a special interest of mine. Let's just say it brings me a lot of joy and I spend way too much time on it. I'm not even good at gaming but I love watching the best of the best play especially when I love the game and know a lot about it and if there's a lot of history even better. Esports is still kinda niche but I believe in it so much. I wanted to write mytakes about it but I wanted to write about something people actually care about and wanna read so I asked a question with a bunch of suggested topics and I got the friendliest sceptical comment I've ever recieved. I'm so used to people just thinking I'm weird and going ew that I'm really positively surprised and touched when something like this happens.
"I don't want to sound mean or uneducated but can you really consider computer gaming as a sport?
I mean, sport to me involves a physical activity that is more than just pushing a button a hundred times a minute to kill opponents. I don't really see what it has to do with sports in general, or am I missing something here?
Maybe you can educate us about what esport is since I seem to have a potentially wrong idea about it.
Grueezi to beautiful Switzerland, salut & anyong aseyo"
@SueShe wrote this and now I'll write a general introduction to what esports is and why I like it.
What makes Esports different from regular sports?
I'm gonna try and use basketball to explain this. When I watch Steph Curry play I love it and I'm amazed. Why? Because everytime he comes down the court he has to outplay his opponent. There's no I'm gonna use my body and stick my ass out and slowly cover 5 meters in 20 seconds and then take a meh shot over this guy. Who wants to see that? Even Lebron who is considered the best player he uses his strength and athleticism to either blow by the defender and dunk, or he draws multiple defenders and passes to the open guy. He does more than that of course but that's been the basic threat he poses to other teams for 17 years, that's what makes him hard to stop. It's just not very interesting compared to someone who has to reinvent their play every year and still stay on top.
Well in esports since everyone uses the same characters and has the same conditions at the start of the game the only thing you can do is outplay your opponent. You have to do something better than them and gain an edge big enough to win somehow.
Imagine if NBA players could chose which body they wanted to play in before the game. Steph Curry could play as Lebron James and we could see if he'd do better or worse in Lebrons Body. If your team didn't have enough big guys just chose one. Everyone chose their ideal team composition and then we'll see who can play it out the best. There would be no reason for players to step out of the way of a dunk because they don't think they can stop it anyway. You should be able to compete to your max capability with the team you chose and if you can't you can change it for the next game, or maybe you win but you're playing a different team and want to counter their strengths or exploit their weaknesses. But whatever you do, you have to outplay the other team because they have just as good of a team as you do so you better think how you're gonna beat them.
In Esports every fan can play the game with the same characters on the same map as the best players in the world, the only difference is their decision making, their practice, their mental strength, their skill, their teamwork, their tactics. It's all about the outplay. You can see a pro gamer play and load up the game and try and play the same exact game just you're controlling instead of him and you'll see the vast difference in skill. But in theory you could give the same imputs as the best player in the world. There's nothing stopping you except your own hands and brain. There are even games where you don't even need mechanics(how well you can execute the moves your brain wants to do with your hands). Virtual card games and Autochess for instance.
The game can always be improved
Here's another thought, a computer game can always be modernised, impoved patched, re-balanced and made more interesting. Imagine if in basket ball there were trampolines in the floor but the rims were higher. Imagine if you could get powerups where you could fly for 10 seconds or freeze the trampoline when the opponent wants to jump off, or make the ball weigh 10 times more all of a sudden. These are just some random ideas but the point is the possibilities are almost limitless. What limits an esport is:
The camera has to be able to capture the action in a way so you have a good overview of what's going on.
There can't be too many particle effects and abilities all at the same time so nobody sees what's going on.
And the action has to be clear to follow for someone who knows how the game works (and hopefully for someone who doesn't as well although that's often hard.)
Those are the limitations other than that the creators can be pretty free with their design. This allows for new forms of competition that were not thought of before. Or a tried and true formula can be tweaked and lead to amazing results. Also games that have been played competitively for 10 years can get refreshed and improved once a year. League of Legends does the last one the basic objectives of the game stay the same but they change the items or add new incentives to spice up the games.
Esports is continually evolving and trying to deliver the most exciting, most skill based, most fun, competition and I feel optimistic. On the business side there's still a lot of problems but that's a story for another day. In real sports it can take decades for a small rule change that everyone agrees should have been done a long time ago where in esports old games die and new games release and you can chose which one you like and want to support.
Skill and mindgames a the highest level
As a viewer if you know what's going on, you can see that skill being expressed in front of your eyes. You can see every move the player makes the situation he's in and what he must be thinking and then see how he overcomes the situation with brilliance or gets shut down by his opponent. The skill, the outplay is shown and everyone can see how he did it. And after the game his opponents can watch the whole match from his point of view and see exactly how they got beat. And next time when they play they will have plans how to deal with the things that got them beat last time. So you can't just have a move like the sky hook(back to basketball) that nobody can stop and use it your entire career. The personality of the player does show through in the way he plays and different players get known for things they're really good at or that one epic play they made to turn the game around so you do have a playstyle and strengths you rely on but you can never be static. You have to constantly evolve your game or you will be left in the dust. You can counter any strategy if you're smart enough and you can execute it so you have to be flexible. The game gets optimized and figured out to a level that normal sports can't reach because they're limited. It's constant bluffs, fakes, misdirection and mind reading to try and throw them off. And on top of that comes the pressure of playing in front of millions of viewers as a teenager or in your early twenties.
I love real life sports too
I'm not writing this to discredit real sports. Wrking on your body and performing at the peak of your ability are amazing feats. I follow many sports and I have played sports all my life. Growing up I often played multiple sports at the same time now I'm mostly focused on indoor and beach volleyball and working out but there's still new things I want try out and take up. But Esports does have something special and I feel it is the future.
To finish I wanna say the passion of everyone involved , the community and the on air talent are also awesome and I'll drop some videos related to this take.
Peae and have a nice day :)
Most Helpful Opinions