[News] Marek - recent 1st round pick unlikely to play in NHL due to video game addiction

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by dieHARDflameZ

Saying competitive gaming is a sport is like saying poker is a sport, what a joke.

You’re sitting at a table staring at a computer screen. To me a sport is something that involves some kind of physical activity and yes that includes golf.

I used to play competitive counter-strike and honestly, it’s not a sport at all.

I think everyone and their dog agrees it is not a sport under every definition. E-Sports is just a way of providing mental legitimacy to it (reads better and is more marketable than "competitive gaming").

[Classic_Sniper]

Like it or not people, e-sports will eventually be on ESPN, TSN, Sportsnet and etc. It's just a matter of time as money talks and with the viewership numbers they're receiving (and growing) and the type of sponsors they're garnering, these enterprises will want a piece of the pie that is e-sports.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by dieHARDflameZ

Saying competitive gaming is a sport is like saying poker is a sport, what a joke.

You’re sitting at a table staring at a computer screen. To me a sport is something that involves some kind of physical activity and yes that includes golf.

I used to play competitive counter-strike and honestly, it’s not a sport at all.

Playing Competitively and actually travelling the globe 10 out of 12 months of the year are 2 completely different aspects though.

There's lots of kids who play "competitively" from their home every day, matches, scrims, pugs etc in an online capacity. Even local LAN tournaments are considered competitive but fail to reach the scale of the international scene.

This in itself doesn't define the "e-sport" aspect of the game at all, we're talking the top 20-30 teams who are living this day to day, being paid 6 figure salaries flying from country to country competing and doing marketing promo's for their various sponsors.

You can't tell me for a second that a team like compLexity for example isnt held to a higher standard of gaming when their HQ in Texas shares the same building as the Dallas Cowboys. Their "e-sports" players are treated and have the same access to all the facilities (personal chefs, gym, lounge etc) as the Cowboys football players themselves, often bumping into past and present players every day. This doesn't include the mental and physical coaches some of these bigger teams have, its quite astonishing (at least to me) how far the games evolved even going back 4-5 years ago.

The competitive scene has changed completely, anyone who disagree's likely doesn't understand what it takes in its entirety. Nobody is saying E-Sports = the NFL or NHL, but to say its nothing more than booting up your PC and pressing buttons is asinine.

I've lived this first hand many moons ago, a fraction of what these kids do these days and can honestly say even back then its mentally exhausting trying to stay at the top of your game while being away from your family and friends 3/4 of the year.

[united]

I'm in my early thirties and haven't played a video game since I was 25 probably, maybe younger even. While most friends moved on years ago, a couple friends still play video games on a regular basis and I've never been able to figure out what the attraction was. If they make money off it, now it all makes sense, but otherwise it completely blows my mind they are still gaming in their thirties.

There is no doubt in my mind the scene/competition/sport (can't we just say sport?) is gaining a tremendous amount of momentum and will soon be televised on ordinary cable. Maybe we'll even start to see psycho e-sports parents like we do with all conventional sports - locking their children in basements for days on end to complete their training, and screaming over the microphone at opponents.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Like it or not people, e-sports will eventually be on ESPN, TSN, Sportsnet and etc. It's just a matter of time as money talks and with the viewership numbers they're receiving (and growing) and the type of sponsors they're garnering, these enterprises will want a piece of the pie that is e-sports.

I would put it in the category of TV poker, basically a time filler for the network when they have nothing else on. It will never get beyond that.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by united

I'm in my early thirties and haven't played a video game since I was 25 probably, maybe younger even. While most friends moved on years ago, a couple friends still play video games on a regular basis and I've never been able to figure out what the attraction was. If they make money off it, now it all makes sense, but otherwise it completely blows my mind they are still gaming in their thirties.

There is no doubt in my mind the scene/competition/sport (can't we just say sport?) is gaining a tremendous amount of momentum and will soon be televised on ordinary cable. Maybe we'll even start to see psycho e-sports parents like we do with all conventional sports - locking their children in basements for days on end to complete their training, and screaming over the microphone at opponents.

When we put the baby down for a nap in the early evening, my wife and I will play RPG games together on the console instead of watching mind numbing netflix.



We don't really have a ton of time to go out and do activities throughout the week, so an hour or so at a time it's nice to wind down after work and such. It's cool our evening routine blows your mind though.

[stone hands]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

I would put it in the category of TV poker, basically a time filler for the network when they have nothing else on. It will never get beyond that.

Esports will be on sportsnet/ESPN primetime in your lifetime(unless you're 70 years old), this is just an inevitability

Sometimes it's funny to me to see people who are still in denial about the popularity of esports, I imagine this is what it was like right as football/hockey was taking off at the turn of the century

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

When we put the baby down for a nap in the early evening, my wife and I will play RPG games together on the console instead of watching mind numbing netflix.



We don't really have a ton of time to go out and do activities throughout the week, so an hour or so at a time it's nice to wind down after work and such. It's cool our evening routine blows your mind though.

This what I find the best. People will questions older people playing video games but will sit down and watch 2-3 hours of TV per night.

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by united

... it completely blows my mind they are still gaming in their thirties.

Some people play an instrument. Some people bake. Some people garden....and some people play video games. People having hobbies blows your mind?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by stone hands

Esports will be on sportsnet/ESPN primetime in your lifetime(unless you're 70 years old), this is just an inevitability

Sometimes it's funny to me to see people who are still in denial about the popularity of esports, I imagine this is what it was like right as football/hockey was taking off at the turn of the century

I don't know that this is what they are disputing. I think they are disagreeing on whether esports are sports, not whether people like to watch them. Jai alai isn't popular but no one disputes it's a sport. Televised tournament or high stakes poker is pretty darned popular (not as much as couple years ago) but not many people would call it a sport. Then there's a whole range of stuff in between, from darts to golf to autosports to sailing to Irish dancing, etc.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

When we put the baby down for a nap in the early evening, my wife and I will play RPG games together on the console instead of watching mind numbing netflix.



We don't really have a ton of time to go out and do activities throughout the week, so an hour or so at a time it's nice to wind down after work and such. It's cool our evening routine blows your mind though.

Every night at our house!

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

I would put it in the category of TV poker, basically a time filler for the network when they have nothing else on. It will never get beyond that.

You say that now, but I read somewhere that a gaming final garnered more viewership/ratings than the World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup and etc. It might seem crazy, but the next generation just isn't into classic sports as previous generations.

[Pellanor]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

You say that now, but I read somewhere that a gaming final garnered more viewership/ratings than the World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup and etc. It might seem crazy, but the next generation just isn't into classic sports as previous generations.

It also helps that these are streamed for free online. I can watch ever single professional League of Legends game, regular season, tournament, or otherwise, for free. If I missed a game it's available in it's entirety on youtube. There's less than five minutes of commercials per game, and they're all shown between games.


This year's world's peaked at 80 million viewers, and the accessibility of it is a large reason why. Also China.
Source: https://www.lolesports.com/en_US/art...by-the-numbers

[CliffFletcher]

Something can be incredibly difficult, incredibly skilled, and incredibly popular, and still not be a sport.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Only by way of a very loosely construed definition of "professional." There were elite athletic competitions in antiquity, but nothing even remotely comparable to modern-day professional sports. There were no sporting economies, and athletics were not vocations.

Actually, in the Roman Empire and early Byzantium, chariot racing was more comparable to modern-day professional sports than you'd think. The drivers were definitely professionals, the teams were highly organized, and they even had the equivalent of farm systems. It's a fascinating little sub-area of study.

[CroFlames]

I have a proposal that will end the argument once and for all.

If you personally consider it a sport, call it a sport or e-sport. Your choice.

If you personally don't consider it a sport, call it competitive gaming. Your choice.

Notice the theme here?

Call it whatever you want, and don't get bent out of shape because of what others think or say.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I don't know that this is what they are disputing. I think they are disagreeing on whether esports are sports, not whether people like to watch them. Jai alai isn't popular but no one disputes it's a sport. Televised tournament or high stakes poker is pretty darned popular (not as much as couple years ago) but not many people would call it a sport. Then there's a whole range of stuff in between, from darts to golf to autosports to sailing to Irish dancing, etc.

First off, mad props for the Jai Alai reference! I only know what it is because of the Tulsa connection via Whitey Bulger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_...r_(businessman)

The reason I responded was the bolded though. I think it is split. I think there are some people that take umbrage with the name. Its a debate that goes on with tons of activities that people aren't sure are sports. But others are just plain dismissive of the concept and often degrading in the traditional nerd/jock dynamic. I think even in this thread opposition has been at both ends of that spectrum, so the conversations and rebuttals have often gotten muddled.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by united

I'm in my early thirties and haven't played a video game since I was 25 probably, maybe younger even. While most friends moved on years ago, a couple friends still play video games on a regular basis and I've never been able to figure out what the attraction was. If they make money off it, now it all makes sense, but otherwise it completely blows my mind they are still gaming in their thirties.

I have this exact thought on people who spend countless hours doing landscaping, lawn care, and gardening. Wasting a weekend doing that is worse than going to work during the weekday IMO.

[renny]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

I would put it in the category of TV poker, basically a time filler for the network when they have nothing else on. It will never get beyond that.

Maybe on traditional TV networks, the younger generation don't consume their content on traditional networks. They consume content on platforms like YouTube and twitch.

As we speak there are over 1.6M viewers watching video game streamers on twitch and there isn't even a major tournament or anything like that going on. Twitch delivers these numbers on a daily basis, and it's pretty much constant throughout the day. There are YouTubers that do daily shows that pull in more than 2M views each day on each new video. To put into perspective, Game 2 of the NHL finals hit "record" numbers with 3.788M viewers.

So maybe you're right, on traditional TV networks esports will be nothing beyond filler, but that's not where the eyeballs are so they don't need to be anything beyond filler.

[oldschoolcalgary]

imo gaming and netflix are two sides of the same coin...

both are there just to allow you to lose yourself in something that isn't your day to day...