Slashdot Mirror
Documentary about Professional Gaming
Simon Bysshe writes "My name is Simon Bysshe, I'm 22 & am currently studying film at the Bournemouth Arts Institute in the UK. For the last 3 months I've been working on a unique new freely downloadable film about the advent of professional gaming [there's also a BitTorrent mirror via GameTab]. The main purpose of the documentary 'Modern Day Gamer 2' is to ask whether we will ever see gaming become a mainstream spectator sport. The film features the UK based Four Kings Wolfenstein team as they compete at the Quakecon gaming event in Dallas Texas. The film also features interviews with John Romero, Sujoy Roy (iGamesUK), Paul 'Locki' Wedgwood (Splash Damage) & many other industry/gaming figures. This is the sequel to my original documentary which focused on the growth of gaming as a sociable hobby & received over 50,000 downloads worldwide. Running time: 17minutes 47seconds. Filesize : 157MB. Format: WMV."
Running time: 17minutes 47seconds. Filesize : 157MB. Format: WMV.
How about a non-MS or non-proprietary format? Seriously, I am not trying to troll. As much as people gripe about how bad and inferior all MS formats are, I sure do see lots of WMA and WMV all over the place.
oh, right, the gamers are on windows anyway :)
Information: "I want to be anthropomorphized"
The main purpose of the documentary 'Modern Day Gamer 2' is to ask whether we will ever see gaming become a mainstream spectator sport.
The reason specatator sports are so popular is that it takes a lot of years of effort and strenous training to be competetive at professional level. People enjoy these sports vicariously. That is not the case with gaming. Gaming is something people like to take active part in. That's the whole reason games are so popular. It would take lot of years of practise for someone to achieve a professional level 'worth watching' status in games and by then that game would be outdated.
Anyway, I will correct my opinions if there are wrong by watching the documentary. Thanks!
New year Resolution: Don't change sig this year
will become a spectator sport for strategy games. Most people, except for those who are quite into the game, don't have the attention span to watch people set up their bases etc. They just want the battles, in most cases. Most well-played strategy games can go on for well over an hour, and I just don't think that people are willing to wait around for the big battles. They'd rather just see the highlight reels. But for action games, I think that there is a potential for this to happen, because, right off the bat, you are able to start fighting, without having to build up defenses, which means that people get the action immediately. Also, you respawn as soon as you die, so the length of the action can be controlled.
Crushing dreams at the speed of sarcasm
and it said to WTFM
Finally a use for the Jumbotron at huge arenas!
"Professional Gamer?" What, they are state licensed?
But seriously, with all that press coverage, and repetitive stress injuries, expect to see PG's form basic organizational structures, like unions, licensing boards, nickname boards!, and stuff, before developers/computer programmers ever develop just one of those.. sheesh!
Cover your eyes and click this link!
instead of "Modern Day Gamer 2"
"Modern Day Gamers Go Gold"
folow up article here. Very interesting.
I once saw about 200 people crowded around an arena watching a collection of gladiators fighting to the death for a cash prize. We were all placing bets and shouting at the combatants. Some people actually missed work to come witness the battles.
None of us were actually "there", at least not physically: it all transpired in the virtual world of "Ultima Online".
That was three years ago. I wonder how large the gatherings are now?
Now even the torrent is slashdotted :(
I would say video gaming will never become as big of a spectator sport as the big main sports (NFL,NBA,NHL,MLB) because of one missing ingredient. That ingredient is the fans being emotionally attached to thier team and its players past and present because they are real people. When Brett Favre retires from football fans will feel emotional about it, some packer fans may even cry.
These kinds of articles (or documentaries, as the case may be) really beg the question "Why do people watch other people in activities?"
Now we have all been conditioned to answer because its entertaining to watch highly skilled professionals compete for the love of the game (stay with me), or something like that. But really, I would venture to guess that it has a lot to do with identity and community.
For example, if you watch sports, don't you sometimes or maybe even regularly mention events in the sports world to others who are interested (or maybe even not)? Do you ever consider yourself a fan, and attach it to your identity (like at a party you might say "yeah, I'm a such-and-such fan" or "I'm a big fan of sports X and Y")?
Likewise, how often do you watch events with other people? How often do you go with other people or meet them at an event? And don't you talk about it with certain groups of people? I am not a sports person, so please forgive me if you are a lone spectator. I am sure there are some.
This all revolves around what really drives masses to be spectators. I would venture to guess that their identity and the community (which are in some ways tied together for a lot people, maybe everyone) make them spectators. I would even go further to say that without these aspects, mass market spectator sports would not be quite so mass market. Sorry, I didn't watch the video - just some thoughts from a non-spectator.
...of the torrent...?
"The main purpose of the documentary 'Modern Day Gamer 2' is to ask whether we will ever see gaming become a mainstream spectator sport."
Ahem, JAPAN.
Heck, we'll even throw S.Korea in there.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
See you in M2 Hell. MUHAHAHAHA.
A pretty good book to read if you are interested in gaming professionally, is Monster Gaming, by Ben Sawyer. Not only does it outline the competitive online gaming community, it delves into mods and other cool stuff like customization & configuration. The book has a foreword by Angel Munoz, the founder of the CPL, and cover art by Id legend Paul Steed. While Monster Gaming is not about becoming a CPL athlete, it is about being a better gamer.
The number of wicked web links in there is enough for any gamer to drool over. I've been thinking of doing a Slashdot book review of it, too.
Well, I havent been able to take a look yet... But... I was pretty sure most gamers already know enough about gaming, the advent of gaming, gaming history, et al, to not be bothered enough to stop gaming long enough to watch a video about something they could be doing... Maybe thats just me though. *shrug*
To avoid an unnecessary page load on their server, here's a direct link to the bittorrent version.
I agree. You know sometimes non-gamers shoot their mouths off. But his point specifically was that competitive gaming is still a young thing that has a ways to go before it's that big. But if Star Trek is on TNN, I think anything can happen.
One thing I've never understood is the rage over football (both), basketball, etc... Why the hell would I watch people play something I could be doing myself?
However, I listen to the Team Sportscast Network when I'm bored, and also hang out in #tsn. I like it there because it's a community that PLAYS what they love, not just listen. People who know the game first hand; a relaxed community which knows the pros personally.
I find watching games more interesting than conventional sports because the game is always changing -- they aren't limited by real life physics and laws. The rules and gameplay are always evolving overtime.
Although rules change with videogames, i find game rules to be much more appealing. Sports that require referees take away from the game, along with judged sports. The computer counts and grades players in VGs, not some dude with a whistle. If anything, I find videogames to be a more relevant sport than games that rely on referees for fundamental parts of the game such as "foul balls", "penalties" and "strikes".
In the end though, I don't really want videogames to become mainstream sports -- it'll just end up controlled and abused like the rest of the sports. Don't get me wrong, I like tournaments, and I also want the very best players making enough for a living. What I don't look forward to is gamers becoming commercialized, overglorified, cocky jerks (it's partially there already) like other other sports "heros".
I used to play Desert Combat a lot a while back. I started playing with a clan (to get the whole 'teamplay' experience) who were involved in gaming league. During these games, there would be two spectators present, one on either team. These two specs would do a play by play of the game, both in contact with each other at the same time, and they would shoutcast these matches to the masses. These broadcasts also had a slight time delay to avoid cheating by either team.
One of these shoutcast groups is Team Sports Network you can listen to live games, or download past matches.
In case of slashdoting here is a still of the John Romero interview.
Win a signed Stephen Carpenter ESP Guitar from the Deftones: http://def-tag.com/?r=0008781
Not me, I use Windows daily and love AVI. Does that make me an Mpeg4 fag? Hrmmm... Interesting question.
But some may say that the players, sat at their PCs are the personalities.
:/
Having spectated at a few UK Lanparties, I can say that the 'players' are genuinely a mixed bunch and generally a very personable lot. (After all people can *hit* you if you misbehave on a lan).
The thing that makes major players so popular in many sports is marketing - in the UK we only have to look at David Beckham to know how true this is.
Having said that, Beckham is working for and living with a team in Spain.............go figure
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
You think they would watch the movie :P
The infidel is using WMV!
*splat*
So you admit to being in that 90%?
I love multiplayer games like Counter-Strike. It's fun knifing people and awping them with out the scope. But I wouldn't enjoy it if I'm weren't a participant. I definately wouldn't pay to see such an event. I might pay to play in one though. =]
this little film would have been really great if it had decent audio. It sounds like someone tried to use an old tape recorder to record their brother's garage band or something.
Anyways, aside from that, I'll post on the actual video. It's great and all, although they really didn't get into *why* people watch this. Sure, he showed how it's really neat, and how you can make a lot of money, but hell I can do that as a programmer.
I hope his next video will have better audio, and will hit the subject of "Why they watch"... I mean, we already know why they play, it's a game, games are fun.
How long does your average chess match last? There still seems to be quite a bit of interest in chess.
You misunderstand. Windows is not evil, just crappy. It's Microsoft that's evil.
lamer.
Besides the fact that your post wasn't funny, what is a pirated RedHat cd?
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
I can't bring myself to use that illegal p2p stuff that the pedophile hackers use when I could be using a slow FTP or WWW link instead. Also, I don't like to change my old ways.
We should all do our part to support centralized distribution instead of distributed terrorist cell distribution.
Thanks!
--
Power to the Peaceful
the torrent!
I'm sure I'll get modded down for this as being a troll or inflamatory, but I'm not trying to be. This is a sincere suggestion.
If you're studying film for fun, cool. Academic persuits for the sake of academia should be available to everyone that's interested so as to increase the knowledge of humanity. However, if you're planning a career in film, I strongly suggest you reconsider. Your production quality is horrible. Bad audio recording, bad cinematography, bad lighting, and a fairly poor presentation of the information (despite the actual information in this one being significantly better than the first).
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
You have edited his comment so that it seems he is saying that it doesn't take effort to play games at the professional level.
This is not even close to what he wrote. Since you seem determined to misrepresent the author's actual sentiment (or maybe you just misread it and didn't realize that your edit grossly distorts what he wrote?), here is the complete thought:
(Emphasis mine.) Please, read it again. You will see that the author stated that IT IS NOT THE CASE THAT PEOPLE ENJOY VIDEO GAMES VICARIOUSLY. The author does NOT state that it is not the case that it takes effort to play at the professional level.
Please, read the comment you are replying to next time. Slashdot thanks you.
People, South Korea already hosts several leagues of Starcraft. They hosted several WCG (World Cyber Games) events. They have professional gamers (albeit the vast majority are Starcraft:Broodwar or War3 players) playing leagues and championships.
Starcraft has already seeped into their culture. you see a whole stadium full of people watch the finals. they have 2 DEDICATED tv channels to professional gaming.
people ARE attached to their favourite player or team. you have starcraft fans bursting into tears when his/her favourite player is losing a heroic battle.
people, have a good look at South Korea if you want to discuss competitive gaming.
Anyone here, other than CleverNickName, catch that show (whatever the hell it was called)? The one on competive video gaming? Now I gotta give the guy credit, he was pretty damn entertaining running commentary.
Problem: he so overshadowed the game to illuminate the fact that watching people play video games is damn boring. And he ended up leaving once it was revealed the damn thing was fixed (I assume to make it no longer boring).
Ever go over to someone's house and they're 'just playing games' and its all single player so you have to sit there... and watch...
It is cute to think that an intellectual game of reflex and strategy could become mainstream... but I doubt it. Try turning on the Poker World Championships some time. Some folks go crazy for it and it's the highest grossing competitive sport in the world. But it isn't raking in the TV contracts is it?
I dunno. With enough luck I can get a headshot with a AWP in Counterstrike: I'll never punt a 40 yard kick, run a 4 hour marathon, or ski for 30 km and shoot little black dots the size of nipples at 75m. I think a lot of competitive sport taps into something inate in us, some hunter-gatherer instinct. The physicality of it.
Watching someone stare at a monitor blankly, sipping from a Mountain Dew just doesn't do that for me.
What is music when you despise all sound?
So it's like when I had the first NES controller and I had to watch my friend suck at being Luigi for a while? Only this time it's a gang of strangers with a Counter-Strike-level vocabulary and I don't get to play when they die? If that can be a specator sport then everyone come over, I am about to set an alarm clock.
You might want to check it out at
http://www.shoryuken.com/evolution
Apparently the event was a success and many gamers had fun hanging out and taking part in the tourneys. The site has a forum called EVO2k3 Aftermath where you can view their personal experiences about the whole event. It seems pretty interesting and would be a perfect example of games becoming mainstream. On a side note, these gamers videocam their games and of great players in their own efforts to improve themselves.
The site also offers a DVD of their previous tournaments (they have been running national tournaments for more than 5 years), so gamers can watch top players go at it at their own leisure. Judging from their success, I don't doubt professional gaming is not possible.
DivX is free to download, and people everywhere can use it.
I will agree with you though that WMA is usually better than MPEG-1 or -2, but any MPEG-4-based codec like DivX is a GREAT way to encode/show movies with small filesize, and since it's free, and not MS-related, why not?
Erioll
I think that he did quite a good job. Sure the audio could've been better, but then again, he didn't have a $30M budget and you didn't have to pay $10 to go see it. Thanks Simon, I enjoyed the video. Benjamin Choate
Grab mplayer and install it. Run mencode to transcode the WMV file to a different format.
:)
Once that's done, head on over to the BitTorrent website and grab the software. Run a tracker and leave a seed open.
Then post it to Slashdot in a message where you can say, "look at me -- 20 minutes of work and a little CPU time, and I made an open format version of a movie that everyone can enjoy -- plus the video's encoded smaller because of the better codec!"
This will probably net you some great karma, in addition to making your initial format question moot. It's all a matter of effort and motivation
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
I will be watching games tonight:
http://www.ctfx.com/schedule.asp?s=4
on GTV.
http://www.geeteevee.com/
Like I have been for months.
It is already a spectator sport with an avid community.
http://www.esreality.com/
The only thing holding back online gaming is technology. Need some serious cheat protection, and also some really great games that haven't been created yet.
Online gaming is highest tech.
If you own a comp-u-ter you can install these sports onto the hard-drive on your computer and compete all by yourself. Or, if you wish, you can play with your friends! What a world we live in.
Most people don't give a sports match their full attention. They might raptly watch the replays, they might focus more the game when it gets tense, but most people are hanging out with their friends at the same time, or eating, or switching between ESPN and CBS.
The way that televised sports cope with the monotony of the wait for action is with commentary. They'll step out of the game to give stats, a retired professional will give his take on the rookie at bat or the down just completed. Most people don't want to watch players set up their bases, but they also don't much care to watch the football players line up time and time again. Most soccer fans don't pay nearly as much attention when the ball is in midfield as they do when the players are poised for a shot on goal.
Conclusion 1: Game spectating needs to be something you can do in a group before it will catch on.
Conclusion 2: There needs to be a mechanism to give commentary and instant replays to the viewers.
Conclusion 3: Game spectating has to be flexible. It has to be something that you can give part of your divided attention to, not the sole activity of a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.
while (!sleep){
sheep++;
}
Watching the finished product is one thing, but I don't think anybody would have wanted to watch my record it. I'd spend 2 hours working on a segment only to mess up in a different way each time and restart way too often.
Speed Demos Archive - Lots of speed runs!
If you're going to give direct links to torrents, then give links to both part 1 and part 2.
The reason gaming will take a long time to break into the mainstream consciousness as a 'sport' is the same reason any new traditional sport takes a while to get popular. The rules need to be explained to the audience. In a gaming context, the rules are really the control system used by the players - the set of choices they have at any moment and the amount of time they have to make those choices.
For Fightbox the controls are at the same time apparently simple, and obscured from the audience. The producers don't trust the audience with the rules. Unsurprisingly Fightbox is a ratings flop. The results seem essentially random, and the game just doesn't have enough depth. In particular, it is not a team game.
I think gaming on TV might work in a sports format if the rules are known. To put Counter-strike on TV would be quite easy because it is a fairly 'traditional' FPS game. It is also made up of quick rounds. The violence might be a problem, of course; this is a side issue.
But it would take a brave producer to take the step of actually displaying gaming as a sport; and an intelligent one to make it watchable. Although (NFL) football is complicated, NFL spectators are a sophisticated audience. They know what a pooch kick is, for example, and why you might want to use that play. The commentary generally reflects this sophistication. Similarly, gaming on TV needs a game which the audience can and will grasp, and it needs to be presented accordingly, in all its detail.
"'Modern Day Gamer 2' is to ask whether we will ever see gaming become a mainstream spectator sport."
We most certainly will. Some would find watching others play excrutiatingly boring and frustrating, rather like watching someone typing a chat in IRC. But I'm certain there will be some who'll find it equal to watching "live" sports. That fact happens to disgust me no end.
Believe me, this is not a troll. I just happen to think that far too many people are on a downward spiral away from living in reality, and prefering the safety of the artificial, and I don't see this getting any better any time soon.
So, yes, I can see something like ESPN-G, the Gaming Channel.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
A few years back, at the Game Developer's Conference, there was a woman who plays Quake for a living. She had a one year contract with some game magazine to play Quake. She was taking on all comers, fragging them in about 30 seconds each, and had a score of about 40-1 in early afternoon.
for any interested, here's the original article this troll stole:
Russian dies after winning vodka-drinking contest
November 20, 2003
A vodka-drinking competition in a southern Russian town ended in tragedy with the winner dead and several runners-up in intensive care.
"The competition lasted 30, perhaps 40 minutes and the winner downed three half-litre bottles. He was taken home by taxi but died within 20 minutes," said Roman Popov, a prosecutor pursuing the case in the town of Volgodonsk.
"Five contestants ended up in intensive care. Those not in hospital turned up the next day, ostensibly for another drink."
Mr Popov said the director of the shop organising this month's contest had been charged with manslaughter. He had offered 10 litres of vodka to the competitor drinking the most in the shortest time.
Russians drink the equivalent of 15 litres of pure alcohol per head annually, one of the highest rates in the world. Some experts estimate one in seven Russians is an alcoholic.
Reuters
He's dead, Jim. You get his tricorder, I'll get his wallet.
Another specator sport in a world of already existing ones...
First consider what they up against - it's fractured from the beginning because the arena is computer gaming. From there it divides to CS, Quake, UT and numerous others... When I think of soccer/football/hockey/golf it's all the same - one game, standardized. Promoting all wastes time when time, effort and money be spent on delivering ONE marketable possibility.
Secondly, to what degree of mainstream are they wanting? There's numerous other sports looking for the same coverage, and aren't as selective for their fanbase - to computer game you need the computer, the game and an internet connection. Rugby requires a jersey, shorts and cleats... Though broadband adoption is on the upswing last I heard, it's still a far smaller percentage of a population then the ones who can get together for flag football, basketball, volleyball, etc. Add to that how the computer gaming industry is at best 20 years old - US football has been ingrained for almost 3 generations and is a mainstaple of US upbringing.
The chapter in HACKERS: HEROES OF THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION about promoters trying to make a buck off gamers playing was really pathetic, not because of Levy's wti, but just because it is really boring watching others play video games.
There was one good quote in there, though: "You see this? This is my Robotron blister!"
The latest Slashdot meme.
motivation. I don't have the motivation to make the effort -- because I didn't complain about it. If you have time to complain about something, you have time to do something about it.
I'm just pointing out how you could've solved your complaint and helped other (a very intelligent solution), rather than just karma whoring by complaining, which is all most people on Slashdot seem capable of doing. I don't care either way; my copy of mplayer plays WMVs just fine.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Also, why is it .zip compressed! Any decent video and audio compression includes its own entropy encoding, so that a .zip or whatever will produce virtually no size savings.
.zip worked, that'd tell you that you did something wrong!
If you had a file where
My video compression blog
Reencoding from one compressed delivery format typically results in a big, big quality hit compared to encoding to the same final format from a high quality mastering format, like DV.
Think of it as giving you the artifacts from BOTH codecs at the same time. But worse.
Really, it's a bad idea.
My video compression blog
>It is cute to think that an intellectual game
>of reflex and strategy could become mainstream
Let me guess, there isn't really a chess club in your high school or university ? By all means chess, or GO, or poker are the "video game" of the generation before TV became popular. Who's to say that a well designed computer game can't become mainstream or even become a professional sport?
Try going to South Korea for a change. They've got 2 TV channel dedicated to professional gaming. Just cuz you don't watch professional gaming on TV doesn't mean it's not popular somewhere else.
i'm sorry, but i think professional gaming is about the last thing the world needs. it comes right after genetically engineered glowing fish in my list of priorities for the world. it comes in third place to professional masturbating.
Does John Romero win the award for hottest chick in gaming?
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
The Counter-Strike finals at the CPL Europe a couple of weeks ago saw 10,000 people spectating over the internet using HLTV, I was among them. Likewise the final matches of all the major tournaments (WCG, CPL, CXG) see similar numbers of online spectators. In fact ALL of these tournaments have trouble keeping up with the demand for HLTV slots for spectating. I'm sure soon we'll be seeing numbers going on 15,000 to 20,000. And as others have pointed out, places like South Korea have 3+ TV stations dedicated to video games and spectating. Whether or not e-sports will ever get to the level of NBA, NHL, NFL remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure it's growing fast.
I thought the video was interesting, gave me something to do while being bored.
But more importantly I like how that BT site works, for once someone figured out how they are supposed to use BT, BT wasn't made to be some wares pedaling p2p app. The ideal set up was a main download server just like regular servers, and then whenever anyone was downloading from that server they shared their upload bandwidth with all others.
So its kind of a Central main distro for speed + p2p for scaling. I love it when there are so many people downloading a torrent that i set my upload speed all the ay up for 35 KB/s just 5 shy of my max and i only end up uploading at 15 KB/s when I am a seed. That means that the bandwidth provided exceeds the bandwidth demanded by a factor of 2, that's awesome.
One day something like BT needs to be built into the operating system, so that when people download they share the load across themselves and even spread out the distribution geographically reducing the effect of choke points.
And when people offer popular things for download the bandwidth spike is a much smoother bump than the current sharp edged mountain.
"Why the hell would I watch people play something I could be doing myself?"
do you listen to music? you could play instruments too.
watch movies? you could make your own with a digital camera's trivial film mode.
ever notice that people involved in sports tend to be avid fans of professional sports? ever notice budding musicians tend to listen to other, more accomplished musicians?
it's because they can't do what the pros can, at least not yet. they're able to command massive salaries because the audience is watching, and the audience wouldn't waste their time to watch bush leaguers.
I'm surprised to see a large number of people tearing apart professional gaming based on the idea that producers will be stupid enough to focus on the sweaty, slack jawed expressions of gamers instead of the games themselves. Way to shoot for the straw man argument, fellas.
Kasparov's match against X3D Fritz was well attended and not because people were tuning in for long, drawn out shots of Garry rubbing his temples. Professional gaming will be exciting because the focus will be on the game and seeing it--whatever game it may be--played better than the audience could ever hope to. The future will see better commentators, flashy presentation including Madden-like white pen sessions, strategy discussions with pros (the flyover of "Ice" in Modern Day Gamer 2 was a nice touch), and fast-paced action.
We also have to remember how widespread gaming has become and its move toward dominance in the sea of entertainment media. Even if the only people you could get to watch televised professional gaming were fellow players, that's one metric fuckton of an audience.
The problem with professional gaming is that the professionals and their leagues are beholden to commercial gaming companies to have something to play. With the current exception of Half-Life (and just how long before Half-Life 2?), there isn't really the effort put into a single product to justify massing an entire system around it. If people want to get really serious about professional gaming (I personally don't see the point), I think they're going to have to come up with their own game that they can continue tweaking for decades to come, not a one hit wonder that'll be rotated off the roster next season. A pretty tall order, if you ask me.
If a professional gamer is someone who makes a living out of playing a game then one look at Ebay will tell you that professional gamers are alive and well. They have nothing to do with playing FPS in sponsored tournaments, they play MMORPGs and sell their stuff on ebay to make a comfortable living. One search on Ebay for "Ultima Online" will show you just how valuable some of these pixels are.
Being a member of the speakeasy offensive, a professional counter-strike clan, I can tell you that this video does a very good job exploring the depths of professional gaming (specifically, the pro RTCW scene), and reminds me of the last time I was in Dallas competing just like 4K.
As far as professional gaming goes, it's already a reality in Korea, where there is Starcraft on TV and live events in which hundreds of fans are cheering their favorite players on. However, professional gaming has a long way to go before it is able to go mainstream: a game has to be created that is spectator friendly and has built in television functions such as HLTV in Half Life. Counter-Strike is the most popular FPS ever created, but at the professional level, it is sometimes downright boring to watch when players are camping, doing nothing for 2 minutes before they actually make a move and attack a bombsite. A game has to be created where there is constant action, and is watchable by the masses (ie, does not make the crowd nauseus like many first person shooters do), before it can be shown on TV.
Windows is not evil, just crappy.
You just keep telling yourself that as you play yet another game of Tux Racer.
only people who either game (and find the game on Gametab etc) or browse the internet a load ( Slashdot) will be able to see this.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
If I could log into a proxy server that could let me get a feed of the Halflife 3 World Cup (or whatever), viewed through a legit copy of the game on my tricked up PC and broadband connection, I would happily pay top dollar for the privilege.
;-)
What I would want though, is the same quality of presentation that we now get with major TV sports events, plus the interactivity and participation that we get with online gaming.
I'd want:
- Quality live commentators, statistics and game state presentation... think Superbowl, Rugby World Cup, F1 GP
- A live director for - at least - each team, so if I want to watch blue team setting up their bases and traps I can do so without necessarily having to work the camera controls myself.
- The ability to still use the usual 3d online game 'spactator' controls at any time.
- I would need the participants to be representing my country or something else that I can relate to the real world, not just some clan.
If gaming server networks could somehow be set up with a "spectator" mode where data was simply pushed out and proxied so thousands could watch without the gamers suffering server lag, I think they could provide ideal platform to develop all the ideas necessary to make all that interactive television stuff that's been talked about so much and acted on so little, a reality.
I'd love to see it, I'd pay to see it. Game companies if you're listening, do it! (I'm available as a consultant and tester
You know they call 'em fingers but I've never seen 'em fing. Oh, there they go.
Videogaming at a sufficiently high level take just as much skill than many worldwide sports. In fact, more so, due to the heavily lessened physical strength/agility/flexibility aspect.
In addition, many spectator sports appear to me to be *fantastically* boring compared to observing a good multiplayer deathmatch. Imagine the enthusiasm if we all had teams/players to support in addition.
A wise man once said... "If sweeping ice in front of a rock can become an Olympic sport, why not moving your thumbs in front of a television?"
qntm.org
Contact Chess
In South Korea, there are 2 or maybe 3 TV channels dedicated to gaming.
The studios where they are filmed are usually packed with spectators. The gaming channels get pretty decent raings. Pro Gamers here can make a pretty decent living too.
Apparantly they have something similar in Japan, but since I don't live in Japan, I can't comment in detail.
..going a bit too far ? Unlike other 'star' professionals or 'artist' products, they contol a keyboard and they produce shakey motion video. It's not like I'm going to pay for it, certainly not if it is meant to sustain people in living of it. I mean, these people give me nothing except a bit of momentary visual awe, and it's not as if I am having fun.
Games should be for fun. It is obvious that games are copied because people want that fun, thus ripping off the companies that make them. Are we now not taking it one step further, ripping the fun out of it as well?
With great power comes great electricity bills.
Computer gaming cant be as succesful with spectators as "normal" sports (football rugby etc) because: traditionally people support the team for the town they live in. gives u a sense of pride, loyalty, patriotism whatever. but a main concept of online gaming is that you can form a team with anyone anywhere. most clans dont have anyone from the same town/city, and often people from different countries. so like, which team/clan would you choose to support? I'm pretty sure it will get popular amongst people like me and you who play the games, but wont hit the mainstream.
Everything sucks except musicandstuff
Actually, the first experiance I had with gaming as a spectator sport was with the Myth games (Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter) by Bungie. They were probably the best tactical games ever made, didn't involve collecting resources or building, just troop movements. I was pretty active in the Myth community while it was in its heyday.
Anyway, Myth had a system where games could be automatically recorded and saved, this contained a huge amount of information about the game in a tiny file. All of the chat was retained, so one could follow discussions or jokes in games, and one could see teams discuss strategy amongst themselves. The game played out like you were playing it yourself except you could see all the units and move the camera wherever you wanted. I haven't seen a game recording system better than this.
This system was used in the various Myth tournaments when game results were released. One would be able to download and watch the final game, whenever you wanted! So I disagree that Strategy games cannot make good spectator material, I think that if it takes the form I described, it can be more entertaining than some of the televised FPS playoffs I've seen, where one can't get an overall sense of what the hell is going on.
Yup...
Some packers fans will cry? When Brett Favre retires you should expect a Jonestown in Cheeseland.
[Pan across cubicles to one weeping man at computer]
id Programmer: Can you see? Can you see? Look what they printed!
id PHB: I don't see anything!
id Programmer: Look! Look at it! The pixel at 320x540! Oh my God it looks like something from Daikatana!
id PHB: I think you're over reacting.
id Programmer: Sure for YOU it means nothing. Why does C|Net always do this? Why can't they just cover the game. WHY DO THEY TORMENT ME? Why can't they show the kid who camps all the time, huh? Why not him?
id PHB: I'm going to stand over there now.
id Programmer: Call them for me, make them pull the screen grab. They win I can't take it anymore.
[Pan to id PHB far away putting his back pack on and sticking his thumb out as a van passes him in the rain... fade to black]{cue sad music from The Incredible Hulk}
This
No-one watches cricket. Imagine, a game that lasts for five days, and can end in a draw :-)
I'm sorry I am going to have to get some of those pinhead moderators to waste points on me here as I hear crybaby gamers all the time whine and moan. (Usually over things they don't understand because they can't stop playing long enough to read and research.)
Gaming is *NOT* a sport!! Shit, you waste away hours leading to weeks of your life twitching only a few muscles for a digital score...sporty as a Gremlin next to a Porsche. The use of the term "professional" when speaking about a gamer is just sickening and demeaning to *REAL* professionals like the programmers who coded the game or the Network engineers at the ISP who maintain connections so the _game_ can be played. Tournaments are great, but lets put things in perspective. If you win a ribbon at your local or even state fair for your chili, do you think that gives you the right to start putting yourself on the same level as a real professional such as Emril Lagasse?
I love to spend a good 3 hours playing an online game, but in keeping touch with reality it's just a game. When I'm done thats it, I don't try to make it more than what it really is to compensate for a critical lacking in my life. Personally, I would not watch this sort of stuff online or in person with free admission, free food, and free beer. Strikes me kinda like watching golf...you have to be the right kind of person.
-1 Overrated (Too many big words for me to comprehend)
So bigshot pro, pay your bills playing your little game there? No need to work cuz it rakes in the dough? Don't have those real world concerns as your 30 year old ass is living with mommy still? Think you deserve an iota of respect becase you vegetate in front of a glowing monitor 18 hours a day 7 days a week only spending 7 hours a week looking at porn becuase you have no social life? Think you're a bigshot because you found a few more similar delusioned fools and you make a cool gang?
Why don't you try going to skewl to become a professional and learn the meaning of the word. What you are is an obsessed individual with the social skills of a Nazi in a concentration camp hiding from reality and the real world making a pecking order with fellow lusers so you can feel better and not think about the fact you need medicine and need to get a life. Professional counter-strike clan pfffffttttt, maybe you need to go to Iraq to show them how it's done bigshot. As for South Korea...they got nothing better TO do there and digital/network is the cornerstone of their economy. So naturally they will take lusers like you, but with skill and talent, to showcase what they can accomplish and have accomplished.
People like you bring one word to mind, P A T H E T I C.
You said it! I could not agree more. But what about underwater basketweaving tournements? ;)
-1 Overrated (Too many big words for me to comprehend)
actually, they can, but it only helps. As more people start downloading, the faster it gets. I say this as i download at 400kB/s, with the speed ever growing.
Professional gaming can not work whilst there is not one single thing for the players to concentrate on. Physical sports such as football (soccer), rugby, basketball, baseball, nearly any ball sport all succeed because at any one time spectators have something main to concentrate on all the time, the ball. I have played online games such as Counter Strike and it is impossible for it to succeed as there are too many things to watch at any one time. For instance, one team launches an attack, x player does an amazing shot on someone, but you miss it because you can't just concentrate on that player where as in a game of football, Thierry Henry scoring a 35 yard free kick would be seen as the spectator will be concentrating on the ball and what is going to happen next. If they could make a game that was really exciting to play but just mainly concentrated on a certain thing happening (ball going into goal for instance) then professional gaming may have a chance in becoming a sport. Until then it is impossible to happen as spectators cannot concentrate on any one thing.
Morgan Webb...
Girl gamer geek extraordinaire.
Well, you could base it on clans.
Come to think of it, that could be immensely cool. Imagine your clan getting corporate sponsorship: great boxes, free beer and pizza, ... spas, massage therapy ....
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
The BBC program Time Commander shows people taking up virtual arms against ancient armies (e.g. Romans etc.) The actual contestants give out orders in the manner of generals commanding an army, the clicking and stuff is done by hidden geeks. Very nice show, all about strategy, and nice CG (the horses' tails move about and such)..
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
in the sense that tech could allow a different level of participation to viewers. Watchers could interact with the game (presumably not in real time, but who knows...).
720x576 is PAL DV resolution. Of course, it's non-square pixel, so playing back on many players will result in a distorted image (about 10% too tall).
It's 6 Mbps! That's enough bitrate for HD encoded content. 640x480 at 1.5 Mbps would have been just fine.
It wasn't deinterlaced! Thus ugly, hard to compress horizontal lines throughout the image.
Basically, the guy did a dump of the PAL DV master into WMV, without any processing to make it appropriate for computer playback.
Big picture is that it'd be trivial to do a better looking version of this clip at a quarter the data rate. And he could have used WMV8 for MPlayer compatibility. WMV9 is a great codec, but for something posted on Slashdot...
My video compression blog
Mainly, a huge barrier for true "pro" gamers to occur is that gamers who go to tournaments don't get paid simply for playing the game. They make no salary. Winners get cash prizes, but the vast majority of people in these tourneys get nothing for their time... and most don't expect to.
In addition, anyone can start a "clan" and compete. Not just anyone can start an NFL team and compete.
Until "clans" are organized like major pro sports teams, gamers that can be considered "professional" in the same sense that NFL players are won't exit. And the only way for that to happen is for Joe Sixpac to actually be a spectator who is willing to watch it. Pretty unlikely, since most people who are interested in watching Q3A and CS matches are people who also play the game regularly themselves.
The same goes for "pro" Magic players and "pros" of many other "non-spectator" activities.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
And is terribly boring.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Why is that gamers have to validate their hobby in one way or another?
How many "are games art" articles have we seen here?
And no the new meme is "games are sport"!
What is next?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
What do basketball, football, baseball, darts, billiards, golf, xtreme sports and pro bowling have that computer games don't: True randomness based on real physics. The reason real sports played by humans are interesting is because the participants have mastered or attempt to master real physical anomolies: the way a Jordan jumper bounces on the rim, the blade of grass on the fairway that alters a tee shot.
Computer games can only simulate these things -- eventually maybe they will, but try to get Vegas interested.
On certain entertainment channels in Shanghai, China, during the day (not yet on primetime), they broadcast games of Warcraft III, and a couple of the most popular RPGs. You can watch the whole game, and they do a decent job of cutting to the "action", making it almost as interesting as sitting on a stool slightly behind and to the right of the player.
and decreasing amounts of 100% disposable time.
:)
you'll understand when you're older