Pro Gaming Commentators

HatTriQk writes "Maybe if your skillz are lacking you should become a Counter-Strike tourney commentator? The BBC has an article on the role of the Pro Gaming Commentator." From the article: "E-sports, sometimes called v-sports, are growing at a dramatic pace with games such as Unreal Tournament, Quake and Counter Strike letting gamers not only participate in online duals but also spectate online. The games are played at a frenetic pace, making real sports such as football and rugby look like petanque, and often it can be difficult to follow the intense action."

Comments

I can see it now...

[keiferb]

"To cover this event we go live to Xander the Doomslayer who's watching the carnage live from his mother's basement! Xander?"

What would commentators be like?

[LukaFox]

Wow. There could be a whole new area for sports commentators to use home-spun expressions.

"Wow, his supply of plasma grenades is lower than a doodle bug in Aunt Tillie's root cellar."

GOaaaall!

Petanque

[nekoniku]

Just in case you wanted to know what petanque was...

A Rant

[Mitaphane]

Can we stop using terms like "cyber-athelete" and "e-sports" when applied to competitive gaming. I know in a lot of people's heads "sports" and "games" are mixed together but they are two seperate things. A sport is an athletic game. Not only does it require skill of the game but it also requires all the other demands of being in good physical shape. I don't mean to belittle the skill that some proffesional gamers have, but the comparing a game Counterstrike to a game of Football or Hockey is ludicrous.

That said, treating a video game like a sport and commentating on it like its a sport seems pointless. I remember watching Arena on the ol' crappy G4TV channel. Almost all the shows I saw were FPSs where the commentators seemed to do is point out what the viewer could obviously see. It's painful It's like watching commentators for a pool game saying:

"He moves his stick back, OOHHH! NICE SHOT! He made it into the pocket! He better be careful though this next shot is tough. If he misses it, his opponent might have a chance to win."

It's wasted potential. What commentators should be doing is discussing strategy, terminology, and other reasons why the players are doing what they do. You know, things that give people insight about the game not the action.