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US Companies Sponsor Pro Gamers
Baddox writes "Professional gaming, which has for some time now been a popular venture in Asia, is finally starting to get some attention from big US companies. Teams for competitive shooters like Counter Strike are getting sponsored by large corporations like Johnson and Johnson. The article poses the question, "Is 'frags per round' going to be the batting average of the 21st century?" "
I agree. Its all in the player and team. Kyle Miller, aka KSharp, is on Team 3D. They have represented the United States at the WCG for about 4 consecutive times now, despite have major lineup issues this past year. Kyle performed very well this trial, and picked up one ace round. That's when one guy kills all of the 5 on the other team. It was exciting, and even though he didn't have the highest kill count at the end of the game, he was the most talked about player. This article is funny, it starts off talking about Kyle, even though he didn't have the best ratio... It kind of negates its argument.
My point is, the hype of the player and status of the team will surpass the statistics.
Sigs are for Terrorists.
FTA: "Manufacturers keep putting out new games and game consoles, obsoleting the old."
Someone's editor forgot to grammarize the article.
I don't think anyone's marketing budget for traditional sports is going to be cut. Sports like basketball and football are not declining in popularity among the demographic they are trying to reach.
Gamer sponsorship is a drop in the bucket for these companies (like Johnson & Johnson). I don't think televised gaming is going to be big in the US for a very, very long time. South Korea, however, as well as China in the near future, is a market where sponsorship could pay off quite well, especially for companies thathave low brand recognition there.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Kind of off topic but nonetheless...
I've been playing first person shooters for years now, and I have convinced myself that I'm pretty damned good at them. I read all about these gaming leagues and such, but the question is, how do I join in one to see if my skills are as good as I think they are?
There has to be a way to 'work up the ranks' and I've found myself amazingly good (yes, I'm gloating) at games like Quake3 or Unreal Tournament 2004 -- twitch based games. I want to get online and compete in deathmatches to see how well I do, but I know a *lot* of people out there are hackers and such, so I want an arena in which I can have an even playing field.
That said, so I don't get modded OT, J&J is just getting money into the realm of gaming -- it doesn't really matter whether or not it's online gaming now. It's just something people watch, and something J&J can use to market itself. It's business, and it always is. Intel doesn't sponsor the gaming clans out of the good of their hearts. Well, Intel does it because they know they suck compared to AMD in gaming. Oh well... money talks!
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
It depends on the style of the game. In games where victory is determined by comparing rounds won (such as CS), kills per round (or minute) is far more important than kills per death. On the other hand in a game where winning is determined by comparing kills made (most deathmatch type games) kills per death is obviously far more important.
So as a diehard CS fan Ill have to say kills per round for the win!
The laws of probability forbid it!
Great point. Did people watch Dennis Rodman because he was going to get another rebound any second now! No they watched because of his character.
I think the good players tend to relax a little more and let their characters out and people tend to like/dislike them on their character more then their stats. Yes at the same time these are the people pushing our favorite teams to win games which is a bonus. But Randy Moss is an asshole, I don't care how good he is, his stats rank second to his character in my book.
(And I hate the vikings anyway, DA BEARS!)
*DrugCheese rants*
I've recently had my eyes opened, by this article, to the hidden costs of advertising.
My own executive summary: Advertising makes products more expensive, because corporations that advertise their products sure as hell don't pay for the ads out of their own pockets.
Meaning: Any money going into gaming (and advertising therein) is going to jack up the price of the advertised products. So if I buy those products, I have to pay a few elite whoring twitch wizards whether I want to or not.
My personal conclusion: I'm buying even fewer games than before. (Gives the finger to (a small subset of) Corporate scum)
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Rel
Perhaps I am in a minority, but I actually enjoy watching a well played frag fest.
:D
Seriously, sometimes I've made myself a nice, warm bowl of soup and maybe a muffin or a crepe and I can't be bothered to actually play the game. So I'll just log into a large server and spectate the match.
I've actually often wished that there was a fragcaster who would fly the free-cam around to catch the better action from above.
I know it's common amoungst my friends for more people to be watching the computer screen than the Television. I mean, these online games are the only thing that I can throw around jargon with the boys about. American Football I like occasionally, basketball a bit less and baseball and I had a serious falling-out after the strikes.
This is wunderbar! I see these future "cyberatheletes" as something of a fusion between athelete and actor - maybe the better word is "performer". After all, what's more fun that watching someone get pwned (that means "owned")? I'll tell you, watching someone whine whilst recieving the pwnage - that's what
They need to change a few things and I will be interested:
1. Have new maps that players are not familure with, it goes from running a pattern to "thinking on your feet". Now that's exciting.
2. Have the players feel pain. Hell yeah, hook up a few electrodes and when they get shot/bashed they feel some pain. This is what made paintball exciting to me; knowing that bad play leads to more then just "Oh shucks, I got hit".
3. Overhead map views for the spectator. It makes it less confussing as to the tactics of a well balanced team.
4. Base some stats on the real life player. Have them run and see how fast they go, make the online player do the same. Test for accuracy and how accurate a guy is with a glock when doing a full out run away from a target or better yet see how well they aim their 15 pound H&K G-3 after running a quarter mile while wearing full gear including a vest.
5. This applies more twords all FPS games and not just tourney play; have weapons fail. Granted it doesn't happen too often IRL with decently maintained firearms but it's adds an element of surprise as your brand new P90 stovepipes in the middle of a 3 on 1 firefight.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
There's money enough for a top-ten player in lesser sports, but (outside of men's baseball, football, basketball and soccer) nearly every "real" sport has thousands of people that consider themselves lucky if they break even financially. We're already there for video gamers, from what I'm hearing.