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Gamer Streams Pay-Per-View UFC Fight By Pretending To Play It (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the tom-foolery dept.

WheezyJoe writes: A pay-per-view UFC Match was streamed in its entirety on Twitch and other platforms by a gamer pretending he was "playing" the fight as a game. The gamer, AJ Lester, appearing in the corner of the image holding his game controller, made off like he was controlling the action of the "game" when in fact he was re-broadcasting the fight for free. A tweet showing Lester's antics went viral with over 63,000 retweets and 140,000 likes at the time of publication. Another clip shows him reacting wildly yelling "oooooooooooooooh!!!" and "damnnnnnn!" in response to the match.

75 comments

  1. He WAS playing the game. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The game looks very realistic.

    1. Re:He WAS playing the game. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's playing a game all right, but it has nothing to do with UFC or broadcast/copy rights or technology or gaming or anything else anyone on Slashdot could potentially be interested in. It has to do with child pulling "subversive" but totally boring and inconsequential stunts in a desperate, vain attempt to feel some kind of acceptance or admiration via social media. There might even be some actual humor or personality mixed up in there, in which case props I guess, he's doing better than most YouTube screamers. I just find it as uninteresting as your grandmother's Facebook.

  2. Don't worry I know what to do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hit up up down down left right left right about a b a b select start and it'll break the combo.

    1. Re:Don't worry I know what to do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Congratulations you have been billed For this ppv event

    2. Re:Don't worry I know what to do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can always tell someone is too young to remember the Konami code when they get it wrong like that.

      BTW, it's up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A.

    3. Re:Don't worry I know what to do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I did that on Windows 10 and it wiped the drive and installed Linux... Good to know for my next trip to Costco or Best Buy.

    4. Re:Don't worry I know what to do by apharmdq · · Score: 1

      You say that as if it's a bad thing . . .

    5. Re:Don't worry I know what to do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude cmon, wrong code, geek card revoked.

      up up down down left right left right b a b a select start.

  3. Technology is making us obsolete by Gussington · · Score: 5, Interesting

    CGI is almost photo realistic these days, you would think at some point using motion detect, facial recognition body mechanic modelling etc any sports event would be able to be rendered in game in near real time so defeats the point of paying to see it.
    We live in interesting times...

    1. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      It seems you have no idea why humans watch other humans playing sports. Sorry about your Autism.

    2. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2, Informative

      Would you watch a stream of programmers typing on their keyboards? No, because it's pointless.

      Humans watch other humans playing sports because they're too fucking lazy to play sports themselves.

      Oh, "for the teams", you say? That's tribalism, meaning you have the same brain processes as cavemen.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the tight pants. Definitely the tight pants.

    4. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pfff. Supposing the graphic realism (absolute nonsense but let's pretend) is what draw people to watch sports, even then we are at least a couple of decades from games being truly indiscernible from reality.

      Shading and polycount may be nearly enough now, but interactions between characters are still a far cry from what's needed.

    5. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      people do watch streams of programmers programming.

    6. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Would you watch a stream of programmers typing on their keyboards? No, because it's pointless.

      Yes, I have watched programming streams. No, it is not pointless - it sometimes shows me things hat I didn't think of or know about previously.
      I don't watch it as a sport. I can easily envision a market for it however.
      It may not be appealing to you. That said, you are an individual, and there are many more people out in the world whose taste differs from yours.

    7. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Entertainment options such as movies are handicapped from the outset by predetermined outcomes. "Humans watch other humans playing sports" do so, because it's one of the the few things you can watch in which the outcome has yet to be determined.

      "Oh, "for the teams", you say? That's tribalism, meaning you have the same brain processes as cavemen."

      We are the descendants of a long line of tribal people, fighting the instinct to team up or die. For a factual, current example, consider political alignment.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    8. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Gussington · · Score: 1

      Would you watch a stream of programmers typing on their keyboards? No, because it's pointless.

      Humans watch other humans playing sports because they're too fucking lazy to play sports themselves.

      I think you missed the point. Lord of the Rings was mostly programmers typing on keyboards, but that is not the end product that people paid to see.

      Oh, "for the teams", you say? That's tribalism, meaning you have the same brain processes as cavemen.

      Exactly, so what is the difference between watching a real human on TV, and a computer generated photo-realistic human on TV when your brain can't tell the difference? Sure we're not quite there yet, but it's only a couple of years away

    9. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anil · · Score: 1

      Would you watch a stream of programmers typing on their keyboards? No, because it's pointless.

      Humans watch other humans playing sports because they're too fucking lazy to play sports themselves.

      Oh, "for the teams", you say? That's tribalism, meaning you have the same brain processes as cavemen.

      https://developers.slashdot.or...

    10. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by MoaDweeb · · Score: 1

      Yes we all have caveman brains. It has been only a few hundred thousand years and our social settings are designed for groups of approx. ~150 individuals max.

      --
      New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
    11. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only out of shape people with low IQs enjoy spectator sports. They try to live vicariously through them, which is why after their team wins, you'll often hear them chanting shit like "We're number one!", despite the fact that they themselves didn't actually do anything. There's probably also a bit of homosexuality in there too, as what kind of heterosexual man wants to sit there and watch a bunch of sweaty jocks running around a field playing with balls and patting each other on the ass before heading off to the showers together?

      Intelligent, straight men in good physical health who are into sports would rather play the sports themselves than watch someone else do it

    12. Re: Technology is making us obsolete by slazzy · · Score: 1

      What about watching womens beach volleyball? That's the only sport I enjoy and I don't have a desire to play nor do i feel gay.

      --
      Website Just Down For Me? Find out
    13. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why do athletes watch sport on TV? Because they like to watch sports.
      The same reason why gamers watch twitch.

    14. Re: Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So watching men play get all sweaty, pile on top of each other, play with their balls and slap each other on the ass is totally gay, but actually doing those things is only for manly hetero men?

    15. Re: Technology is making us obsolete by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Sorry for your lack of autism.

    16. Re: Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most professional sports stars and their fans are gay. Straight guys don't pile or pat each others asses, genius.

    17. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      You mean someone would pay to watch me hack a server?

      You know why "hacking" in movies is unrealistic? Because the reality is FUCKING BORING to watch. Even if you know what the person is doing, it's by no means a spectator sport. Twice so if you have no idea what's going on.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    18. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      That's called tutorials. That's more like watching a National Geographic special about some rare bird species than watching a football match.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    19. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Our brains still work for groups of 5 to 10 individuals. Not more. You will NEVER have any kind of strong "feelings" for anyone outside that 5 to 10 people group. Whether it's work or your private life, yes, you might work for a large corporation with thousands of people, but the only ones you really care about are the maybe 5 or 10 people in your immediate organization group.

      That is, by the way, the very reason these groups are organized that way. Because that's the size of groups that we can handle instinctively.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    20. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that tutorials seldom deal with real problems and are often just made to market how simple it is to make things in the latest language that was made specifically to make those things.

    21. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the reality is FUCKING BORING to watch.

      The typing involved in hacking may be boring, but the computer concepts used to break in are not, at least to a programmer or an admin. Of course, the general audience is going to sleep if they hear about these concepts on screen.

    22. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's a Stream for that too!

      https://www.twitch.tv/electrik...

      https://www.twitch.tv/director...

    23. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      That's why you find hacking tutorials but watching someone hack a server for entertainment purposes is unheard of.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    24. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by stealth_finger · · Score: 2

      You mean someone would pay to watch me hack a server?

      You know why "hacking" in movies is unrealistic? Because the reality is FUCKING BORING to watch. Even if you know what the person is doing, it's by no means a spectator sport. Twice so if you have no idea what's going on.

      HACK THE PLANET!

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    25. Re: Technology is making us obsolete by pruss · · Score: 1

      I.e., it's a lot more interesting?

    26. Re: Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If those fat, stupid, latent homosexual sports spectators heard you liked women's beach volleyball, they'd probably call you gay or a pussy, yet at the same time they want to watch sweaty dudes running around grabbing their crotches.

    27. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Plenty of people watch programmers streaming - ignoring other sources - twitch has a 'community' dedicated to it https://www.twitch.tv/communities/programming

    28. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      National Geographic special

      And so the circle of life continues, as the weakest member of the pair programming group falls to his natural predator, middle management.

    29. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by hackwrench · · Score: 1

      Watching is watching is watching.

    30. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're trashing our rights! TRASHING!!!

    31. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      Entertainment options such as movies are handicapped from the outset by predetermined outcomes

      cough cough "Apollo13" cough cough

      Knowing the outcome may make a move suck for you, but not for rather a lot of us.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    32. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      Our brains still work for groups of 5 to 10 individuals. Not more. You will NEVER have any kind of strong "feelings" for anyone outside that 5 to 10 people group. Whether it's work or your private life, yes, you might work for a large corporation with thousands of people, but the only ones you really care about are the maybe 5 or 10 people in your immediate organization group.

      That is, by the way, the very reason these groups are organized that way. Because that's the size of groups that we can handle instinctively.

      And here I thought it was because managers couldn't stand writing more than 10 performance reviews.

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    33. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its only a narrow subset of movies where you know the outcome before seeing it. Well, maybe less narrow if you include the sort of very procedural, formulaic, rules-based films that stuff the theaters... but if that's your complaint, the possible outcomes of a football game are no less constrained.

    34. Re:Technology is making us obsolete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      consider political alignment.

      People with political alignments are fucking morons in particular.
      Don't stand behind faces and who can give the best speeches, stand behind ideas.

      The only fucks that get elected are the ones that appeal to the tribal retards of society.
      Loud words and epic speeches, epic putdowns of their opponents. It's a literal TV show.
      The ones that actually care, the ones that actually could, are more reserved, actually decent people and sadly never get elected because of it.
      Of course, the way society in the western world is focused it heavily favors absolute cunts getting the farthest.
      Survival in the west is no longer a case of "for the tribe!", it is "for my friends, fuck you other guys go die!"
      Cronyism has destroyed the west.

  4. Good luck... by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Good luck with your legal fees dude.

    --
    Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    1. Re:Good luck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      exactly, the broadcasters have a history of not taking these sort of things lightly and depending on how many people viewed it he could be in for serious financial trouble.

    2. Re:Good luck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But this publicity stunt/cry for attention boosted his number of subscribers "like crazy". Soon he'll be rolling in the dough with his totally legit Twitch video game streaming business!

      I don't know how those guys do it. The stress and hardship of doing a real job like playing video games in their mother's basement every day must take its toll.

    3. Re:Good luck... by skovnymfe · · Score: 0

      But.... black lives matter?

    4. Re:Good luck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope it gets classified as fair use.

    5. Re:Good luck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good luck with your legal fees dude.

      Exactly. Lawyers with summons appearing at his door in 3 - 2 - 1-.....

    6. Re:Good luck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm curious if they'll argue that it was a performance.

    7. Re:Good luck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All faggots matter too

  5. Sure by easyTree · · Score: 3, Insightful

    UFC has the depth of a videogame. Lol wtf.

    --
    Requiem for the American Dream
    1. Re:Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sadly now adays many video games have considerably less depth than even the most dull UFC match.

    2. Re:Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spoken like a true EA and Ubisoft fan who only plays Call of Shitty and Ass Creed.

    3. Re:Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sadly now adays many video games have considerably less depth than even the most dull UFC match.

      Grind, grind, grind, grind. This game sucks. Pay for loot crate.
      Grind, grind, grind, grind. This game sucks. Pay for loot crate.
      Grind, grind, grind, grind. This game sucks. Pay for loot crate.

  6. bill him the bar rate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Paper could be over $100,000 big sports book rate

  7. Nope, not unless there's a reasonable story line.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can get into TKD sparring in person.
    I can get into watching TKD sparring *IF* it's a friend, or someone I may spar, or someone that trains someone I may spar.

    Anything else it's risking the emotional toll of losing without any of the benefits of losing in person.

  8. That was not a wise move, kid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You will be made an example of.

  9. Is that "Fair use"? by mnemotronic · · Score: 2

    It sure seems like that could be illegal. I could see how it might be "parody". I can't see the courts allowing that defense for an entire event.

    It could be that by the time it comes to trial, if that's how it works out, the courts will have been seeded with people for whom "fair use" means "pay us now or pay us later".

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
    1. Re:Is that "Fair use"? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      Mst3k needs rights, so I'm guessing this is a violation.

      They do the live stream commentary to get around that at times (as riff tracks live), but the theatre still needs the rights to play the original thing they live comment over (and to their live commentary if it's a stream).

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    2. Re:Is that "Fair use"? by EndlessNameless · · Score: 1

      I could see how it might be "parody"

      I don't. US copyright laws may be stupid at times, but it's absurd to believe that his intentions included parody at the time. He's free to claim whatever he wants in court, but he bears the burden of proof when he claims fair use.

      And if the chatter surrounding this event was "hey man, you can watch the UFC fight for free on the stream"... he's gonna lose so badly.

      the courts will have been seeded with people for whom "fair use" means "pay us now or pay us later"

      I'm not sure what you're implying here, but there is an established guideline for deciding whether something is fair use. It's not like someone is going to pull a fast one on this guy. The rules have been out there for years.

      --

      ---
      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
    3. Re:Is that "Fair use"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do they actually need rights or do they just get them to avoid any headaches?

    4. Re:Is that "Fair use"? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      I would think it's for a jury to decide, I think a judge would allow a fair use defense, and a jury decide if the facts fit such a case.

      My instinct would be that it violates fair use as it uses a substantial amount of the original (100%), can be used as a substitute for the original (to a point), the original
      permeates approaching 100% of the combined product, in the case of MST3k: it is a commercialized combining, and lastly, the original is a large percentage of the overall end product (80% of the screen and similar percent of the audio).

      I would argue that it IS transformative, the some is significantly different in interest than the individual parts (though I'm sure someone would argue that transformative is about altering the content, not the "feel"), and it doesn't reduce the commercial viabilty of the original (for MST3k, for a live stream of UFC it likely does).

      If someone was non commercially doing MST3k type commentary and posting it on a personal site with no ads, the fair use case would be much stronger.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    5. Re:Is that "Fair use"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the easiest test this would fail is, is it a suitable replacement for the original work? I'm sure plenty of people who were watching would say yes.

    6. Re:Is that "Fair use"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It sure seems like that could be illegal. I could see how it might be "parody". I can't see the courts allowing that defense for an entire event.

      It could be that by the time it comes to trial, if that's how it works out, the courts will have been seeded with people for whom "fair use" means "pay us now or pay us later".

      If the judge laughs, it's a parody. If anyone laughs, it's a parody.

  10. Twitch.tv has it by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2...

  11. MST3K by ecloud · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

  12. Cage fighting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The main problem with cage fighting is that they let them out again afterwards.

  13. What an ass. by DewDude · · Score: 1

    "They have to catch everyone?" No. It doesn't work when the cop pulls you over. Its not going to work now. Based on attitude...I hope they nail this guy to the wall. And he wants money for an interview? So hes trying to profit off his crime as well. Thats also illegal.

  14. "Made off like"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously? For future reference, we have a word for that: "pretended".

  15. Thanks for making me lose 3 minutes of my time. by Thanatiel · · Score: 1

    "News for nerds, stuff that matters."
    It took me a while to understand what it was about. (I had too look up "UFC")
    A kid streaming a pirated video of an UFC fight pretending to play a video game.

    I don't know how news about various science breakthrough will survive after this.

    As far as I'm concerned, if we had the power to mod an article, this one would be reaching an msb set to 1 followed by a stream of zeroes.

    --
    Irrelevant news and morons using moderation to mod down what they disagree on. 2018 resolution: so long.
  16. Who cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who cares?