I've just returned from DreamHack, an event billed as the "worlds largest LAN party" (over 6000 participants). It took place in three convention halls, two being filled with rows and rows of people with their machines as well as some exhibitors (and the third used for sleeping). Last time I was at something like this if you wandered around peering at people's machines to see what they were up to you saw the usual mix of things like CounterStrike, movies, music files, instant messaging, etc. What took me by surprise this time (though certainly shouldn't have given what I see in our own game labs with students) is the amount of WoW being played. I dare say it outnumbered the times I saw CS on someone's monitor but I don't want to stretch my observational data too far. Suffice to say it was immensely popular. I kept making passes Friday night by a group of eight players who were in an Onyxia raid (heh, I won't try and tally how many times I saw "Release spirit now" on the screen) and there was always a fair number of others milling around them watching too.
Anyway, there are a million interesting angles to go with an event like this but I just want to toss out one query. I was at DH mostly for the pro-gaming aspects. I got a chance to stand next to game commenter ReDeYe of Radio InsideTheGame as he did live announcing for a Quake4 match and it was pretty amazing how much it is like traditional sports broadcasting (though Vin Scully never dipped into an IRC channel while on air to see what the fans were up to). There has been a lot done in the FPS scene to make the genre work well for tournament competition... and just as important, spectating. Rules and norms (if you think they are a "given" just based on the game, check out tournament rules sometime, especially for any of the major competitions), live-streaming and commenting, refereeing, teams/coaches/managers/agents/corporate sponsors, larger organizational support and infrastructures, anti-cheating mechanisms, etc.
You can see where this is going of course. And I only ask given at midnight on Friday there was an unofficial WoW match (three hours to level up and then dueling). I am thinking now more about whether or not MMOGs are amenable at all to tournaments and professional-level competition. Are they good as spectator sport? Would something have to be tweaked in the genre (and in the whole field of play around it) to make them so. And even then, would it be an interesting or good idea? Warcraft (and Starcraft) have long been a staple of the pro-gaming circuit... what happens when it becomes "world of."
