I've never been a sports nut. But last week, as I found myself obsessing over frame-captured video of the World of Warcraft Arena semifinals, I realized -- MMORPGs may plausibly give us the basis for the next set of semi-participatory sports. Here's an example of two top-level players going toe-to-toe (I've skipped most of the videos because they are grainy and accompanied by very angry music.) Let me explain.
My basic thought is that we watch what we play. And if one tenet of this community is that people are playing interesting new games, we might see a shift in what we watch.
That said, what really drove the point home was my own interest in watching "sports." I've never had the slightest interest in watching other people play games. It seemed odd -- why watch, if you're not playing? And yet I find myself watching these grainy, music-wracked clips with enormous interest, straining my eyes for pointers, watching how they move (mouselook? WASD?), watching the combinations, the keyboard setups, you name it.
I think that Blizzard is not unaware of this, and is attempting to turn Arena into something with a heavy footprint beyond the bounds of the game. Can't play? Tune in to the EU qualifying round, courtesy of Art of War. And, according to Ming, the upcoming World Finals between Grammar Police and The Fighting Mongooses will be must-see-PVP.
Guild Wars has had Observer Mode for quite some time. It allows players to watch PvP battles. During the regular global tournaments, where the top guilds in the world compete for prizes, everyone could watch the matches using Observer Mode. Observer Mode, apart from being a handy tool for scoping out rivals or following the tournies, is also a fun little diversion if you're bored.
Posted by: Brinstar | May 20, 2007 at 12:53
I must be missing something because this doesn't sound any different than going to a digital theater and watching a videogame tournament in Spectator mode.
How is this different than what people like Mark Cuban have been pursuing?
Posted by: csven | May 20, 2007 at 13:43
People have been watching other's play games since the mid 1990's with DOOM deathmatches. Any game that requires a deep set of skill or knowledge to play will develop fans that like to watch how others use that skill or knowledge to their advantage.
I must say though, I had no clue what was going on in those videos.
Posted by: Reid | May 20, 2007 at 16:28
To clarify: What strikes me is not that people watch other people play videogames. My wife will tell you I lurk over her shoulder in a most annoying fashion. It is interesting, though, that the language of professional sports is increasingly used to describe players and events.
The phenomenon is of course more marked in FPSes, where professional gamers are already old news. But MMORPG sports is a new animal: the gear and the teams are born out of the community, out of years of experience and involvement in the environment. I think that it is no surprise that FPSes have been adopting as much from MMORPGs (Planetside, anyone?) as the other way around.
Communities playing games -- that's what sports are, after all.
Posted by: Joshua Fairfield | May 20, 2007 at 22:03
I must say though, I had no clue what was going on in those videos.
Yeah, I have to watch it several times over to figure out exactly what is going on. Makes the video that much more interesting actually. First I just watch like I'd watch a normal video, then the second time I pay close attention to the text scrolling over the player, then I check out their action bar... etc. I find in some WoW videos that even watching one again a couple weeks later, I discover something brand new that I had missed the previous half dozen times. =D
Posted by: Verilazic | May 21, 2007 at 00:21
quote 1: I must say though, I had no clue what was going on in those videos.
quote 2: Yeah, I have to watch it several times over to figure out exactly what is going on.
I think the point of quote 1 is, "this is boring". I have no clue what the players are doing, what spells, actions, etc. they are calling on. I see them moving, I hear annoying music, I can't read anything on the screen (beyond some "totem ready!" thing). It seems to me that the only way you'd have any clue what was going on is if you actually knew the hard core details of the classes being played.
Posted by: Catfoot | May 21, 2007 at 02:49
"....538 gamerz playing SL, 12 k watching videos about SL and 4 billion residents of TN reading this article ". Funny .
Posted by: Amarilla | May 21, 2007 at 05:34
@Joshua: Well, it's an interesting premise, but...I guess I have to disagree (at least a bit) with the example as evidence of the premise. I think you represent a small minority of people who care enough about tactics (etc.) to watch these videos for the purpose of learning, etc.
I would be an example of a person who feels about these videos (or live feeds) the way you feel about watching sports on TV: I'd rather be playing. I play lots of WoW, but little PvP, and the video was only slightly interesting to me.
However, I think there are a good number of people who are interested in PvP, and, beyond the Exitable Boys, they might feel like you do about spectating to learn.
While this might be an uptick in "videogame" spectating, I doubt it's a big trend.
Posted by: Tripp | May 21, 2007 at 10:15
I do think that building a video culture around PVP in gaming is a fantastic idea. Some tools are still lacking, but I think there is a willing audience (albeit a segmented one at first) for gaming TV.
Think about South Korea, their two TV channels dedicated to StarCraft gaming, and popstar status of progamers. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft_professional_competition>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft_professional_competition
@Verilazic - It's definitely true that for people unfamiliar with a game or sport, it's often impossible to tell what's going on. The addition of announcers that can report the action play by play is very helpful, and currently missing from a lot of PVP. Imagine watching hockey or football without anyone telling you what's going on. You can find some good video coverage of previous World Cyber Games tournaments here:
http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/TV/tv_main.asp>http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/TV/tv_main.asp. I watched a couple of the WarCraft finals, a game whose details I've long forgotten, and the commentary was insightful and exciting.
By the way, I'm rooting for the Fighting Mongooses (aka Enervated now that they're sponsored) to win!
Posted by: Helen | May 21, 2007 at 13:05
If Blizzard was serious about making WOW PvP a spectator sport, they could do it.
Guild Wars is a more PvP-oriented game, and the capacity for people to know what spells are going off at least from one combatant's perspective, is built into the observer system.
All spectators in Guild Wars have the ability to click on a player from either team to see what they are doing. The camera angle switches to that player's perspective, and you can see what spells they are casting, what combat abilities they are activating, what they are taking damage from, what conditions are on them, condition durations, Health bar, Energy bar, how much Death Penalty they have on them, whether they have a Morale Boost, etc.
Posted by: Brinstar | May 21, 2007 at 15:50
A voice over from a knowledgeable commentator would sure help a lot as a spectator sport. A UI optimized for spectator use would be good too.. get rid of all the stuff needed to run a character, and concentrate on displaying the action in an easy to read manner. Perhaps hire some people as camera operators, rather than tying it to the player view? Throw in some slo-mo replays, and I would be watching it.
Posted by: Hellinar | May 21, 2007 at 17:24
EveTV is the only live MMO PVP "TV" that I've heard of. It was supported by CCP (but done by volunteers), and featured a customised UI for watching the combat, camera operators and a live commentary (as well as post match analysis).
According to the latest blogabout it, it's now been picked up by MMM Publishing (who also do the Eve Online magazine) as a recurring thing.
CCP also sells a DVD of the first alliance tournament in their online store.
So this has already started to happen.
Posted by: Daniel Speed | May 21, 2007 at 18:47
I think that's spot on. Strategy and intelligence alone aren't enough to guarantee an audience--otherwise chess would be widely televised. There's an entertainment factor as well. The example I like to use is the WNBA and the NBA. The same game, but one has people running under the basket and doing reverse slam dunks while in the other slam dunks are almost never seen. Which one is more popular?
Posted by: lewy | May 21, 2007 at 19:18
I think that's spot on. Strategy and intelligence alone aren't enough to guarantee an audience--otherwise chess would be widely televised. There's an entertainment factor as well. The example I like to use is the WNBA and the NBA. The same game, but one has people running under the basket and doing reverse slam dunks while in the other slam dunks are almost never seen. Which one is more popular?
Posted by: lewy | May 21, 2007 at 19:19
The barrier-to-entry for even minimal game participation has to be considered, I think, in order to understand whether or not something will have success as a spectator event.
I don't play pro-baseball, but I played sandlot ball as a kid. I don't know all the ins and outs (ha ha) of every type of tactic and strategy, but I know the difference between a foul ball and a home-run. Same for football, car racing... hell, even skating. I understand the basics enough to go, "Wow. That was a really amazing example of something I grok."
Question, then: to what level must a viewer understand something to enjoy it as spectacle without having been, at some level, a participant. For example, I haven't played LoTRO, but I know enough about the functioning of other MMOs to think that if I was to watch a well directed/edited cut, I'd probably understand much of it without having played.
Is the audience for any MMO-sport the combined players of all MMOs?
Posted by: Andy Havens | May 21, 2007 at 21:18
This article brings up some good points on why gaming may or may not become a true spectator sport:
Gamedaily
Money and video cameras do not make a community. They only buy loyalty for as long as a gaming organization has the highest payouts. When the big payouts go elsewhere, so does the community. Quake players in North America learned this the hard way when the CPL switched over to Counter-Strike a few years back and all the wannabe pros (99% of whom never had a chance at making money playing games anyway) disappeared from competition. The rest stuck around crying about how the community was dead, then took up World of Warcraft.
Another huge problem with broadcast gaming events is that gaming communities are split up due to the vast number of games out there. Enemy Territory players, for example, probably don't watch much HLTV. They'd rather watch ETTV. Q3 players like GTV. CS players like HLTV. Halo 2 players watch VODs of their important matches. I could go on. These games, their broadcast methods, and the stars that play them are for the most part mutually exclusive.
Posted by: Thoros | May 22, 2007 at 22:04
de-bold that shit
Posted by: omg | May 27, 2007 at 05:05