News MLG, ESL and DreamHack team up to drive eSport popularity

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2012/11/16/mlg-esl-and-dreamhack-team-up-to-drive-espo/1

 

Just like physical sports, I dislike watching and not doing. I don't mind commentated playthrough videos on youtube, but competitive gameplay isn't all that fascinating for me and fails to hold my attention for long.

 

I wonder how the guy in the front of the photo gets headphones on with all that hair in the way....

 

hahhahahahaha! its cool man, 3 popped collars cool!

 

Why the hell are pro SC2 players not going to dota2... Then again Boxer was probably offered quite a bit of money to play LoL exclusively. Riots actions in the past have made it clear that they're going to use their wallet to keep other moba games out of the spotlight.

Why are the watered down games at so many big tournaments. You have LoL, but no Dota 2. Halo 4, but no CS or Quake. Watching the Halo matches @ MLG were hysterical. Half the players couldn't turn around fast enough to defend themselves in firefights because controllers.

 

A few things:

• Boxer's not going to play LoL, he was just disbanding Slayers.
• Riot doesn't control LoL in Asia, it's run by Garena.
• LoL is huge in Korea (and the rest of SE Asia) right now. DOTA is hardly played over there.
• You're right the players are moving for money, but it's stream money, team money, TV money, sponsorship money etc. as well as tournament winnings.
• MLG et al want viewers. LoL provides more viewers than any other MOBA at the moment (1.15 million concurrent online viewers during the S2 Champs, another 2.4 million watched the live TV broadcast in China and Korea.) Same goes for Halo 4 compared to FPSes. Whether you think they're watered down or not, MLG, DH, ESL and the big players are businesses that want ad money to grow. More viewers means more ad revenue, so they will always choose popular over "worthy".

 

That was sad to read

It's all about the money.

 

The reason I hate e-sports, apart from the whole "would rather be playing" thing. Competitive games are meant to be played for fun, for the intrinsic joy of competition and victory. Playing for the sake of earning money and prizes is completely missing the point.

 

I have watched some incredibly exciting Starcraft 2 matches.

Starcraft 2 has a chance to stay at the forefront of pro gaming if the Heart of the Swarm expansion has good multi player and introduces new, fun but balanced changes.

We will see!