I used to think this, still kinda do. I get nothing out of watching sports. But just the other day I was talking to a friend who coaches football, she said she likes it because it’s similar to chess. There are near limitless combinations of plays and each…segment, down, ball thing, I don’t fucking know football, is another move. I’m not going to watch football but I appreciate her perspective
Yeah but people don’t dress up in ugly logo covered clothing and face/body paint and spend millions and millions of dollars to build and fill up specialized stadiums with screaming fans to watch strangers play chess.
A game is a game. The actual stakes are basically the same when I play Mario Kart on my couch as when a couple dozen dudes in tights smash into each other in the cold at the sports balls stadium. There’s a winner and non-winners and the outcome means basically nothing to the people spending money to watch and wear their overpriced matching fan attire.
Not that i engage in this particular variety myself, but this kind of activity typically gets more fun the deeper you dive in. I generally only watch esports, but the more i care about the outcome of a game, and the more i understand of the game, the more fun it is to watch. I can think of no better way of caring more about a game than siding absolutely with one of the teams and betting money on their victory.
Not really. People get paid for being the best at something. Thats not the same as, for example, watching people play poker, where the only objective is winning money.
E-sports has the same money issue where someones excellence at a game is sullied by the fact that most of the competitions are measured by their prices pool.
As if being the best at something isn’t enough anymore.
Becoming very invested in watching strangers play games for money.
I used to think this, still kinda do. I get nothing out of watching sports. But just the other day I was talking to a friend who coaches football, she said she likes it because it’s similar to chess. There are near limitless combinations of plays and each…segment, down, ball thing, I don’t fucking know football, is another move. I’m not going to watch football but I appreciate her perspective
Yeah but people don’t dress up in ugly logo covered clothing and face/body paint and spend millions and millions of dollars to build and fill up specialized stadiums with screaming fans to watch strangers play chess.
A game is a game. The actual stakes are basically the same when I play Mario Kart on my couch as when a couple dozen dudes in tights smash into each other in the cold at the sports balls stadium. There’s a winner and non-winners and the outcome means basically nothing to the people spending money to watch and wear their overpriced matching fan attire.
I think they have fun.
Not that i engage in this particular variety myself, but this kind of activity typically gets more fun the deeper you dive in. I generally only watch esports, but the more i care about the outcome of a game, and the more i understand of the game, the more fun it is to watch. I can think of no better way of caring more about a game than siding absolutely with one of the teams and betting money on their victory.
You ever go to a sports game? Lol
thatsthejoke.gif
“Haha I was only pretending to be stupid”
Not really. People get paid for being the best at something. Thats not the same as, for example, watching people play poker, where the only objective is winning money. E-sports has the same money issue where someones excellence at a game is sullied by the fact that most of the competitions are measured by their prices pool. As if being the best at something isn’t enough anymore.