Esports in the Mainstream: Fantasy or Reality?
With this year's COD Championships underway I think's it's a good time for me to share my views and opinions on the subject. I'm going to play both sides of the argument, but it's because I think both sides of the argument have some very valid points that the "powers that be" in the gaming industry need to seriously consider.
If Esports want to be taken seriously by the general public, or acknowledged as an actual sport, then they need to make an effort to emulate actual sports teams. Let's take the NFL for example. Most everyone likes football to a certain extent, which is great. But sports like football are so popular because of merchandising. You buy a jersey, normally your local professional team, and then to some extent it's almost like you're a part of that team. I hear it almost everyday. "How are we going to do this year". Well you are probably going to sit your fat ass on the couch and either bitch at or cheer for "your" team. If esports can attain that kind of marketability then it will start to attract that kind of fan base.
Unfortunately the main hurdle that esports has to jump over is it's fans, and to a lesser extent it's players. The online gaming community is worse than Philadelphia Eagles fans. Just in case any readers don't keep up with football, Eagles fans were notorious for being mean spirited and hateful. When Donovan McNabb was drafted, instead of being greeted with cheers he got booed. He then went on to lead the Eagles to four consecutive NFC East division championships from 2001 to 2004, five NFC Championship Games, and a Super Bowl. He won the 2004 AP offensive player of the year and is the Eagles all time leader in career wins, pass completions, pass attempts. passing yards, and passing touchdowns. So not only were Eagles fans mean and hateful, they were stupid. Playing an online game like Call of Duty is like playing at Veterans Stadium everyday. The online gaming community is constantly shouting out racist, homophobic, and overall terrible things to each other. That is not mainstream and will never be accepted by the general public.
The fans can't have all the blame though, some players carry some of the blame as well. People in this community seem to have a hard time letting things slide off their backs. One negative comment, opinion, or criticism and people blow up and start calling people "fucks" and other names. Or say that they don't care what people say about them, and turn around and write tweets that obviously show that they actually do care. If a journalist makes a criticism or expresses a negative opinion toward a NFL player, the player might respond to it, but for the most part let's it go. If he acted like some people in the gaming community, cussing and name calling because his feelings got hurt, his career would most likely be over. If your industry wishes to be called a sport, then maybe your fans and especially your players should be a little more sportsmanlike.
With all that being said, the esport pro's have something that other professional sports don't have. Easy access. The majority of esport players manage their own twitter and facebook accounts, which makes it easier for them to talk directly to fans. They can stream practices, and a lot of them will actually host "pub lobbies" where they will just play with fans. All things that other pro sports either can't or won't do.
No comments:
Post a Comment