Pro Gaming coming to an End?

[BuRn7 CaK3]

Hopefully MLG still stays strong. I loved watching "CGS" when it was on DirecTV.


Pro-gaming in the United States is just not taking off the way some people expected. Cyberathletes Professional League shut down last year. In November, Championship Gaming Series bit the dust as well. Although Major League Gaming is still humming along, and plans to make a profit this year, this is not the outcome many expected for videogaming as a sport.

Where gamers once dreamed of making big, pro-athlete salaries, in today's climate, even the best players are going back to working real jobs. Like the guy in the picture of above. That's Emmanuel Rodriguez. He's among the best Dead or Alive 4 players on earth. He works at Sam's Club. With no league currently sponsoring DOA 4 tournaments, Rodriguez has gone back to his old gig.

The New York Times recently ran an article about the sinking fortunes of pro gaming , and cited the shrinking economy as a major reason many gaming leagues have shut down. "Personal-computer gaming tournaments and sponsorships have been hit particularly hard by the recession," reports the Times. This is undoubtedly true, but in my opinion, there's another reason pro-gaming hasn't taken over professional sports in the United States: It's a really bad idea.

It's a great idea for pro-gamers themselves, sure, who can make a decent living doing what they love, and maybe even get rich. But it's a terrible idea for everyone else. Terrible for the organizers of leagues, terrible for the "fans." Just terrible. Here's why: In spite of hyped-up news reports and press releases about video games being the sport of the future, it's just not that interesting to watch. I don't think there's any way to make it interesting to watch, either.

No matter how good a player is at Halo 3, watching a deathmatch will never be as awesome as watching Lebron James swish a three-pointer or Donovan McNabb break a tackle behind the line and fire off a back-footed 30 yard pass. Even with crazy hype and endorsement deals, big stadiums and announcers, and even though pro-gamers are the best in the world at their game, at the end of the day, checking out "cyber sports" is still just watching other dudes play video games. And that's just not too interesting to too many people.

The above is just my opinion, of course. Perhaps you feel differently. Let me know in the comment section below... and by the way, yes, I know spectator StarCraft is huge in Korea. I have no idea why.
Source: G4 - The Feed (http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/694501/Collapse-Of-Pro-Gaming-Forcing-Cyber-Athletes-To-Get-Real-Jobs.html)

[zeldazeppelin]

Maybe it will become like the NFL and have one league.

[Buffdog18]

Really?

[hawkofva]

God I hope it is. Professional gaming ruined the once great Bungie Community and turned a lot of kids into vulgar little brats.

/brief-rant

Nothing personal if any of you are "pros". Most of my issues aren't with the "pros", but with the people who think they're "pros" and act how they think "pros" should act.

[zeldazeppelin]

Nothing personal if any of you are "pros". Most of my issues aren't with the "pros", but with the people who think they're "pros" and act how they think "pros" should act.

I was making sure you we not dissing pros

[harbingerofdoom]

i dont really see it as a bad thing.
call it thinning of the heard if you like, but i dont see the need to have multiple pro leagues for anything.

there are pretty much only one major league for each sport (with a couple exceptions here and there) and thats only going to make the one league stronger and more able to survive.

i think being a professional video game player is a bit odd to list as a career, but hey if i got an offer to do it (which trust me will never happen) you can bet i would take it!

[Kreepman]

God I hope it is. Professional gaming ruined the once great Bungie Community and turned a lot of kids into vulgar little brats.


I agree.
The old Halo CE LAN days are wiped out now :\

[ArmsAreLoud]

No more Ken Combo? D:

Meh, to be perfectly honest, the article writer is correct; pro gamers are not fun to watch. I'd much rather see some dude run a KR back for a touchdown in the opening drive of the Superbowl then see someone chain-grab their opponent to oblivion in Brawl. Case and point: games are more fun to play than watch.

[Oscar-Rio]

why am i not shocked? Do you guys enjoy watching your friends play video games? I know i don't. I'd rather just play the damn game.

[afterstasis]

Case and point: games are more fun to play than watch.

that's basically how i've felt about sports since the age of 7 or so.

[SonicRocker15X]

that's basically how i've felt about sports since the age of 7 or so.

Same.

If anything, I find gaming even more interesting to watch than sports.

[Transbrak]

I remember flipping channels and saw some "pro" gaming one night, I quickly turned the channel. If I want to watch a bunch of frat guys act like douchebags while they play halo at least I'm gonna get some free liquor out of the deal.

Then there are other idiots that make websites with a ton of pictures of themselves and think other people care about them and try to peddle merch for basically being good at wasting time. http://www.jameslikecoulter.tv/site/home.html

[Rock_Starman]

I'm not even sure why it got started to begin with. The term is all wrong anyway,it appears most of these people are only great at one game or game type. Wich also makes the whole set up wrong. You're not a pro gamer you're a pro Halo/FPS player.

[General Lein979]

Good I don't want to watch people play video games that I have sitting by my xbox.

[Mex]

The only "pro gaming" I've seen on TV was some Madden competition they made into a series. They were on a bus or something.

It was insanely stupid. A bunch of video game nerds posturing like rappers, trash talking eachother. Some lulz though :)

[hawkofva]

Sci-Fi channel *ahem* I mean "Syfy" has a pro gaming show running at the moment.

I swear if it weren't for Stargate and Battlestar, that channel would have died years ago.

[BYC]

God I hope it is. Professional gaming ruined the once great Bungie Community and turned a lot of kids into vulgar little brats.

/brief-rant

Nothing personal if any of you are "pros". Most of my issues aren't with the "pros", but with the people who think they're "pros" and act how they think "pros" should act.

It's not a pro problem. It's a people problem. There's plenty of sport stars that are *******s, but way more average/normal guys. It's the media that pushes negative stories over and over again because those sell.

As for pro gaming, it needs still needs to develop further in the USA. Presentation is extremely important. It seems to evolve to level of major sport events where people WANT to pay for it. I think it's important for a game out there to be able to communicate how difficult it is to play some of those games. When LeBron James soar into the air to slam ball, we know how awesome that is. Same with all other sports. There needs to be a way for the viewer to feel the same way about a game.

In fact, there need to be ONE game that everybody plays. All the major sports don't change that much once it's been established. In gaming, every few years we get a new shooter, sport game, driving game, whatever. It doesn't give casual viewers a way to connect.

[Kreepman]

Then there are other idiots that make websites with a ton of pictures of themselves and think other people care about them and try to peddle merch for basically being good at wasting time. http://www.jameslikecoulter.tv/site/home.html

I lol'd xD

[moneyp]

As a member of a gaming clan with some pro players, I wish them all the luck in the world, but it's hard to get past the lack of spectator interest. I don't blame JLC for trying to do something to earn money off his talent, no matter how misguided it may be. It's natural, when you have an exceptional talent, to be interested in how it might benefit you other than uncompensated internet celebrity.

I think professional gaming's best bet is a model similar to professional gambling. Sponsored tournaments with entry fees (which may even exist in some form). The question is, how many gamers would pay to compete? And even with, say, a 10% cut of the proceeds, is it worth it for the work the sponsor has to put in?

[BuRn7 CaK3]

It really doesn't surprise me either.

[s1yfox]

I remember flipping channels and saw some "pro" gaming one night, I quickly turned the channel. If I want to watch a bunch of frat guys act like douchebags while they play halo at least I'm gonna get some free liquor out of the deal.

Then there are other idiots that make websites with a ton of pictures of themselves and think other people care about them and try to peddle merch for basically being good at wasting time. http://www.jameslikecoulter.tv/site/home.html

for the love of god, someone post that picture with like 20 facepalm moments!lol!

[toymachineSH]

nobody would buy a Transbrak shirt.

Also I find sports boring so there obviously is a market for people that want to watch pro gaming- they just need to do a better job.

[trench762]

pro-gaming is dumb imo, no offense if you are a pro gamer, but here's how I see it. I'm a pretty competitive guy, I mean I could care less if I win or lose but I like a good challenge. But I do it for fun, if there were $ on the line I would care alot if I won or lost. I remember being in a quake3 tournament on dreamcast, I lost in the 3rd round after destroying the first 2 opponents, and I lost to the overall winner on his best stage, but he ran from me the whole match and only won 3-1. I was soooo po'd at that guy. But that loss was like an eye-opener. There's no point in becoming the best at a game, even if I would have one all I would have to show for it would be a gold-plated dreamcast with my name engraved in it lol. And then the dreamcast would have died, I would have started trying to be the best halo guy, and go on to not make any real money. It's fun to be on top, but you shouldn't go for it b/c you think there is money involved. If you wanna make money playing games, go for sports, they make way more per year and you don't even have to win.

[toymachineSH]

professional WoW players get paid even when they don't play. If I could be a pro WoW player you'd better believe I'd do it.