Sports are a massive phenomena, to say the least, and esports definitely seems to want to try to become similar, but so far…I think it may be fair to say it’s struggling at that, outside of maybe some specific games and countries (…Is StarCraft still a thing in South Korea?).
Do you think that might eventually change, and if so what might contribute to it being alongside regular sports in terms of conversations & attention?
What I think people don’t realize with eSports is that there’s a pretty high barrier to entry.
For football, or hockey, or baseball, a person can take an afternoon to understand it and enjoy it. And even without understanding the game, they can appreciate the skill because it’s obvious when someone does something impressive.
But think about how complicated League of Legends is. Or Overwatch. There’s a LOT going on on screen and it takes time to learn to filter out the noise. You first need to understand the game mechanics and the goals, then you have to have enough experience in the game to even be able to see what’s going on, and THEN it’s still not obvious when someone does something impressive. You need a thorough understanding of the meta to really know how good someone is doing.
That’s why eSports probably won’t be as popular as physical sports: because the barrier to entry as a casual viewer is much higher.
This is part of why counterstrike is one of the most successful ones. It’s the easiest to visually understand what’s happening on screen.
Exactly. Even if people don’t play the sport they have tried to run/jump/catch/throw something so have context into what is difficult or not. It’s basically universal. eSports that context is different for almost every game.