• About

Through Wolfy's Eyes

~ One gamer's view of the forest and the trees

Through Wolfy's Eyes

Tag Archives: competition

On Jacksonville

27 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by wolfyseyes in Human Things

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

community, competition, esport, esports, gaming, jacksonville, video games, video gaming

As I write this, it’s a little after 4am locally here. Blame the humidity or my own rumbling head for the poor timing on this post, then, but I had to get a few things off of my chest regarding the events at Jacksonville, Florida.

I love esports. I’m not one of the diehard sorts who roots for a specific org and there are some game genres that hold my interest more than others, but the overall field of esports from a spectator’s point of view is one of my favorite new things that has come out of the modern age of gaming. So to see something so horrible as a shooting come out of this new pastime has struck me more deeply than I thought it would. Continue reading →

My Kind of PvP

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by wolfyseyes in MMO Things

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

carebear, competition, MMO, player vs player, pvp, realm vs realm, rvr

As a self-described Professional Hug Ninja, I don’t often focus on the competitive nature of gaming.  I barely play fighting games, I have only succeeded in bringing my team down in online shooting matches, and I have had some marginal prowess in online battles in MechWarrior 3 and 4…and that was because of the handicap that was playing other people online over a 25k internet connection.

“CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!” *SKKEEEEERRRRRRSSHHHSHHHSKK!*

Continue reading →

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Genre

21 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by wolfyseyes in MMO Things

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

competition, crowdfunding, developers, launch, MMO, worry

The places I frequent for my online reading material (the soon-to-be-launched Massively Overpowered and the fabulously talented and likely incredibly handsome or beautiful writers of the blogs I follow) all appear to have something of a rolling theme going for them: the fact that the MMO genre is on the bubble or is in danger of some imminent collapse or things are about to explode in some righteous fireball summoned by Peter Molyneux for his crappy interview that was written by the idiots at RPS.

“Woopsie!….bitches.”

Continue reading →

“Digital Competition”. There, Happy?

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by wolfyseyes in Nerdy Things

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

competition, e-sports, fighting games, gaming, league of legends

There’s been some talk recently about e-sports and its existence.  This was brought up a couple of times on Massively in the past couple of weeks, and in both cases the comments were almost immediately beset by people discouraging and disparaging the fact that this was a thing.  Or how it’s not an actual sport.  Or any number of just general bitchery, like a pool of foot-nibbling fish.

“These aren’t even MMOs! Rawrr!!”

The semantics of the whole argument are the first focus–how apparently a sport requires physical contact.  Evidently this sort of thing will be silenced if there’s a more palatable term offered to the whole affair.  It’s only one of the myriad stupid arguments about e-sports, and they’re becoming tiring to read every time digital competitions come up.

The numbers are not lying here–viewership for competitions surrounding League of Legends has been growing year over year.  Other gaming competitions like the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) and Capcom Cup continue to grow.  This is an emerging form of competition and digital entertainment that is, once again, possible only through the magic of the internet.

Despite the very obvious, actual hard data…there’s still myriad people who just can’t stand this happens.

“Gasp! A thing I don’t like! KIIIIIILL!!”

The first squawking that generally arises about this topic is how digital competition is not an actual sport because people are sitting down at a computer.  This is usually countered with someone mentioning that chess is a sport or that driving a racecar is a sport despite both requiring one to sit down.  Sport and competition don’t have to be the exclusive realm of physical activity and prowess.  Strategy and mental fortitude are just as important to exercise and just as compelling to watch in a competitive environment as any “normal” sport.

The other whining is how this sort of thing is eating away at the heart of what gaming is.  I’m not sure exactly how “the purity of gaming” is devalued by there being competitions amongst the best gamers for money.  Perhaps because there’s money involved.  I dunno, anything that brings validation and positive eyes to our hobby is a wonderful thing.  I’ve lived through the assumptions post-Columbine.  I’ve lived enough years to see how Child’s Play does wonderful things but is never really picked up by mainstream media’s radar.  Good news is good news.

“Pissed off white dude” should not be our face anymore.

I feel it fair to mention here that I was never really a big supporter of this stuff before.  I held much the same opinions of others, though mine were even more vitriolic.  I equated “pro gamers” to the same level of importance as a “pro poker player”: a person who had all of the attitude of an athlete, but none of the physical prowess.

Why am I such an ardent supporter of this stuff? I actually blame one person.  A YouTube guy by the name of MaximilianDood.  He’s pretty much opened my eyes up to how these sort of things can be genuine competitions and how empassioned and genuine these things are.  Fighting games have always been an enigma to me…but this channel brought me to a whole new universe of entertainment.

And that’s what this ultimately is boiling down to.  Entertainment.  That’s what this is.  It’s just as compelling and engaging as any other sporting competition I’ve watched.  It’s seeing people who are leagues better at a thing than I am duking it out to find who is top amongst themselves.

That is pretty much the definition of sport to me.

Now, some things about digital competition still annoy me.  More specifically, when developers attempt to adjust their games to fit themselves in to a competition mold at the expense of the rest of the game and its playerbase being chief among them.  Frankly, if you’re going to create a game intended for competitive circuits, it should be designed as such from the ground up.  Beyond that? This stuff is awesome.  It’s fun.  It’s a positive thing for our hobby.

That’s really REALLY hard to put a negative spin on for me.

  • View @wolfyseyes’s profile on Twitter

RSS Feed

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Through Wolfy's Eyes
    • Join 145 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Through Wolfy's Eyes
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar