Pro Gaming?

[Ghost9]

I posted this on GGL.com.  I thought it was a good post so I'm putting it here too.  I posted it a comment in response to an article about the WSVG and the CPL.

"I don't know what the business model is for these "pro gaming" leagues, but I do know that it's never going to be like the NBA or the NFL. I also can't see people paying to watch, like UFC Pay-per-view events or even for Internet videos.

I think the MLG is on the right track with their weekly show on USA Saturday mornings. They cover MLG tournaments around the country and air the matches on TV with commentary. Halo 2 XBOX isn't the most entertaining game to watch, but the players are interesting and the show is somewhat entertaining. G4 had a similar show called ARENA in the past, which was missing pro-players. This way you get advertising revenue from commercials and money from sponsors like Intel. Both of these shows are mediocre, but they do appeal to an audience of gamers and I think this is the direction these pro leagues should be going with Q4 and CS. You could even get the players involved by letting people participate as amateurs (maybe even charge an entry fee) at the various cities. I think MLG already does this at their tour stops. If a Q4 tour came to Baltimore I might pay some money to participate in a LAN and see some world-class players.

I shouldn't have had to watch 2 of the best players in the world play their championship match on some crappy Internet video stream. Some of you may disagree with me, but I think this is exactly the kind of thing Spike TV and G4 should be looking for."

[[BTF]Defiant!]

Interesting topic.

Is the intention to bring awareness to gaming as a spectator sport?  to make it an enterprise?  to make more content available to fans?  all of these?

I enjoy the high resolution of in-game, in-eyes demos where you really feel the player's tempo and their attention and intentions.  TV isn't the best venue for this in my opinion.  (Soon, distributed cameras on players and a digitized sports fields will make watching "real" sports more interactive.  So, it may be "real" sports becoming more like gaming sports than vice versa.)

I feel that trying to get more public acceptance of gaming is folly; because, "real" sports are just entertainment too.  Only when one participates on the field or in the game is it really a sport in the important sense.

Def

[reaper]

nice post. is it to much to ask to put the nadml on cable : ) i think you could make awesome programming with q2, the movies, the interviews with players, talking about strategy.  i'm a little biased but that would be a lot more interesting to me than halo coverage

[X'tyfe]

but no one wants quake2 its all the halo dorks

[Ghost9]

WSVG just folded.  Apparently it wasn't profitable enough.  Gee, what a shock....

[10zx]

nice post. is it to much to ask to put the nadml on cable : ) i think you could make awesome programming with q2, the movies, the interviews with players, talking about strategy. i'm a little biased but that would be a lot more interesting to me than halo coverage

that would be awesome and appealing for us, unfortunately I think we're all way to spread out.  NADML for example.. the head admins don't live anywhere near each other.

I always said to myself if by chance I won the lottery (in the next couple years of course) I would pay for a LAN and pay for teams to be flew in for a LAN league.  How awesome would that be 

[X'tyfe]

anyone who thinks there pro is not

[10zx]

anyone who thinks there pro is not

lol fact.