Angry Centaur Gaming – Gaming Thoughts – Esports/ESPN and People Forgetting History



Karak gives his thoughts on people freaking out about esports being on ESPN 2. Do you like my content and want to see more from me, Karak? If you can come to our patreon site and help out….

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21 Comments

  1. My take is simple.  I don't care about sports or esports.  Anyone getting upset about either side has far too much personally invested into things that they have no real  stake in.  Besides monetary bets of course.

  2. Just regulate ESPN by activity level. Have martial arts and track at high. Video games and golf at low. They could call it ESPN high and ESPN low.

  3. Are you kidding ? Pressing a mouse button is now a sport ? lol. In chess or poker you have eye to eye contact with other player, in video game you react what happends on the screen which is not the same. You compare marksmanship to clicking a mouse button. Have you ever used a bow or rifle or hand gun ? You say that sitting or you headgear on is the same using a gun on a shooting range ? Poker is about bluffing, is about know your opponent, but with the advantage that you know his/her table. Eye to eye contact is what is important, this is what makes it interesting, you try to guess it by looking your opponent in the eye. There is no social interaction like that in playing games.

  4. I don't think games are sports & should ever be classified as such.  I think the term E-sports is a bit misleading since it's just competitive gaming & not really an actual sport.  You can't compare sitting in a chair using a mouse/kb to using a 9 iron to smack a ball across a field nor a fisherman trying to reel in a 20lb catfish.  I've golfed & fished before & they do take some real effort to do. Gaming only takes concentration & requires experience. Even if you play video games professionally you'll never put as much effort into playing a video game like you will with an actual physical activity.

  5. The top players are treated like a pedigree and have to constantly run new line ups, come up with new meta's, not to mention being on the forefront of an ever evolving game that is constantly changing monthly due to patch changes.  Professional gamers have a pretty tight schedule of training, which include dieting, working out, and just over all maintaining good health because its actually pretty hard on your body to fly all around the world playing tournaments with jet lag. A great thing about the whole Esports thing is you can find people from all around the world traveling around the world meeting one another in their home countries and competing CONSTANTLY (if you follow Esports those fuckers never stop), and actually gives a different spectrum of people who can play “Sports”. Not to mention a because “Esports” are a brand new 21'st century ideology the room for expansion is huuuuuuge as the followers of Esports have seen in the past couple of years.

    Im with you Karak, looking forward to the bright future of our mental sports.

  6. In golfs defense: they do have to be pretty strong or limber to hit the distances required from the tips… But I think that's what you are getting at… When you say golf: you don't think of in shape people necessarily especially if you are not as informed on the professional scene.

    Appearances and stereotypes .

    That said eSports bores the crap out of me. I don't understand where this "audience" is coming from. Good for them and those who are into it, but something tells me ESPN isn't a good platform for those into eSports … I do hate that name… I don't think a sport is anything to aspire to, especially when your game is more about wit and adaptability

  7. I don't mind watching MLG tournaments of CS, Halo or even CoD on TV…
    or Fighting Game Tournaments… actually that sounds good to me… 😀

    but i'm not gonna watch MOBAs… i'm not interesed on that

  8. One of the major factors that separates video gaming as a potential sport from the regular/traditional sports is the sense of physique and physical discipline that comes with those sports.  Sports like football require skill at every facet of one's body function, such as the ability to memorize an entire playbook in a week, and running at least a 4.5 on a 40 yard dash.  That's why it's nationally televised, because you truly have to be a multitalented prodigy in order to be a pro football player.  With video games, you gain weight, lose sleep, miss out on exercise, and the only thing you'll need to win that $25K in the League of Legends competition is a sufficient understanding of the game you're playing.   There is nothing physically demanding about video games.  It's all mental, which may still require skill, but should not be classified with the traditional sports like football, baseball, soccer, hockey, basketball, etc.  Yeah, it's more comparable to something like fishing and hunting (which underscores a flaw in the ESPN writers reference, like you said in the video), but I wouldn't compare video gaming to the sports I listed above.  I love video games, but I just can't, lol.

  9. I kinda feel like maybe we don't even need to fight this battle right now…if we are fighting about it, not sure. But as games become more serious and serious gamers grow up I think we will bring games along with us into television & professional arena very naturally and organically. I already prefer watching gameplay by my favorite YouTubers (pst it's you Karak, but I'm not a brown noser) than I do watching shows or traditional athletics and I've got to assume that my son will be the same way. I just think that once the Colin Cowherds of the world go out to pasture (boom!) then they will be replaced by game-friendly people down the road. You can rack that take, son!

  10. I'm a long time PC gamer and also a lover of sports. I was opposed to the idea a while back of COD being at the x games because everyone at the x games are actual athletes who compete in very dangerous sports. That being said, I still just can't see myself watching ESPN and seeing football or baseball highlights, then all of a sudden watching LoL or Heros of the Storm highlights. Also, to refute something you said about golf players. They're actually very very conditioned. Tiger Woods in his prime was one of the most conditioned athletes in the world. That goes for many other golfers as well. They have to stay in shape. Golf is more taxing than you think. I don't know if this is a case of an identity crisis or what. I feel like some people just want to have esports mentioned in the same light as football or basketball, but that will never happen. The only arguments I hear are that games such as LoL are more taxing than poker or chess. Well, chess is rarely ever on ESPN, and Poker is on ESPN but it's shown in the AM. Keep eSports on platforms such as twitch, I don't see the need to migrate over to ESPN. I would rather watch these competitions on twitch than on ESPN anyway and I feel like others would also.

  11. I just dont watch the channel if i dont like it..btw who da fk watch tv these days anyway? TB asked.."Are E-sport a real sport?and does it even matter?"…the answer is NO and NO

  12. You hit all the right points harder than a maxed out Disgaea character driving a freight train full of bricks.
    I have a feeling the guy would have a change of heart if it was a CoD or Madden tourney.

  13. My only complaint is why people are so desperate to associate video games with professional athletic sports. I mean… this could have been on any of many channels, and it would've been fine. I mean I guess it's just a money thing, but I can't say I really understand how copying athletic sports leagues 1:1 is the best way to move forward with high level gaming. shrug

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