Love this topic! I loved watching MOBA esports when it was launching. I remember gathering at my brother-in-law's place and watching some collegiate HotS tournaments since he had ESPN. I tried watching other competitive eSports, but they never did it for me. I think MOBAs are still great from a spectacle POV, so I'm not sure why I no longer watch any eSports. Having familiarity of the game definitely adds to the spectacle, but I felt like the announcers would do a good job in describing the action and impact. In MOBAs specifically, there's some very flashy (and effective) ultimate-combos where it's easy to see players working together to dismantle the opposing team. But something like DotA, where there's 30 mins of last-hitting creeps, would not make for riveting watching IMO.
Yeah, it can be game specific for sure. So now that you've thought about it some... do you think you're going to watch any MOBA esports again anytime soon? Thanks for reading and taking the time to reply!
I don't think so, but I think it's probably just more of a time commitment nowadays. Most matches would happen over weekends during the day, and I'm busy running my kids from soccer games to Tball games and helping coach, so it's just hard to find free weekend time.
I agree with all your points. One thing is to watch a YouTube video of a great players paying a game that you like and another one is to see a competition of the same game. It doesn’t translate well.
It is the same reason why Pickleball won’t be a huge sport, no matter that the same people that invested in e-sports are investing in pickleball now. It could be a great sport to play with friends but it is not an entertaining sport to watch on a tv.
Ohhhhh, that's interesting re the pickleball comment. Yeah, I wonder how fun it would be to watch pro players. It's a blast to play, but so far, I agree, I have no desire to watch pros play it. Thanks for reading and taking the time to reply!
Christian, I couldn't agree more. I like watching my wife, family members and friends play games, probably because I know and like them and can talk to them while they play. But the idea of watching a bunch of people I don't know, by definition being "sweaty try hards", playing an entire round of the competitive game du jour fills me with an almost cosmic horror.
Ha, sorry for the cosmic horror thoughts then! ;) It all kinda bums me out, because I love video games and I love sports... but yeah, I just don't think there's a big mainstream market there... but maybe someone smarter than me will prove me wrong some day. Thanks for reading and taking the time to reply!
Love this topic! I loved watching MOBA esports when it was launching. I remember gathering at my brother-in-law's place and watching some collegiate HotS tournaments since he had ESPN. I tried watching other competitive eSports, but they never did it for me. I think MOBAs are still great from a spectacle POV, so I'm not sure why I no longer watch any eSports. Having familiarity of the game definitely adds to the spectacle, but I felt like the announcers would do a good job in describing the action and impact. In MOBAs specifically, there's some very flashy (and effective) ultimate-combos where it's easy to see players working together to dismantle the opposing team. But something like DotA, where there's 30 mins of last-hitting creeps, would not make for riveting watching IMO.
Yeah, it can be game specific for sure. So now that you've thought about it some... do you think you're going to watch any MOBA esports again anytime soon? Thanks for reading and taking the time to reply!
I don't think so, but I think it's probably just more of a time commitment nowadays. Most matches would happen over weekends during the day, and I'm busy running my kids from soccer games to Tball games and helping coach, so it's just hard to find free weekend time.
I agree with all your points. One thing is to watch a YouTube video of a great players paying a game that you like and another one is to see a competition of the same game. It doesn’t translate well.
It is the same reason why Pickleball won’t be a huge sport, no matter that the same people that invested in e-sports are investing in pickleball now. It could be a great sport to play with friends but it is not an entertaining sport to watch on a tv.
Ohhhhh, that's interesting re the pickleball comment. Yeah, I wonder how fun it would be to watch pro players. It's a blast to play, but so far, I agree, I have no desire to watch pros play it. Thanks for reading and taking the time to reply!
Christian, I couldn't agree more. I like watching my wife, family members and friends play games, probably because I know and like them and can talk to them while they play. But the idea of watching a bunch of people I don't know, by definition being "sweaty try hards", playing an entire round of the competitive game du jour fills me with an almost cosmic horror.
Ha, sorry for the cosmic horror thoughts then! ;) It all kinda bums me out, because I love video games and I love sports... but yeah, I just don't think there's a big mainstream market there... but maybe someone smarter than me will prove me wrong some day. Thanks for reading and taking the time to reply!