Follow your instincts

Something I mean to do and continually ignore...

I hoped to get posting access for Tek-9 so that I could do player previews in time for the Quake Live European Championship Finals. The good news is that I did...The bad news is that I didn't post the previews. Now I have a document which states that, and explains why, Cooller will win the Finals overall after finishing second in his group - but only I can vouch that it was written before the finals (congratulations to him on his impressive win).

Weeks ago, I spotted an interesting tweet that stated that The Behemoth were to give away a golden XBox in a competition. Days later, I visited the Indie Game Magazine site (http://www.indiegamemag.com/) to find that this news item had been posted.

These are just two instances which will hopefully establish the idea that I should follow through on these stories and post about them rather than re-tweeting, or simply writing a document only to never use it!

Monday Musing

As I sit here and type frantically, my XBox is blipping away in the background. I recently submitted a Monday Musing. Unfortunately, nothing appeared on the Dashboard for a while - in fact, Monday Musing seemed to disappear altogether for a while...

But then, a message appeared: "you've been featured." "Featured in what?", I thought. Unfortunately, my internet has been acting up over the weekend. So, naturally, it immediately disconnected once I received that message rendering me unable to reply or check the dashboard.

Once it came back, the blips came thick and fast. Friend requests, messages, chat invites and party invites. For the most part, people were pleased for me. Suddenly, I became a celebrity for my brief moment of fame. With that came the inevitable disagreement. Surprisingly few people disagreed with me, or at least took the time to message me to show their disapproval.

I have been doing the "right" thing up to now. I have messaged everyone back - both those who supported and disagreed with me. I also accepted all friend requests...until I realised that I was up to 87 friends (from about 20) and that there is a staggeringly low limit on XBox Live. Of course, my internet dropped too so this post is likely to be saved locally before posted at a later time.

I will post up the Monday Musing for others to enjoy - if it has been edited, two versions will be posted...I accept all feedback - good and bad. I will try to respond and, hopefully, can accept your friend request should it come to that (SabreO001 - frustratingly, Sabre0001 is gone...and I may have taken it by accident without realisation that all accounts were linked - what a n00b!).

Thanks to all who messaged me (again, good or bad), friend requested me, and invited me to parties or chat! Nice to know that people do read these things once in a while. 

The not-so-excellent adventures of Mark & Mike

Big thanks to Mike Ross (@thatmikerossguy) and Gootecks (@gootecks) for the inspiration - Check out "The excellent adventures of gootecks and Mike Ross". Had a friend over for some Street Fighter action and decided to do our own homage - unrecorded unfortuantely but it was a blast.

Street Fighter can be an enraging experience online! Losing to "scrubs", doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, forgetting to block and laaaaaag! Sometimes, it's important to realise that it's all for fun and not let the little things get to you. I get frustrated so this session was a great idea.

Super Meat Boy also played its part - it seemed a less frustrating game when played using the buddy system. Just get a group of friends around to pass the pad and mock each other, and the stress melts away!

So, we hit the net. I opened the way that a tribute should - Cody was used and "the boot" came into play immediately! We played characters that we mess around with, our mains, and characters that we haven't used. I wouldn't say we're amazing players but we can hold our own. We also won a lot more than I was expecting (on top of the previous skill element, we haven't played much recently).

It's great to be able to run it back with people you lose or enjoy a fight against - the one time I hit quick search too fast, I ended up in a 1 round, 30 second match....But I won!

We also gained the confidence to go into a one-button match. For those who don't know, and can't work it out, you pick a character and one button that you can use. We cheated slightly, thanks to a TE stick, and used 3K or 3P. I picked Bison and 3K - landed the U2 in one round. Lost the match 2-1 but it was a fun experience.

I would advise playing Street Fighter (and many games) using the buddy system. Remember that points aren't the most important thing in the world. Just play and enjoy! Maybe mix it up with something out-of-the-ordinary. Check out "The excellent adventures of gootecks and Mike Ross" (Street Fighter 4) or Day[9]'s Funday Mondays (Starcraft 2) for a little bit of inspiration.

You say eSports, I say sports

...Let’s call the whole thing off. Regardless of what term is given to the idea of playing video games competitively and for prize money, there will be conflict. There is going to be time and energy wasted no matter what term is given. If pushes are made to recognise games, or particular games, as sports then gamers face endless debates over the merits of gaming as sports.

Honestly, I prefer prattling off my rehearsed and practiced speech regarding what eSports are, or what the concept entails. It is a preferable incident than trying to explain, and debate, why games should be recognised as sports. My own explanation regarding eSports aims to personalise it to my target audience.

For some, it is explaining how they enjoy FIFA and, naturally, so many people think that they are the best. eSports is a platform through which people can prove that they are the best, and will be rewarded in a meaningful way – prizes, hardware, travel, fans, etc. This explanation can be tailored to almost anyone. Replace FIFA with Mario Kart – as that has a massive market and a seemingly endless supply of players who claim to be unbeaten – and you have more people who understand.

There are several issues to consider, which could prevent games being recognised as sports. For starters, not all games would be suitable - similar to how not all past times or activities are actively recognised. Gamers are rarely unified, even within certain scenes, and this will come to the fore should backing be requested.

If Counter-Strike is being pushed, there will be conflicting opinions over which is more suitable – Source or 1.6, or indeed CS2 or Tactical Intervention when the time arises. If Quake is selected, there will be backers for Quake 3, Quake Live, CPMA, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Duel, etc. Of course, there are more ignored titles such as Heroes of Newerth, Team Fortress 2, and even Warsow – which is designed with competition in mind. Can we, as a collective unit, put differences aside and recognise the merits of certain games or modes?

Personally, I would have liked us, as gamers, to get our own house sorted first. We cannot even choose games that should be selected as official eSport or competitive titles. Look at all the tournaments that take place worldwide. They feature a wide variety of games. Sometimes, games appear on the roster thanks to sponsor pressure, while other choices come out of left field. Who should be trusted to make a definitive list? Should the list encompass games which are graphically impressive thus making sponsors more interested, be impressive from a gameplay aspect but features a steep learning curve, be accessible to all which would draw the argument that the game is noobified. So many arguments, so little time!

The games themselves also stand in the way. There is the issue of continuity. When sports undergo changes, they are still fundamentally the same. If soccer ever introduces video technology, at its core, it is still soccer. Despite rule changes in Formula 1 and rugby, they remain fundamentally unchanged. Games do not fall under this umbrella. Sequels often make dramatic changes – for example, look at the mechanics that changed between Quake 3 and Quake 4. Furthermore, sequels often cause divides in player bases. Not everyone made the move to Counter-Strike Source, Quake Live, Starcraft 2, and so on…

eSports was never given a chance as an amateur prospect – it was never a pipe dream before that people could make thousands playing video games in the past. In a sense, it is both a dream and a reality at present – something that sports such as Baseball, basketball, etc did not have. Each sport went through the dream (amateur) phase, became a reality where players could earn a living, and is now almost standard whereby players at a lower level can make a living.

The term of eSports is unique – and that is needed. eSports as a concept and as an industry, if it can be called that, is different! There is a long way to go but the eSports term should not be abandoned.

What difference does a name make? Pro gaming, eSports, competitive gaming, HEGA - call it what you like. Golfers, poker players and darts players come under scrutiny and pressure regarding the “sports” term, but they do not seem to waste time on it as the eSports community does.

This article comes after, what seems like a trending topic in the eSports scene. Recently, there have been articles from famsytron (fnatic) - http://www.fnatic.com/feature/8394/Is-eSports-a-bunk-term.html , keekerdc (ESFI) – http://keekerdc.com/2011/01/sports-that-just-so-happen-to-be-electronic/ and even, Yahoo! - http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/01/10/should-gaming-be-considered-an-official-sport/. This is my own €0.02 on the issue…