ESPN Signs Exclusive Multi-Year Deal with EA To Broadcast Madden eSports Competitions

[truedat79]

Quote: Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

Maybe, but never from me. For one, watching someone else play a video game of ANY type has, in my experience, rated on the excitement level somewhere between the wood-working shows and watching grass grow. More importantly for me, perhaps, it is hard enough my justifying the time-sink required to play a few video games myself. I can think of nothing more wasteful of the precious time given me than to watch someone else playing a video game.

Preach.......

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

Maybe, but never from me. For one, watching someone else play a video game of ANY type has, in my experience, rated on the excitement level somewhere between the wood-working shows and watching grass grow. More importantly for me, perhaps, it is hard enough my justifying the time-sink required to play a few video games myself. I can think of nothing more wasteful of the precious time given me than to watch someone else playing a video game.

Totally agree, but as KJ pointed out above, the younger audience is into that stuff. I have kids around the same age and they watch Twitch with people streaming games.

[Devaster]

Quote: Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

Maybe, but never from me. For one, watching someone else play a video game of ANY type has, in my experience, rated on the excitement level somewhere between the wood-working shows and watching grass grow. More importantly for me, perhaps, it is hard enough my justifying the time-sink required to play a few video games myself. I can think of nothing more wasteful of the precious time given me than to watch someone else playing a video game.

Translated as "get off my lawn".

[Thunderhorse]

Quote: Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

Maybe, but never from me. For one, watching someone else play a video game of ANY type has, in my experience, rated on the excitement level somewhere between the wood-working shows and watching grass grow. More importantly for me, perhaps, it is hard enough my justifying the time-sink required to play a few video games myself. I can think of nothing more wasteful of the precious time given me than to watch someone else playing a video game.

What is funny about this POV to me is I probably share it in the long run.

I like watching this type of content before I go to bed at night. Probably because it puts me to sleep.

[JayhawkerStL]

Quote: Originally Posted by kjcheezhead

It’s a generational thing I think. I’m 43 and would probably watch reality tv like Real Housewives over a madden competition...or just burn my eyes out so I don’t have to choose. My kids on the other hand are 17 and 21. They go on YouTube and watch Pewdiepie or Markiplyer or whoever playing video games all the time. I can easily see people their age who enjoy Madden watching something like this. It’s whatever to me. I wish madden was good enough to be worth playing much less watching. I wonder what happens when something like the oline pancake glitch happens. Think they would air it?

I'm 49, and I like the Madden Championships. I also watch some video gaming fees on Twitch and Mixer. It's not a part of my regular viewing habits, but I enjoy it from time to time.

Personally, when something becomes unthinkably popular, I tend to seek it out and figure out why. Sometimes I leave realizing its not for me, like MyCareer modes. Sometimes I find out that it is pretty cool, like watching streams of competitive games.

But hey, if you guys think you can convince EA to alter their future game development plans by asserting how old and close-minded you are, go for it.

[khaliib]

For the 1st time I watched the last few minutes of the latest Comp Tourney.

Guy runs same two slant plays to the right for incomplete passes, then same play to the left for a touchdown to win.

1st thing comes to my mind is how the AI players make no adjustment to stop the same exact play being run 3 times in a row.

As the PAT is attempted, I’m like man that kick meter is running very slow.
Slow like it does on Rookie and Pro difficulty levels.

If these are the best Madden players, why are they not competing on the games most difficult level so that the other 10 AI players aren’t abuse?

[CM Hooe]

It's interesting to me that there's clearly an audience for competitive Madden to that point that ESPN will agree to broadcast it even as Madden's in-game presentation doesn't lend itself really well to competitive gaming.

Many e-sports fans are drawn to watching competitive gaming based on the personalities behind the sticks as opposed to the game itself. It's very easy for a player to express his skill and flair in a game like an FPS or an RTS, games which have much easier to understand mechanics for the layman, and it's much easier for someone to understand how someone is good at either of these games - they shoot more accurately, they move units around in a coordinated manner more quickly, and so on.

Expressing skill and individuality in an 11-on-11 sports game is much harder, though. Madden doesn't really do a good job showing the layman why a user is playing the game the way he is, nor does it show how well the user is playing (aside from obvious stuff like score).

It's cool to see that Madden is already compelling enough to large swaths of people that it now has a television contract, but if the Madden game could better quantify how skilled and creative its best players are on the sticks, I think that would make the experience much better.

Basically, video game football isn't real-life football and in a competitive e-sports environment it should not be presented as such.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

I can think of nothing more wasteful of the precious time given me than to watch someone else playing a video game.

Eh. My dad still tells me playing video games at all is a waste of time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally, I don't watch a whole lot of competitive gaming or Twitch streams, but over the past half-decade or so I've probably watched more content from Achievement Hunter and Let's Play - two YouTube comedy channels centered around Rooster Teeth personalities playing video games, often poorly - than I have anything else on cable television (I've been a cord-cutter for years).

Honestly, I've also probably watched far more games being played on AH / LP than I've actually played games recently. There are too many great video games out there and I don't have nearly enough time to play them all, so watching others play a bunch of different games in 30-minute bite-sized chunks is a great way for me to enjoy the games I miss second-hand.

Other than that, different strokes for different folks, that's all.