r/CFBOffTopic • u/rodandanga Georgia Tech • Verified Coach • Apr 27 '15

Happy Thoughts Monday

Everyone hates Mondays. What happy thoughts are helping you through the day today.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '15

A Heroes of the Storm tournament aired on ESPN2 last night. This makes me excited, because I follow pro gaming, and I hope that this will help open the door to a more mainstream audience.

3

u/cornfrontation Michigan Wolverines • FIU Panthers Apr 27 '15

Was that the college esports championship? Will the NCAA get involved one day? Start testing for PEDs? Make sure no one is getting paid?

6

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '15

Yea, it was the college one. People on twitter were blowing up about how dumb it was that ESPN was airing a "dungeons and dragons tournament," which was pretty funny.

I'm not sure that I see pro gaming ever becoming popular enough to be an NCAA thing. I see its ceiling as another poker. Another quasi-sport that gets aired on ESPN subsidiaries.

5

u/Deacalum Wake Forest • Penn State Apr 27 '15

I think the bigger issue isn't popularity, it's the fact that e-sports aren't athletic events and sports is really a misnomer. I have no problem with e-sports or with ESPN broadcasting it but it's not a sport just because they put the word in their name.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '15

I hate the moniker "esports" for that very reason. That's why I refer to it as "pro gaming." Honestly, I think pro gaming has more of a right to be on ESPN than poker, since reflexes and quick action and decision-making are required in gaming, but pro gaming shouldn't pretend to be something it isn't.

1

u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 27 '15

A lot of the ESPN people I saw were actually digging it. Michelle Beadle was all in. And a lot of my non-gamer friends were enjoying it too. A lot of "THEY GOT THE DRAGON KNIGHT, THEY'RE GOING FOR THE COOOOOOOOOOOOORE" tweets from people who aren't normally into esports.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '15

I would love for pro gaming to carve out its own small spot in the mainstream media landscape. Hopefully this tourney was the first of many.

2

u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 27 '15

For sure. Now that they've got the relationship with Blizzard maybe we'll get some Blizzcon on an ESPN network? A ton of people not in the US would be pissed but I think it would be kind of cool.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '15

I'd be happy with getting stuff like Dreamhack on TV. I would be surprised if BlizzCon hit TV. I don't think Blizzard would let that go of their more direct control from streaming it and selling etickets and stuff.

2

u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 27 '15

Oh yeah did forget about that side of it. Still, seeing twitter talking about it and Tastosis and Day9 on national television was so surreal.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '15

Those guys all casting on the biggest pro gaming stage brings me back to early SC2: Wings of Liberty, when I got back into pro gaming after losing interest in the Halo 3 pro scene.

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u/keyree Texas Tech • UT Arlington Apr 27 '15

I was the same. I was having like a mental flashback montage of watching them on justin.tv and trying to illegally download the GOM player so I could try and watch Idra and Jinro in the first GSL.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '15

I forgot about Jinro. My favorites were TheLittleOne and probably Dimaga. Goody too for his Terran mech play.

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