117: Those About to Frag

[Russ Pitts]

Those About to Frag

"'It never truly feels like a nine-to-five, but it can get a bit repetitive at times,' says Miller, who, according to his Wikipedia entry, has deferred college to continue competing. 'I know you wouldn't think gaming could ever be hard work, but sometimes you just need a break!'
One wonders what a competitive videogamer would do when taking a break from work, which is playing games. How about managing the team?"

Russ Pitts explores the fast and furious world of professional gaming.

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[Virgil]

To me, professional gaming ranks up there with professional bowling and lumberjacking competitions. Sure, they're sort-of-sports, and there are certainly people that can make a living doing it, but I just don't see it going anywhere. Americans won't even watch soccer.

 

[Alch]

Nice article. I have been covering these types of events since 2001 and have seen it really grow over the last 3 years. Not sure if the whole TV thing works out since they try to make changes that appeal to mainstream viewers that end up alienating the very gamers that make up the demographic. It is nice to see some of these players making a living off of it instead of just scraping by.

 

[J.theYellow]

Americans won't watch video gaming because American coverage of video gaming has usually focused on the humans playing it, instead of on the game. I watch video run-throughs of games on YouTube all the time, and if Korea can devote whole shows to Starcraft, it's not going to be hard to convince producers that there's a way to film video games and have people watch them on TV.

Bring back Starcade, byotch.

 

[Joe]

It's not going to be hard to convince producers that there's a way to film video games and have people watch them on TV.

Hell, if they're pushing NASCAR on ESPN, they can push videogames. Neither's a sport.