eSports at the Olympics
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15 Feb 2008, 22:14
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News
The Global Gaming League (GGL) announced earlier today that they have purchased the rights to make eSports an official welcome event of this summer's Beijing Olympics, in yet another huge step for eSports.
Currently recognized as an official sport in China; the GGL have been given the rights to use the Olympic Rings in their logos for advertising The Digital Games. Whilst this will not be part of the Olympics, it will coincide with the first four days of the event. The venues for the final of the event, which will have a series of national qualifiers to determine the final participants, have not yet been confirmed, but are likely to be football stadia in Shanghai. It is not yet known whether the games which will be used will be played on the PC or on consoles, nor their genres or titles.Ted Owen, CEO of the GGL, expects not only heavy media coverage but crowds to exceed those of the official Olympic events. Owen also stated that he hoped that The Digital Games could create "the ultimate elevation of gaming and the culture of gaming to the world stage", with Fong Hong, General Secretary of the China Internet Gaming Organizing Committee stating that "In the long run, we hope that video gaming becomes a formal sport throughout the world. That is the long-term vision."
Source:
CNN
Currently recognized as an official sport in China; the GGL have been given the rights to use the Olympic Rings in their logos for advertising The Digital Games. Whilst this will not be part of the Olympics, it will coincide with the first four days of the event. The venues for the final of the event, which will have a series of national qualifiers to determine the final participants, have not yet been confirmed, but are likely to be football stadia in Shanghai. It is not yet known whether the games which will be used will be played on the PC or on consoles, nor their genres or titles.Ted Owen, CEO of the GGL, expects not only heavy media coverage but crowds to exceed those of the official Olympic events. Owen also stated that he hoped that The Digital Games could create "the ultimate elevation of gaming and the culture of gaming to the world stage", with Fong Hong, General Secretary of the China Internet Gaming Organizing Committee stating that "In the long run, we hope that video gaming becomes a formal sport throughout the world. That is the long-term vision."
Source:
CNN
edit: "Ted Owen, CEO of the GGL, expects not only heavy media coverage but crowds to exceed those of the official Olympic events."
not gonna happen :D
For people like you this is a 'sport':
But this is not:
INTERESTING...
Read this twice.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/sport
http://www.wordnet-online.com/sport.shtml
but still, i dont think esports should go olympia
I think the same, but it's the best way now to show it worldwide.
Learn to fucking read before you try and retort on something I never said you fucking jobber.
SC, fifa 2008 and (i'd say quake 3 but..) DDR...
but... i think:
if its an FPS then imo they SHOULD quake 3 on pc although more likely to take CSS.. depends
if its a racing game they SHOULD take GT5Prologue on ps3 although more likely to take nothing
if its a fighting game they SHOULD take streetfighter although they more likely to take doa 4
they WILL take SC
if its a fun energetic game they SHOULD take DDR and not that lame guitar hero
if its a "sports" game they WILL take fifa 08
they could possibly take wow, but for something to goto the olympics it has to be exciting for every1 to watch... those games i mentioned there are for sure.
Duel FPS: Quake 4
Team FPS: CS 1.6 to be prefered over CSS but CSS is fine too. CoD4 would probably be too much of a risk due to CoD5
Fighthing (console): they should take SSBB <3
Would imo work perfectly for gaming, other than that I guess one of the games from the SF or KoF series would be nice to watch as well.
Racing: careface
Strategy: What's most popular in Korea at that point. (Starcraft II?)
just like chess is a think-sport, gaming is too, and you dont see chess at the olympics...
-people that go to the olympics have to work really really hard for it and they dont get their tickets for free, they really deserved it. If we are going to send some gamers there they dont deserve it because some of them "train" maybe two hours a day and thats nothing compared to pro sporters. (you cant possibly compare an eight hour prac to a two hour endurance training, ever.)
thats two opinions i have
Our e-heroes we are talking about here gets nothing (for most of them) or a very little amount of money, often not enough to live from and still you want them to pracc 8 hours a day to deserve their tickets ? mhmhmm ..
In my opinion someone working/studying for the whole day and then be still able to handle a game at a top level without getting anything for it deserves more a ticket than someone earning twice (or more) usual ppl's paycheck for doing nothing and most of the time not even winning a single event, even if this event requires muscles skils (h3h3h3) ...
edit: regardless of the china where everything gets messy when its about esport ..
and i dont think people that handle their school issues + play a game on a good level deserve it to go to the olympics, there are other people that also handle everything gamers do and after their hours they do things we should give them credit for too.
i do sports on a high level myself, i train 15 hours a week, my friend, who trains 20 has the mentality and the physical endurance to go to the olympics, the times he swims now would get him close to semi finals, but belgium is so strict they wont let him go .. yet, he has to swim that little bit faster, 0.15 second to be exact, you have no idea what stress that brings, he HAS to swim that time within half a year, gamers dont have that stress, if you pay soon enough you can go to cdc and have a good time, wp.
you obviously have no idea what olympics are to sports and what they will never be to gaming.
what sport do you do on high level?! i dont see your name anywhere.. and these gamers play 5 hours a day, and HAVE to win or they get nothing, most are receiving no salary, for them and us its for fun, as so for real sportsmen
it states quite clearly this is not the olympics only for show on the first 5 days, in other words, its one huge lan party that will take esports to the next level by showing people on a much larger scale, im sorry that you are not good enough at gaming to get anywhere, and have probably worked your whole life to get somewhere in this pro sport you play but do not speak anything of, hense, have gotten nowhere which brings me to my next point: atleast see this out of your little box
did you even read the news post or were you content on being e-hard and flaming everyone? if your answer to that is no and then yes, you are one sad little person and should grow up
thanks
2. yes i try very hard to be good at my sport, but i dont have the talent to be the best, which is a pity, i cant help that
3. i couldnt care less not to be able to go to that lan
4. my sport is swimming and me and three mates have swam 2 belgian records last year, you can say it wasnt just me, but then so are alot of teamsports
5. the money i made from my sport is € 248, in six years. you say gamers have to win to get money, well, i have to win as much as they do, and i still get nothing, how does that sound?
so therefore you just proved yourself wrong
could i get up at 5am to practice? if i want to
do gamers play more than 3 times a week? yeh they usually play 5-7
lol
you could get up if you want to, so can everyone, but try to keep that up, you couldnt do that, cause you dont have the balls for it
who said anything of training 3 times a week? i train 8 times a week and i'm sure beckham does 6 hours a day for 7 days a week so stfu
i do not wish to argue with you anymore, you clearly have no clue and i go back to my initial point that is quite clearly written in the post
"Whilst this will not be part of the Olympics"
it is just an event at the olympics that will bring bejing, and the 100s of sponsors a lot more money, as long as there are sponsors or atleast money availiable to be made then there are events, this applies to everything in life.. ask yourself this, why do you think there is a gaming event there in the first place?
The fact that this is hosted at the olympics means that gamers will get alot more coverage and will, if covered appropriately open up esports to new oppertunities which will, in turn, lead to long term financial gains in many areas, not just the hosts.
personally i dont really care for it because by the time gaming gets somewhere, i wont be in any fit state to compete because ill be going on 25+. but for the future of gaming it's only positive news and for anyone currenly studying any kind of course, or are still young and are unsure what to do but have are thinking about getting into gaming from a business perspective, this news is $$$ for them.
once you realise this you may still get somewhere yourself in life, that is if you fail to get anywhere with swimming. But i wish you good luck with that and hope it goes well.
and i think we should all agree now that you have indeed a lot more potential in your life than i have.
olympics:
"the greatest of the national festivals of the ancient Greeks, consisting of athletic games and races, dedicated to Olympian Zeus, celebrated once in four years at Olympia, and continuing five days."
i do not see gaming as a sport, but the definition of olympics does not read the word sport, and its called "the olympic games" therefore, gaming = games. gg
you couldnt call any game athletic, cause it does not requite physical ability
there are racegames, so they could be allowed
xD best logic ever
maybe you dont get it that gaming doesnt make you tired and training does, so i wouldnt be able to train overnight would i? i need my sleep
if you've done 75% of your race, the acid in your muscles is at its highest, your heart beats at 220 a minute, youve got pain all over your body, but you still have to keep going, thats hard, its very hard, and you get a lot more satisfaction from it than being able to concentrate for 10 minutes, _imo_
isnt it frustrating to discuss something with someone and he keeps referring to the same point all over again?
2. at least i tried, what we can't say of you
Gaming deserves attention in the wide world, but I don't consider it sport in a traditional way..
and it should have like most of the games.
therefore aiming irl is harder than aiming nirl (:D)
so is gaming, you have to move mouse... it sounds stupid, but it makes as mutch sense
So in shit loads of "sports" which require thing called talent, which many don't have...of course you can practice a great amount of time and be good in something, but that won't make you best if you don't have talent.
yes, let's take a swimmer who swims 5h/day (random number), or "nerd gamer" who plays the same amount of time, difference? stereotypes at it's best, just putting everyone in same imaginable box
Just check last years Quake3/4 top players....fat nerds...again fucking stereotypes
15 years ago we didn't even have computers as we have today
so let's ban woman from olympic events and make all man participating naked as it was intended at the beginning
things are changing constantly, it's not like gaming will replace other sports if it gets in (as official cathegory, not just FUN event as it's now), and to see it as it's at the moment at Korea would be super awesome
tho a lot of things depend on games, i would say that SC is on of few of "skilled" games left around, Quake3(4..) is kinda dying, but maybe ESWC can resurrect it, and counter strike 1.6 is doing ok atm
tho if we see wow or guitar hero stuff there, and stars like Shoop Dogg playing it, fuck that, it doesn't deserve to live
no it doesnt make mutch sense because in shooting you have to have your muscles work constantly, while in gaming you can release your mouse and nothing tragic will happen
if you shoot you use your corset muscles, your legs, your arms, your neck... gaming => lower arm muscles
There's no "getting pro overnight" without cheating in any competitive sports. Same applies for gaming..
Atm, gaming isn't so professional, that u can get pro in a few years, although sports like running u have to practise all your life to get good at. Still, there are games also in olympics where u can get good at relatively fast.
still, many toptrainers say its not hard to get to the top, its hard to say there :)
which doesnt apply to gaming i think because after a year inactivity you can get good again in a few weeks, if you quit sports for one year it takes a lot more time
i'm not saying your brain would stop working.
all this has to do with physics etc but it would bring us too far :)
He trains 5 days a week for a few hours, which is nowhere near as much as current "progamers" (the ones getting paid a salary, and IMO would be most likely to compete at the Olympics) or even people like those on crossfire and playing for a clan.
However I did think that the Olympics was meant to be an amateur event, and so true "pro gamers" shouldn't be allowed to enter, right?
The difference is that with gaming, you don't need a "natural talent" to be the best, you can train and become the best, over time, but in other sports it's very much natural talent to get to the top, but to be the very best you have to train ridiculously hard.
When it comes to gaming, eg. in ET kinda many ppl are called highskillers. Still, there are those that are clearly better than ordinary highskillers (mAus, butchji etc.). I'd say these guys have some natural talents for this kind of "sports". Maybe their reaction times are faster, or their hand movement can be more accurate or controlled than ordinary ppl have. Or maybe they are just more intellect and can predict and read situations better. In gaming there are many aspects where u can have some genetic advance, which is usually regarded as "talent".
In team based games, it's not so clear who is the best, because ppl have different roles in the teams. But in 1on1 games it is usually clear who is the best.
There should be separated events for both. Like e-olympics (yes, this was also a lend quote)
wtf
I wonder what percentage (%) of the community would fail teh drugs test? ^_^
nolifers wearing the olympic fire (ex: urtier) :d
China cant afford to buy so many pizzas as nolifers want...