Anyone actually get into esports?

[Underseer]

As I get older, I game less and less. When I do game, there is an ever-shrinking list of games I'm willing to spend time playing.

That's why I find it odd that I've been watching more and more YouTube videos of Overwatch professional matches. Even back when I played lots of games and was always eager to try new ones, I almost never played FPS games of any kind. In fact, I've always been pretty awful at any game requiring good reflexes.

Still, Overwatch has a goofy cartoonish aesthetic combined with really off-the-wall game mechanics that fundamentally change how characters/heroes are played and what roles they fill in a match.

Since I've never played Overwatch and am generally bad at shooters of any kind, I have some trouble following the videos and understanding what's going on. I think putting an overhead map in the corner somewhere of the broadcasts would help.

Also, videos like this help me understand group compositions, and what teams expect to accomplish with certain group compositions:





Anyway, the World Cup is going on right now. I'm watching highlight videos of individual matches, but I don't quite understand what's going on overall, such as which nations have been eliminated and which are moving forward.

Does anyone else watch esports at all?

Is the whole thing a worthless gimmick? Are there certain games you enjoy watching? Certain teams you cheer for?

 

[bigfield]

I binge on Starcraft 2 tournaments from time to time.

The elite players have an inhuman mastery of the user interface, and it makes for entertaining skirmishes and pitched battles. The commentators are superb; they explain the game's action and strategy to the viewer while also providing plenty of excitement and colour.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I like watching videos of the professional tournaments for fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Injustice. It's fun seeing people doing all the moves which my poor reflexes and incompetent mashing of buttons don't allow me to do myself.

 

[ruby sparks]

I haven't yet, but considering that my marriage has been virtually celibate for decades I have often thought I'm entitled to. Partly what puts me off is the cost.

Whoops no hang on......misread the OP title.

 

[PyramidHead]

I used to follow the fighting game community when Street Fighter IV was big. Then the sequel dropped and everybody migrated there, while grudgingly admitting that it was inferior to the previous game, but they were stuck playing it because that's how sponsorships and tournaments work.

There are some amazing talents in the fighting game world. The stuff these people sometimes pull off is every bit as supernatural as the best athletes. It's weird how the games keep changing though. It would be like having basketball for a few years, with Kobe doing all sorts of amazing shit, and then suddenly Basketball 2 comes out and nobody watches the original anymore, and Kobe sucks at Basketball 2 because it's slow, unbalanced, and was rushed through development.