Modern Day Gamer

(blushing_bride) #21

the reason i made a note of the article and rembered it instantly when i saw the post (I have not watched the documentry the post was referring too) was because i always beleived that games had already over taken all other forms of media in terms of profit, numbers etc and then i saw the article by a well known bloke in the console world and it made me depressed :frowning: as i like games more then i like people. The 5.5 billion is for the US retail game sales only (sorry i thought my post made it clear that it was the US not the entire world industry), However his general point concerning the games buisness (in the US) was

“Games are bigger than film is a myth of hopeful accounting”

and

“the bottom line here is that although we have built a truly great, important, global buisness, we’re still not playing on the same scale as the traditional media - basically by a factor or two or worse”

Anyway if anyone wants to try and get hold of the issue then the website of the mag it was printed in is http://www.developmag.com/.

I also thought my post was clearly marked in whom i was quoting and i was not making up numbers off the top of my head as some people seem to imply DG. Maybe he made them up but i dont see why he would.

As i’m a games player and not a buisness man i have no idea what the implications are. The article by Seamus Blackley made me unhappy :frowning: , Paul/Locki’s last post has cheered me up :clap: (although its a shame that the industry is growing in the UK while so many dev companies are shutting down). I have no doubt that games will eventually be bigger than movies/music/art etc especially considering that Sony have just announced that PS2 is soon to be released in China and it is already avaible in India. Now imagine how many more people would be playing ET if the billions of people in these two countries had access to decent PC’s and good connections.

Well i feel like i put a curse on Seamus Blackley as his company just closed http://www.mcvuk.com/html/news/story.jsp?newsId=1926242

(Kerunch) #22

Mouse if your gonna extract the urine get it right"If it took forever it wouldn’t be here"I think you ment. :blah:

(Kendle) #23

I think you meant “meant”? :smiley:

News of this documentary has reached the BBC, see this link.

SimonB’s first “Modern Day Gamer” film is available here if anyone’s interested.

(Kerunch) #24

Whoops!!! :banghead:

(Sauron|EFG) #25

Great documentary. :drink:

I think game developers have a part to play in making gaming accepted as a spectator sport (and thus getting more media coverage), by including technology like WolfTV.

Imagine ET TV with freecam and synchronised shoutcast…
:banana:

(The_Jesus_Zeppelin) #26

how many people would watch it though?
i think something like gaming tv as a spectator would be kinda boring after a while, and anyways i think somthing like that is about 10 years from being remotly sucsessful.

(playero) #27

…and everytime I spectate, watch a demo or a fragvid, i want to stop and play myself!

(Locki) #28

I’ve got a couple of DivXs somewhere from last year’s Lock n Load TV series that we did - I’ll post them sometime so you guys can judge for yourselves whether it works as a spectator sport.

No laughing at the wardrobe or make-up we were forced to wear though! :banghead:

Paul/Locki.

(blushing_bride) #29

be honest did they really force you to wear the make up? :moo:

(Kendle) #30

Watching people play as in watching the “real” people at their PCs = boring beyond belief, but watching the game as a spectator, as in WolfTV etc. and there would be a huge audience.

1000s watched QuakeCon games on WTV. For a recent RTCW EuroCup game Clanbase had to go find additional WTV servers cos so many people wanted to watch.

The key to really opening it up though is to provide some form of streaming media that doesn’t require the spectator to have the game installed on their PC. Now that would be something!

(Cerebrate) #31

Yes, please do. It would be cool. :drink:

(Salteh) #32

Locki n Load series was fun :smiley: Almost like… watching footie on tv :slight_smile:

(The_Jesus_Zeppelin) #33

watching the game as a spectator, as in WolfTV etc. and there would be a huge audience

i think switching betrween watching their keystrokes and then theyr screen and then them playing would be kinda cool. but still even if you added it all that stuff, wouldnt it still be kinda boring after a bit, cause after all its still watching people play, when id much rather BE playing.

im not saying it would be a bad idea to try out here, i think it at least deseres a shot.

(Hewster) #34

ok, I feel the need to post my opinions about this…
The documentary is great, and its nice to see what locki actually looks like,
and I must say he looks different from what I expected :slight_smile: and makes me
feel old lol

I digress… When I analyze what it is that makes people watch sport on TV,
I come to the following conclusions:

  1. They are following a particular team, which they have an affinity with,
    weather its because they are a local team, or if there is a particular player
    they are fond of, or for other reasons…
    They also watch games with other teams playing, if the result of that game
    will effect their team in some way.

2)The sport shows some kind of skill that the watcher wishes to emulate,
or wishes they could… as in athletics… however, even in athletics we tend
to follow athletes from our own country… and thus we perceive that if our
particular athlete does well, it somehow reflects on us, a makes us feel
good about being a particular nationality.

In my own experience watching football (soccer) I only find it interesting
when watching England play, because I don’t have a regular team that I
follow… I tend to watch boxing only when it is a title fight and one
of the boxers is from UK…the list goes on, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

Basically people follow a team / athlete, and want that team/athlete to win…
when they do they get a buzz… IMO its almost a tribal thing… and something
that many “politically correct Liberals” would say is bad, and leads to
discrimination of one sort or another.

So for gaming to become a popular spectator sport, we need “hi-profile”
teams that people can identify with, who we wish to emulate, and
are willing to support; be it by simply following them, or financially.
Of course we also need games that look & play good too :slight_smile:
Investment is needed, and by the looks of the film, Intel are leading the
way.

I could go on for quite abit on how I perceive games / events could
be improved to help in the development of this “team” sprit, but this post
is long enough already :smiley:

Hewster

(Sauron|EFG) #35

You’ve obviously never heard Warwitch shoutcast. :smiley:

(K:os) #36

Where abouts in Oxford is the four kings match being held? and when? could be temped to go as it’s just up the road

(The_Jesus_Zeppelin) #37

nah, et tv is a new concept to me, ive never heard of anything like it, however tech tv apparently did consider running a 30 min game preview show, of just 5-10 mins of gameplay from a upcoming game. that woulda been kinda cool.

(IX) #38

:drink: I think that the whole idea of spectating matches, via tv, would be very interesting and great potential exposure for the gaming community in general. I personally do not watch any sporting events, but understand, as posted earlier, that it would be along the same lines as sports people currently watch today.

I haven’t seen any of the matches, as of yet, but would really like to know how.

Great Topic,

IX :clap:

(Agrado) #39

Everyone’s complaining about lack of media attention, so the BBC have immediately put http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3300249.stm this article on their front page :smiley:

(Lekdevil.NL) #40

Interesting topic… Here’s my take on it all. While I see an increased level of interest in multiplayer gaming by the media and public at large, I think there’s one crucial element that’s missing: simplicity. In short, I think the huge variety in modern games works against gaming becoming a mainstream spectator event, in a way. Let me explain:

I was at QuakeCon and watched the RtCW finals, as did everybody else. The atmosphere was electric. At one moment, a sole Axis engineer appeared on the comms tower in Assault, and seemed to be able to plant unopposed after only 2 minutes played. But just as he dropped his stick, he was spotted by a lone Allied sniper and killed. The crowd went: “OOOOOHHHH!”. It was great.

However, the only reason the crowd could appreciate the moment was because:

  1. They knew the game and its rules,
  2. they knew the map (Assault) and what’s supposed to happen there,
  3. they knew from experience that planting after only 2 minutes in a clan match is a big deal,
  4. they knew the skill and tactics it takes to leave a sniper to guard the tower,
  5. etc. etc.

In other words: they liked what they saw because they were intimately familiar with the game and the map.

But, that’s just one game and one map. Out there, there are dozens of games, with hundreds of mods, thousands of maps and thousands upon thousands of players. Each and every combination is different. Imagine football becoming a mainstream sport if:

  1. Each match, the field is a different shape and size,
  2. the rules change for each match,
  3. the ball changes shape and form – some games are played without a ball at all,
  4. the goals are situated at different locations on the field each time,
  5. etc. etc.

No one would know what was going on… And the game wouldn’t be the popular thing it is today.

The solution? I dunno… Maybe one game has to get so enormously popular that it dwarves everything else in existence. And I mean a lot more than the current lead CS has. Then again, chances of any game attaining that status are slim at least…

Just my 0.02.