It's neat the ESPN is doing a story on MLG. However, if you read most of the comments, they are from people urging ESPN to not call video gaming a "sport".

One comment was particularly thought provoking. It asked "who wants to watch this stuff?". They go on to say that they get why it's fun for the gamers to play games and earn money...but why would anyone want to watch someone play a video game?

I agree. Playing a video game is fun. Watching someone play a video game isn't fun. I can see some of the appeal to watching someone play poker, a young kid spell a word, or some skinny white dude eat 67 hotdogs. But watching someone watch something on TV isn't something that I want to do...and I'm a gamer. The mass public isn't going to watch this stuff.

However, I did notice that of the games from the LAN party this weekend, I enjoyed replaying the Rocket Race games the most. I think a gametype like that is more interesting to the public than a Capture the Flag or Team Slayer match.

Yeah, I'm saying I'd rather watch a game of Twisted Metal than Final Boss play Halo 2.

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currently playing: Halo 3, Shadowrun, Call of Duty 4 MP beta
currently supporting: Ron Paul - r3/\O¯|ution

I agree.

I really wish we as a society could be confident enough to not have to substantiate everything we do with the "sport" tag, but I suppose that's where homo sapiens are right now. Is my S10 Blazer a car, truck, or SUV? I don't care. I enjoy the utility I get from it, and that's all that matters.

I wonder if people getting fragged in a team slayer game creates a discontinuity (dying/respawning) that makes it difficult to watch. As you said, rocket race is much more fun to replay in the theater. Is it because of rocket/mongoose antics, or because it's a complete and linear "game" more similar to an event we'd normally watch on TV?