WTF did i just watch

[dragnipur]

I have never played OW or watched an OW Esport before.Lets make one thing clear i have 0 understanding of the game.Today for the 1st time i decided to try watching the OW League at Blizzcon.It was one huge disappointment and let down.The match was so hard to watch.If the game is like this i'm not surprised other shooters like CS,Fortnite and PUBG are beating it in popularity.

1. The special effects were to much and making it hard to see what was happening.Who was hitting who.What hero was firing where.It was not good.
2. When the camera was from 1st perspective it was really hard to distinguish what was happening
3. I'm not quite certain but i think the teams have colours.Because the one i was looking at was red.I don't think i liked that.Because it made the spell effects just harder on the eyes.
4. The maps in my opinion for so many heroes are to small.Every fight was cramped in a tiny space where i repeat it was not easy to see what was happening
5. In my opinion CS,Fortnite and PUBG are much easier to understand for the average viewer.Fortnite has huge maps and i can see when one guy is shooting at another.There aren't spell effects clouding the shots.Same can be said for the PUBG.CS is really precise.

Well end of my rant.

[Freighter]

The visual clutter in the game when there's teams fighting is just way too much sometimes, yeah. I can't even tell what's happening some fights because my screen is all effects.

[Asrialol]

If you know the game it's quite simple to watch actually.

[dragnipur]

If you know the game it's quite simple to watch actually.

But i don't know it.That is the problem.I'm just a casual who wants to watch something and enjoy it.I like to watch shooter esports like CS,Fortnite,Pubg.It is easy to understand what is happening on the screen.So i decided to give OW a try.It was a huge hurdle.The camera angle and the special effects are overwhelming.It is hard to tell what is happening.

[Sastank]

Yes Fortnite is easy to understand as a viewer. They're all building and camping waiting for the ring to move lol

[Val the Moofia Boss]

It's okay OP. As an outsider, I can't understand what's going on in PUBG and Fortnite either.

[Bisso]

It's okay OP. As an outsider, I can't understand what's going on in PUBG and Fortnite either.

OP is making a very important point, and I doubt you are serious about PUBG and Fornite, as it's super simple to grasp, and everything is pretty clear. And to be fair, pubg and fortnite aren't stellar esports candidates.

What OP is trying to say is that for an esport to be popular, it needs to be easy to understand, even as an outsider. Because the point of an esport is not the players, but the viewers. That's why european football or any other traditional sports that have high viewership work so great. I don't need to have ever played football to understand what's going on, I don't need to have played 10 years in a amateur league to see when a player did a great play during a game, it's visible, it's clear, it's impressive.

In video games that have too much FX and visual information or is simply too quick, it can make it impossible for viewers that aren't players to actually enjoy. Because there's no way for them to identify someone playing well vs someone making a mistake other than looking at the kill board.

I did play a minimal amount of time with Overwatch, it wasn't my cup of tea, but I agree with OP, it's impossible to understand what's going on unless you are a veteran. I'm not talking about, oh they are pushing, but there's no way to track a good play from a bad play, because too much shit is blowing up on screen. We basically have to wait for the caster to tell us if it was good or not.

[Very Tired]

Yeah, that's always been a huge problem with other e-sports like LoL or Dota. A lot of flashy things on screen but no one really understands it unless they are somewhat familiar with the game play. It's really the main reason why e-sports will never get as popular as Blizzard wants them to be because their viewers will always just be a small subsection of their existing playerbase.

Still not as bad as WoW 3v3 though, which is basically nonstop repetitive fighting where you only start paying attention when a healthbar somewhere gets lower than normal...

[Ferrair]

isnt it ironic that games that are easy to watch aren't as popular?

Best example i can think of? Street Fighter. Honestly, 2 dudes fighting, only 1 dude can win. It can't get any simpler than that, but the viewership is just abysmal. Outside of EVO, it's pretty much non existent.


Compare that to LoL/Dota. I dont play LoL, dont get it, dont watch it either cause I dont understand it. But it's crazy popular, so is Dota 2. Isn't that weird? These mobas have clutter too sometimes.


Then there's the outliers, like CS GO and Fortnite.

What really makes a game popular for e-Sports is one of life's most useless mysteries.

[mehow2g]

It boggles my mind that Activision does not understand eSports after trying so hard to get into the business, they don't understand higher skill ceiling = eSports and longevity, so what do they do? Make more content because that's all you can do when the skill ceiling is so low to make things "interesting" for the viewer/player, just constantly moving the goal posts meta, in good eSports games players make the meta not the developers.

For a company that want's to be in eSports has their eSport title with a Number 2 after only 3 years.

[Explicit Teemo Nudes]

Well, I couldn't care less about OW as an esport. I prefer things to look good in-game when I play. Not all games will be for everyone. You have your games with easy looks, so to speak, and we have OW which is the opposit.

[iosdeveloper]

I had the same experience!
Never played OW, decided to watch some matches and it got me seasick. I felt stress hormones overload and it's a signal for negative emotions like "it's time to go".
This doesn't work in a twitch-era

Hearthstone is a king at this, very enjoyable to watch even if you hate this stupid money grab casino.

[dragnipur]

OP is making a very important point, and I doubt you are serious about PUBG and Fornite, as it's super simple to grasp, and everything is pretty clear. And to be fair, pubg and fortnite aren't stellar esports candidates.

What OP is trying to say is that for an esport to be popular, it needs to be easy to understand, even as an outsider. Because the point of an esport is not the players, but the viewers. That's why european football or any other traditional sports that have high viewership work so great. I don't need to have ever played football to understand what's going on, I don't need to have played 10 years in a amateur league to see when a player did a great play during a game, it's visible, it's clear, it's impressive.

In video games that have too much FX and visual information or is simply too quick, it can make it impossible for viewers that aren't players to actually enjoy. Because there's no way for them to identify someone playing well vs someone making a mistake other than looking at the kill board.

I did play a minimal amount of time with Overwatch, it wasn't my cup of tea, but I agree with OP, it's impossible to understand what's going on unless you are a veteran. I'm not talking about, oh they are pushing, but there's no way to track a good play from a bad play, because too much shit is blowing up on screen. We basically have to wait for the caster to tell us if it was good or not.

You understood me perfectly.I couldn't have said it better.

I had the same experience!
Never played OW, decided to watch some matches and it got me seasick. I felt stress hormones overload and it's a signal for negative emotions like "it's time to go".
This doesn't work in a twitch-era

Hearthstone is a king at this, very enjoyable to watch even if you hate this stupid money grab casino.

I always enjoyed card games.Since Yu-Gi-Oh days.I agree with you Hearthstone is enjoyable to watch.

It boggles my mind that Activision does not understand eSports after trying so hard to get into the business, they don't understand higher skill ceiling = eSports and longevity, so what do they do? Make more content because that's all you can do when the skill ceiling is so low to make things "interesting" for the viewer/player, just constantly moving the goal posts meta, in good eSports games players make the meta not the developers.

For a company that want's to be in eSports has their eSport title with a Number 2 after only 3 years.

I think Blizzard are failing to understand the roots into what is making a good and enjoyable to watch Esport.Rocket league may not be big but it is in my opinion better than AWC,OWL and Hots combined.There are 3 cars and a ball.Everything else is just follow the ball.There isn't any unneed clutter on the screen or to many spells like AWC(wow) or OWL.

[jstnw89]

OW is a shit esports to watch.. this has been known for a long time

[h4rr0d]

What OP is trying to say is that for an esport to be popular, it needs to be easy to understand, even as an outsider. Because the point of an esport is not the players, but the viewers.

Please explain to me, how mobas are such an successful esport then? Because even though I have played my shate of og DOTA, I have no idea, what's happening in the games, when I happen to stumble on a stream.

[dragnipur]

Please explain to me, how mobas are such an successful esport then? Because even though I have played my shate of og DOTA, I have no idea, what's happening in the games, when I happen to stumble on a stream.

You are forgetting the elephant in the room.And it is the number count of the Moba player base.It is enormous.
Mobas have millions who play and follow them.Do you think the same can be said for OW?
Dota was huge back in the day.Then LoL became the behemoth it is today.And then Dota 2 expanded on the foundation of what Dota build.So there already is an enormous player base which understands what is happening.Some people grew with Dota others with LoL.From here on out the Esport will just grow.The same can't be said for WoW's AWC for instance.Also include in the moba market Smite which is also doing quite well and is stable.

Lets take SC2 for example.People say it is a complex game to play but it is an easy game to watch.There is a huge difference between the two.The viewer can see when a building is build or an upgrade is made or what army the player has.When i watch something i want to be able to distinguish and understand what is happening.Otherwise it is not worth watching.In my book SC2 and SC:R are good Esports

[OriginalName]

Please explain to me, how mobas are such an successful esport then? Because even though I have played my shate of og DOTA, I have no idea, what's happening in the games, when I happen to stumble on a stream.

Probably because there's a shitton of people who play mobas and OW is dead and no one played it after 6 months post release except for like special events etc.

Big playerbase = popular = big numbers

Or CS, which is operating on;

Infamous/legendary game = interest = big numbers compared to its playerbase

[AeneasBK]

I mean, the two most popular esports are literally a case of "boredom boredom boredom oh look everything happened in 3 seconds whats the aftermath?".

So I'm not sure OP has a point.

- - - Updated - - -

Probably because there's a shitton of people who play mobas and OW is dead and no one played it after 6 months post release except for like special events etc.

Big playerbase = popular = big numbers

Or CS, which is operating on;

Infamous/legendary game = interest = big numbers compared to its playerbase

This would seem to be a much more sensible reason.

- - - Updated - - -

Hearthstone is a king at this, very enjoyable to watch even if you hate this stupid money grab casino.

No, it's very enjoyable to watch when a video editor distills 6 hours of stream into 10 minutes of "what was worth watching". Actually watching games live it is possibly the most dull video game to watch. 80% of the time literally NOTHING is happening.

[anon5123]

OK boomer.

[Snowfunk]

You don't know about the game, you don't care about the game and you never played it.

So you're having problems following what's happening?

Is there a point to this post...?