Sports Bars Changing Channels For Video Gamers 351
dtmos wrote in to say that "This summer, StarCraft II has become the newest bar room spectator sport. Fans organize so-called Barcraft events, taking over pubs and bistros from Honolulu to Florida and switching big-screen TV sets to Internet broadcasts of professional game matches. As they root for their on-screen superstars, StarCraft enthusiasts can sow confusion among regular patrons... But for sports-bar owners, StarCraft viewers represent a key new source of revenue from a demographic—self-described geeks—they hadn't attracted before."
Sad to say (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Still not a sport, try as you may.. (Score:5, Insightful)
C'mon: Obviously, for the basic reason that our metabolisms sure as hell didn't evolve for sitting on the couch and letting our fingers do the work, getting actual exercise is healthy and useful(some people are even into it for its own sake, I'm told).
Plunking your ass on the couch and cheering as your tribe fights the away tribe, though, bears basically the same relationship to real physical activity that plunking your ass on the couch and cheering as your RTS-er of choice drops some stimpacked marines on the opposition's mining outpost. That is, None At All.
Spectating isn't a sport, no matter what you are staring at.
Re:Still not a sport, try as you may.. (Score:5, Insightful)
We live in America. Majority rules. If ten people want to watch the Sox play, and 20 want to watch Starcraft, the bar owner is going to change the TV. And if you start shit about it, they will happily tell you to leave. Money talks. Mouthy assholes who think the world should cater to them and their every whim walk.
Re:Still not a sport, try as you may.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Don't you mean.. (Score:4, Insightful)
I have seen games that could have been played by 4 players, 2 pitchers and 2 catchers for 90% of the game. Also WTF is up with the lack of a playclock? The game is too slow to be entertaining.
Re:Still not a sport, try as you may.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Amen. I guess at some point in life they decided "hmm, is that a bunch of overpaid athletes? i'm going to pretend like everything they do is both important and has a significant impact on my personal life. i will get really excited about their every move and make a big deal out of every action they take. i may even get into shouting matches or even fistfights with other people who don't like my team, because they are like infidels."
You sure about that? It looks like big business to me. Everything is designed for them.
The newspapers are written for a 3rd-grade reading level (not kidding about this, look it up) just to make sure they don't get confused by all those scary polysyllabic words. It's almost like an unwritten law that you are a terrible person if you ever intellectually challenge someone in any way or ever expect them to know how to use a dictionary.
The entertainers. Most of the celebrities, actors, athletes have the emotional maturity of a 12-year-old. This is what gets promoted. Ever watch say Desperate Housewives and look at how petty and vindictive and catty they are? That's what gets ratings. Ever watch Entertainment Tonight and see how some insignificant piece of melodrama is treated like a profound event worthy of public scrutiny? That's what gets ratings.
Warning labels. Now they tell you that bug spray is poisonous. Wow, you mean something so toxic it can be sprayed on a cockroach and the cockroach will drop dead might be bad to ingest? You don't say. Coffee is hot. Wow, you mean a beverage made from boiling or near-boiling water could be hot? Damn I am glad they protect all the stupids from having to rub two brain cells together to discern these things.
No, the tough way to go through life is to be one of the minority who sees all these things we get so excited about and spend so much time and energy on, and then sees how stupid, wasteful, and pointless they all are.
Well it would be amusing just for once to see a sports game get pre-empted by something else. Just to see how the sports fans like it when it happens to them. Because usually a football game or a basketball game will pre-empt ANYTHING ELSE that's on the air no matter how much more merit it may have. It's like mental crack rock for the shallow. Those who aren't jock-sniffers and aren't obsessed with how well some millionaires can play a game have had to put up with that for a long time now.
Re:Correction (Score:2, Insightful)
YEAH! Let's have a "My sport sucks a lot less than your sport" flamewar on a geek site!
ALL SPORTS SUCK TO WATCH! Some are tolerable to participate in.
There. Now it's YOUR turn!
Re:And lose all their normal sports customers? (Score:4, Insightful)
You act as if sports bars put all their TVs on one sport. Having one set of TVs on Starcraft 2 is not going to matter. Besides, businesses will do what makes them money. If they find more people come in for the SC2 events and they make more money...say goodbye to baseball or whoever else is the least represented crowd.