Watching Games – Video Gaming as a Spectator Sport

So far, both categories of watching games have been live, while the game was in progress. Naturally, any observation occurring after the game is over falls into the third camp: watching replays.

Replays

Many games directly support the creation and viewing of replays. This lets players go back and analyze their own or opponents play, or capture and share their favourite matches with their friends. Battlefield 2 stands out with their implementation of “battlerecorder”, a means by which to record an entire match and allow gamers to go back and experience it through the eyes of any participant or from a free perspective.

For games which do not feature replay functionality, or even live broadcasts, games have typically been captured through other means and distributed through public sites such as YouTube to be watched at a later date. One can search for virtually any game title under the sun and come across a host of video content showcasing the game being played. This can range from short highlights to entire matches, and is similar to the highlights segment on Sports Center, or when an old sporting event is being rebroadcast.

There are two special subcategories of pre-recorded viewing in gaming that are worth mentioning, the “Let’s Play” and the speed run.

Let’s Play

A “Let’s Play” typically a series of replays or recordings of someone playing a game, often through its entirety. This type of replay is generally produced for entertainment value and has been increasingly popular in recent years. Efficient play style or display of skill is often set aside in favour of humorous commentary. If you are not already familiar with “Let’s Play” videos I recommend heading over to YouTube and searching for “Let’s Play (name of a game you’d like to see)”. There are some amusing commentators who produce “Let’s Play” type content on a regular basis.

Speed Runs

Speed runs showcase the competitive nature of gamers, going beyond the high score chart which seems to have died out. As the name suggests the objective is to achieve some criteria in a game in the shortest amount of time possible. Common goals are to simply complete the game or to complete the game while obtaining a 100% clear ratio. Here, skill is the dominating factor while abusing a variety exploits to save time is at its prime.

A further subcategory arises here which takes speed runs to their extreme: tool-assisted speed runs (commonly TAS). Tool-assisted speed runs differ from what would otherwise be unassisted speed runs by the use of tools used in producing the video. Tools may include slowing down the game even to the point of playing it frame-by-frame (the final video is played back at normal speed so this is unnoticeable) and rerecording segments of the game that can be done more efficiently. The ultimate goal of this type of replay is perfection – to make no errors and play as optimal as possible. These videos are usually quite entertaining to watch not as a showcase of player talent but as to what is theoretically possible to achieve within a game.

It should be clear by now that there are many avenues commonly pursued when it comes to watching video games. As the love for gaming continues to expand so too does the need to consume the media in any form possible. Reading this, you may already be subject to watching games in any or all of the aforementioned forms, or perhaps this will have inspired you to explore alternative means. Whether you are the type to just check out friend’s replays or actively support your favourite e-sports team, it can’t be denied that gaming has become a full blown spectator sport.

A Note on Game Design

One final factor slightly outside the scope of this article, though worth noting, often drives gamers to lay down the controller comes from the game development process itself. Some games seem to be designed first as feature films and secondly as a game. A prime example of this is Final Fantasy XIII, another Dragon Age: Origins. In games of this nature the player spends more time watching cinematics or reading dialogue than actually interacting with the game in any meaningful way. This type of game is interesting as spectating is built in, core to the game itself, though it would not be correct to consider it a sport in itself. All the same, it does support the idea of watching the action unfold rather than be directly involved.