Yeah, I know I take a lot of time and use a lot of words to criticize professional gaming, but really it is very silly to me, and I have a hard time grasping that it’s become so big. It’s watching people, playing video games; sure it takes talent, but I could watch people playing video games in lots of places. And based on the frequency in which I see ads for “whatever regional world championship tournament” when I’m playing LoL, it’s hard to imagine that any one particular title has any meaning.
But the funniest thing for me is when I see pictures of the tournaments, and they’ve got these pretty grandiose graphic treatments, and they try to present the matches as if they were like an actual sport. Out of all of the live graphics that they use, none of them stands out more to me than when a LoL tournament goes to the effort to present a startling lineup card, much like it would be in an NBA or an NCAA game, since it’s five starters.
And then it got me thinking about how LoL positions would compare to basketball positions. I would use the analogies as such:
- Point guard = Support. Just like a point guard, a good support’s goal is to John Stockton it up and rack up assists, even if they aren’t always recorded as such. Make the job a little bit easier for the carry, and help put teammates into positions for kills, or points.
- Shooting guard = ADC. The ADC’s game is to be Michael Jordan. You are the one that is supposed to get all swole and end up being the guy that scores a significant amount of kills, and dole out the most damage to the opposition. As the ADC, you are also the one that any smart team will focus their attack on, hoping to knock you out of becoming a serious threat.
- Small forward = Mid. This is probably the weakest of all the comps, and honestly the last one by default, really. If you’re truly a good small forward, you’re like Scottie Pippen, and can manage to contribute in all facets of the game. Assisting the top and bottom lanes, as well as being somewhat responsible for some offensive output.
- Power forward = Jungler. You’re too big and clumsy to be a graceful and finesse mid laner, but you’re not quite a brute like someone who should be solo top. Instead, your job is much like a power forward, where you’re often left in somewhat obscurity, until it’s time to attempt to surprise the opposition by contributing at unpredictable times. You come out of nowhere like Horace Grant and help block out the opposing center, or you’re there in the lane to throw a hard foul down onto the other team’s ADC or APmid just to remind them that you exist.
- Center = Solo Top. Centers are the big giants of the floor, who were once traditionally known to dominate and do everything themselves. Sometimes they’re Shaqs who simply run over their opponents, and sometimes they’re Hakeem Olajuwons who are graceful yet powerful and finesse you to death. And occasionally, you get some Dikembe Mutombos who simply hold their own and play unmerciful defense. Either way, they accomplish this mostly on their own, and don’t need any help until the other team deems them the weak link to capitalize on.
But then all this comparisons between 5 v 5 gaming had me wondering, what if professional 5 v 5 gamers played like NBA Live or NCAA March Madness on XBOX or something, instead of playing LoL? I think I might watch that. At least, over the real life NBA, which is pretty stupid, and kind of lamer than eSports. Finally, I take my foot off the throat of eSports, and stamp it down onto something worse.
Hear me out though, because this post isn’t going in the direction I thought it was going, but such is the nature of sporadic brogging without any real direction sometimes.
I think professional eSports gaming might be more intriguing if they were actually playing sports games. And could actually rival their real-life counterparts. Think about it; playing with virtual characters eliminates the chance of anyone having any real, life-harming injuries in their respective sports. But aside from that train of thought, imagine the possibilities if LoL-like mentalities were placed into playing basketball video games?
Imagine five nerds sitting behind computer screens, picking basketball players to go into a virtual game. Like everyone would be calling for Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, and there would be e-Fights over who got to use him. How nobody wanted to get stuck with Kevin Willis, because playing power forward sucked. And then someone unhappy with having to play solo top decides to troll the game by choosing Gheorghe Muresan.
Or, there would be games where nerds try to exploit the game mechanics, and start doing some troll-y drafts, by going with a team of nothing but Scottie Pippen-like characters, or having four centers and Scott Skiles.
But the thing is all of this kind of stuff included, these virtual basketball games would be broadcast, and streamed on the internet. I could reasonably believe that these games could feasibly be more entertaining than real-life basketball; especially if teams get creative or try to be trolls. Imagine seeing a rematch of the 1984 NBA Finals between the Lakers and Celtics, but just because someone felt like being a dick, they played Danny Ainge instead of Larry Bird, while the Lakers actually put in Magic Johnson to play center while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played the point.
It would be chaos, but often times, chaos is fun to watch. LOL eSports.
