Do you watch any e-Sports?

I watch HOTS HGC weekly when it's on SC2 the odd time and usually in the lead up to Blizzcon. I'll check out EVO when that rolls around too, but mostly for anime fighters and SF.

I used to watch BoiLER too but I feel out of it and haven't gotten back around to it. That was one of my favourites actually.

The closest thing to esports I watch is the murder island streams GB does.

I've tried. I really have. But the problem is I'm not interested in actually playing those kinds of games, and unless you do that I think most of those games are going to be more or less incomprehensible. The coverage is constantly jumping between various players which gets disorienting and there's too much specific lingo that the coverage team can't be arsed to explain. All these terms like "2-box" or "carry" or "cross up" get thrown around like candy. And that's probably fine if you play all those games all the time. If you've got no experience though, it just makes it impossible to follow.

I think ultimately the problem with eSports is the same problem I have with sports games in general - if I ever felt the desperate need to play those games, I'd rather just go play it than watch it.

Well said.

I have tried so many times, but I just can't. At first I though I was just too old, but even my teenage son doesn't get it and we both adore video games. I'm glad its caught on however.

EVO tends to be a fun thing to watch every year so there's that. I actually really enjoyed watching Starcraft 2 matches when that scene was having a resurgence around that game. I feel like I could put on a random SC2 match right now and get some entertainment out of it despite that scene seemingly drying up in favor of other stuff. Trying several times to watch MOBAs on a professional level has always been an exercise in futility for me. Watching Dota 2 just looks and sounds like nonsense no matter how many times I've tried. Team engagements often just look like spell effect barf all over the screen and then somehow someone ends up dead. Didn't even watch TI because the diminishing returns of watching pro Dota in the past led me to drop off entirely.

I used to follow SC2 back in the day. Watched the tourneys on a weekly basis. As of now I usually catch a fighting game tourney every other weekend or so.

Off and on. Off right now. Mostly fighters and the occasional smattering of Starcraft. I tried watching some DotA2, but it bores me to tears. I think you have to know more about MOBAs' mechanics than I do to derive any enjoyment from them, and I have no interest in playing or studying huge rosters and lists of items to find out who's who and what's what.

I watch Starcraft and Gwent occasionally. I'm not into mobas so I don't bother with those.

I watch a lot of pro-level Rocket League. It's amazing how complex a simple game of car soccer can get in the right hands.

It comes and goes. I have watched parts of The International for the past 3 or 4 years. When I was into Hearthstone, I watched some tournaments. I have seen some Overwatch matches here and there. Overall it is pretty infrequent, but I have seen the esports.

No, even the sports games I love most (NBA 2K and MLB The Show) that are specifically competitive just translate to boring when they're broadcast by streamers (GB is really the only video game video I can stomach, along with the occasional Polygon or Game Informer video). And the "eSport" version of 2K is an absolute dumpster fire, I hate MyPark so much, both playing it and the culture surrounding it.

I have almost no experience at all with the "major" eSports other than when GB covers them.

Probably a few times a month. I always catch big stuff like The International and EVO, but I'll also tune in for other stuff if it pops up. I used to watch SC2 all the time and I wish I still did, but I kinda fell off the train somewhat. However I watched that StarCraft Remastered launch stream and I'm quite looking forward to that. I also watch a few other games on occasion, such as Rocket League, but not with any real frequency. I love watching Hearthstone videos but have minimal interest in the pro/competitive scene.

I actually barely play Dota 2 these days (and I never spent much time online with it) but I love watching it. I do play a lot of fighting games, but never to any particularly high standard (the same with StarCraft when I was very into it, though in both cases I do try to practise and improve at the games and love watching analysis of pro matches).

I've occasionally tuned into the international out of curiosity but even on the newcomer stream I find it a little too hard to follow with my very limited game knowledge.

I do watch quite a bit of Hearthstone esports. I always catch the HCT broadcasts and dip in and out of other tournaments. Big open events like Dreamhack are a little long and clunky to watch straight through, but smaller things like Seatstory Cup are super fun and an easy recommend for anyone curious about the scene.

I'll always watch some EVO and occasionally the finals of other fighting game tournaments, but that's about it.

I started to get into the FGC after Evo 2016. I usually watch an event or at least the big top 8's most weeks. With fighting games, there is such variety between SF, Tekken, the dozens of anime fighters, Smash, etc. that it's hard to get bored because I can jump around between following/playing a bunch different games with their unique communities whenever I want.

I don't really enjoy playing mobas, but if I did I couldn't see myself just following one game like Dota and ignoring League. I'd likely want to follow the entire genre and all the different perspectives on those mechanics that each can offer.

I watch a few FGC events every month. Street Fighter & Tekken are what I'll watch mostly, but any FG is possible.

I'd like to try watching Dota or some other games but it seems really impenetrable from the outside looking in.

Recently, I saw some Rocket League which was pretty awesome actually, so, will check it out again one day.

I'll watch something FGC related almost daily. ESports? Don't know what that is.

i don't watch every tournament that rolls around, but i do watch pro players streams quite a lot.

For some reason, yesterday i watched a guy write a huge word document on the behavior of towers and creeps. It lasted over 3 hours!

I just watch the finals of Evo.

I end up watching some competitive Overwatch a few times a month. It's unfortunate that FPS games are so difficult to spectate. Inevitably, the stream will miss action because the camera is elsewhere. I hope Blizzard is willing to try new casting approaches in the Overwatch League. Giving the viewer some control of the camera, or streaming each players' perspective would be cool. No doubt the logistical challenges are substantial. I am interested to see the resources Blizzard is willing to commit to OL. With that rabid player base and the general approach-ability of shooters, it could make waves

I watch most major CS:GO tournaments, a tiny bit of CoD and Halo stuff (mostly just Optic) and TI. The only ones I really follow are the CS stuff though.

I chose no, then realised that I had literally just come from a YT video of someone playing Magic The Gathering Online. I don't really watch the Pro Tour any more, but I watch channels like Channel Fireball and streamers like LSV and Caleb Durward, so if that counts then that's the only eSports I'm into. Have zero interest in general in MP games, playing or watching, and I don't care at all about MOBAs, RTS games, cards games that aren't Magic (don't hate Hearthstone, just don't have any interest in it), or fighting games. I like shooters, but not competitive MP shooters - the only one I've ever gotten into is TF2.

There have been a few big trends in gaming in the past few years that I feel like I completely missed the boat on, and the rise of eSports is definitely one of them. Another would be speed runs. I guess I'm pretty set in my ways at this point, but if you don't have any friends who are into this kind of stuff, or if you weren't into any of the games before they blew up and became eSports, I'm not really sure how you're supposed to get into them.

Nope, none of the games I am interested in watching are being played Co-Op, I mean I love Overwatch but I have no interest in watching it.

I check out competitive Paragon tournaments sometimes, but these are pretty small. The first official one wrapped up two weeks ago or so, and the prize was under $20k. It's more about picking up some tips for me than it is enjoying the actual matches, though they are fun sometimes.

@theoriginalatlas: I think a lot of people are not very deep into speedruns, but if you generally watch a lot of twitch streams, you naturally start to hear about Summer games done Quick and Awesome games done quick. As far as i know, those multi-day events are how most of the people got in touch with speedruns. It's just a fun stream to have on in the background and focus on whenever there's a game you would like to see.

Watched the first two Dota 2 Internationals but kinda lost interest since I don't actually play the game. Still watch EVO every year because it's always incredible to watch SF & Marvel.

I used to watch GSL and all the starcraft tournaments from 2010 until about 2014. Got back into it in 2015 for a bit with Legacy of the Void launch. I still try to catch the major tournament finals and I usually watch all of Blizzcon WCS tournament.

I also watch bits and pieces of the International.

No because ewww and I don't have time for it.

I've never really understood this perspective. If I show you a glossary of football, basketball, or hockey terms and you've never watched that sport before, you're going to have the same reaction; esports are no more or less impenetrable than regular sports. Nobody's going to sit down to watch their first match of cricket and understand the rules, strategies, or nuances without doing some research.

I still watch a bunch of csgo, though I'll also go a month or two without watching at times. Still play csgo too, albiet less frequently lately. I've enjoyed Starcraft and Halo and a little Quake in the past but that's it. Tend to think shooters lend themselves best to spectating, but that could just be personal bias (like 7k hours of CS in my life compared to something like 400 of dota and 200 of Starcraft).

FGC for life! Also Smash 4.

Yes. I like watching pro overwatch games.

Not in a looong time. I never found CS fun to watch, and the skill of high level dota and rts games is lost on me so they look just glacial in pace to me.

Quake was a great ESports game in its day, and I like watching compilations of greatest moments in Battlefield and Rocket League but thats as close as I get.

Speedrunning is my jam to watch, there I find I can appreciate the skill

Nah, I've tried watching some tournaments and they're always bad. It's just not as interesting to me as real sports.

I watch the big events like the Dota/CSGO majors and Evo, as well as the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tours.

Even though I only have a surface-level understanding of Dota/CS and fighting games, that basic knowledge as well as the spectacle of those games make them good to at least have on in the background (an aside: LoL is a little too slow for me to watch). That, and it's hard to not get swept up in the hype.

On the other hand, Magic has none of the spectacle -- it's as exciting as watching golf -- but it's because of this more understated presentation, and the fact that I play the game regularly, that I can accidentally go through a couple of hours with no issue. I will admit that it is much more impenetrable than most other esports; cards being turned sideways is much more abstract than a lifebar going down or a player headshotting three opponents.

There's almost a couple Fighting Game tournaments on every weekend and I'll try catch at least the top 8s for Tekken 7. I used to watch a lot of SF but my interest in that game has dwindled significantly and I primarily now watch it to watch my favourite players rather than the actual game itself.

I also used to watch a lot of Dota 2 and occasionally CS but FG's have taken over my competitive game interests.

Anything with Tasteless and Artosis

not with the current e-sports games. I might watch the PUBG invitational though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO8IaV_DAoY

I view Murder Island as the same thing as a "Lets Play", I am not rooting for a side and to be honest I'm not all that interested in seeing 'top tier' play. I'm there to see some knuckleheads screwing around as friends/frenemies. People talking, people riffing on bad jokes, and just a good time.

I think eSports are boring, about as boring as most televised sports. I don't think watching two teams playing video games for more than five minutes is fun. I don't see chess as fun. I think watching the "Scripps National Spelling Bee" is only fun because we can laugh at all those nervous sweaty kids with "stage parents" humble bragging about how their kid will enter Yale at age 16....except the kid in question just stands on stage sniffing his fingers.

Sports are are physical competition with a mental element. Games are a mental competition with nearly zero physical elements. Where they intersect is they are both competitions.

I watch multiple fighting game tournaments a month. I've tried to watch The International multiple times and have been completely unable to follow it, even the beginner stream is too complicated for me.

I've started watching some Overwatch events. Lots of World Cup qualifiers recently. It's the only game I feel I can follow and have an idea of what's happening. I watched some of TI7, mostly the final, but I'm totally clueless when it comes to MOBAs. There's so much to keep track of, and I have a very limited knowledge of what's happening. Overwatch is pretty straightforward, and I've even learned a few things watching some of the top players.

I actually don't think it is physically possible for me to be less interested in watching esports. Especially MOBAs. I also have zero interest in real sports too, so I'm just weird I guess. :p

I like watching the FGC stuff and I'll catch the big events like EVO, but I often miss most of the other majors because I don't know about them or I don't have the time. I can still catch NLBC/WNF most of the time though.

I've watched The International for the last few years even though I don't actually play any DOTA. Spectating in the client is the way to go since that gives you full control over what you're watching and you can view all the player's current abilities and items and so on which gives you a fuller picture on what's happening. I don't watch any other tournaments, though.

Nope I don't even play Multiplayer games anymore and I have no interest in watching.