E.Sport

Video Game Links / Events

Simple and effective title, right? I try simple and effective for the whole article. It’s a challenge.

I think you know what e.sport is.
If you don’t, here’s the thing: it’s not sport at all. It’s about competitions in real life, on site, between gamers – even pro-gamers, on ultra-competitive multiplayer games (Overwatch for example, or BattleFront 2 etc).
These events bring together gamers who are particularly assiduous on a game – usually they play as a team – and it’s all about winning, under pressure from the public and other players.

So I’ll start with a comment: have you wondered why the video game companies have embarked on this expense?
If you’re not a regular gamer, normally you don’t know too clearly.

Otherwise, yes you do.

Online multiplayer games are technically monstrous. They have to be aesthetically pleasing, varied, with the widest possible collection of characters – they have to have a small scenario anyway, and several “game mechanics”. And of course they must have web servers that can absorb a maximum flow of players.
And that alone costs Altair a thousand times more.
At least.

Players buy the game.
So far so good. / I really like this expression – but I don’t know at all if it’s really common – it doesn’t matter, you know it’s always me who writes like that.
They play online – there’s an incredible crowd on all your servers.
The money comes back.
And then… your evil competitors come up with another awesome game.
Your players are gone.
And you lost.

So these are the companies that invented the DLC: download content.
You release an update – your players come back.
Your competitors do the same thing.
They leave.
And here you are, releasing updates more and more often – so your players don’t really leave you: that’s where Altair Twin’s DLC proposals come in.

But that wasn’t enough – you have to keep your game in first place for months – years – to make it really pay off.
So they invented e.sport.
To win, the gamer has to be the best: and so he doesn’t give up your game. The first competitions appear, the first pro gamers.

For video game companies – even if the winners can get a nice amount of money back – it’s all profit: knowing that such competitions exist or will exist on their games greatly increase their players’ loyalty.
For the theatres, it’s a benefit too – since they’re so crowded.
For the players and the public as well, since it is quite rare to share this passion and it is very pleasant.
And if you’ve ever played a Fast FPS, … visually the guys are awesome.

Okay, well… What does Altair have to do with this e.sport story?
Nothing.
But nothing at all.

Altair is a theatre.
There will be virtual reality experiences – these are not games.
There will be forays into video games, in the form of DLC it’s true – but not as a game.

So nothing to do with e.sport.

Have I already lost all my readers? Of course not.

For those of you who read me regularly, you probably already know what I’m getting at.

You will have noticed that, since the beginning, I have been insisting a lot on Events. Not a little – a lot.
It’s not for the pleasure of showing you that I like stories.
Nor for the pleasure of presenting you a theatre “that shows off and makes the beautiful”.
It’s because I need it.
Because Altair needs it to work on both levels: the real and the virtual.
And by the way, because Altair isn’t about losing money.

If you’ve looked at what I’m planning for my various events, you’ll have noticed that I put a lot of emphasis on audience AND gamer participation.

Do you get it? I know you do – and for a while now, too.

These will be my e.sport competitions: associated with the running of the festivals, for the virtual part: Altair Twin.
And not only will they be there, but they will also change the course of the festival.
Depending on which team wins, history will have changed.
For example, when I tell you that Altair Twin, at the time of the opening of the Impossible Festival, will be walking through the dangerous areas of a very big online game and will be under attack, that makes me at least two groups of players. Those who defend and those who attack. But there will be several groups, there will be several types of attackers. So it’s very possible, especially if the pro-gamers are defending Altair Twin, that they will win and that the ship won’t be taken by the enemy.
So that changes the whole process I was telling you about.

This is an admirable practice of games (and since K.O.T.O.R. it has become a must & intelligent practice): according to your choices you will live an adventure OR another one.
As I want to really create the link with the game world, no choice: we will have to imagine a scenario with several possibilities.

– even if the screenwriter always cheats.
So in Altair’s jobs, don’t forget the professional screenwriters.

I don’t even wonder if there will be players: there will be too many.
I don’t even wonder if it will be successful.
It’s unstoppable.

Obviously – no, I didn’t write everything on this site – so obviously, I’m not thinking of activating this e.sport windfall once every thousand years.
I plan to see in Altair two festivals a year – and one for the little ones, but I’ve already talked about that.
There won’t be a crazy Festivals every year – I’m not compeltely out of my mind & I know that rarity creates envy.
So there will be lots of much more “normal” Festivals, which will punctuate the life of Altair.
The difference with the other organisers will be the frequency of each one. Annualisation is out of the question – I’m crying with boredom in advance. All this to say that there will be two events per year, one of which will be compatible with a big online game – and thus an e.sport event. Because there will be one that will be completely focused on the world of video games.

On the other hand, to propose e.sport moments once a year yes – because it will be each time with different games – different universes – and different players ….
…by the way, as an argument of seduction for the very big video game companies, to propose a regular e.sport event … it’s a good argument.
Definitely more selling than my smile – which is nevertheless very pretty. Well, okay, which was very pretty.

I’m proud of myself – I have to admit it.

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Featured Image : e.sport stadium research by Avoid Obvious Architects