Host of the late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jimmy Kimmel, has gotten into it with gamers the past couple of days. Kimmel recently poked fun at people who watch others play video games online, posted this very clip on YouTube, and about 15,000 angry comments and 75,000 dislikes later (and counting), Kimmel has decided to have a little more fun with the gaming community.
During last night's episode, Kimmel read off some of the gamers' angry comments at his expense, including:
- "Go f**k a pigeon."
- "I dare you to start your car in the morning."
- "Go hang yourself with that fat string of bacon in the kitchen."
- "Get cancer."
- "I hope you get AIDS."
- "Jump off a cliff while your cat's in a blender and the blender is being used to brush your teeth. - sincerely, the entire gaming community"
I know, subtle, right? Granted, Kimmel may have egged on nasty comments by implying that playing video games, and especially watching them, was a waste of time. However, as the quotes above should suggest, many of the gamers went way too far. In the coming days, it'll be interesting to see just how far this fracas goes.
Some of the commentators decided to go this route:
- "Watching video games is like watching sports; it's the same thing."
While, after reading the nasty comments at Jimmy Kimmel's expense, I hesitate to argue with a gamer, I'm going to have to disagree on this.
Now, if we wanted to generally state, "People can watch and enjoy many different forms of entertainment, including video games and sports," it'd be difficult to argue with that. However, if someone wanted to state, "Watching someone play video games is the exact same thing as watching a live sporting event," I'd have to disagree.
It's true that like professional athletes, professional gamers involve themselves in competitive tournaments, earn money, and people will fly to watch the events. However, when we look at the two forms of entertainment in more detail, that's where the argument falls apart.
For one to say that watching video games is identical to watching sports, what's that in essence saying? Video games are the same as sports. Since video games have several different genres, we'll stick with the sports genre and focus on football more specifically (You see? Specifics are already intervening on the gamer's argument). Similarly, both football and video-game football have different levels (high school, college, pro) and both require a great deal of practice to reach the next competitive level. However, we'd be doing quite the disservice to professional athletes if we said professional gamers underwent the same kinds of intense physical (and mental) training as they did. Gamers don't put on a helmet and pads in 100+ degree temperatures throughout the summer. They don't constantly feel physical pain from all the hits they take on the field before, during, and even after the season. They're not at risk of a concussion by dropping back in the pocket and seeing a 320-lb. man coming at their head full-steam ahead. There are no sprints or weight-lifting required to play a video game, risking a pulled hamstring or a torn bicep in the process. Not only that, but the 24-hour media isn't constantly hounding them for a good soundbite and potentially taking a quote of theirs out of context, only to seek damage control in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
Also, while gaming definitely takes a certain amount of skill, strategy, and luck, like with sports, there's a stark difference between a person controlling fictional characters via controller on a television screen and an individual actually physically interacting with others in order to reach a goal. There's a difference between fantasy and reality. Sports may be of minimal importance in the grand scheme of things, but these are still real live humans working with and competing against each other, constantly putting their health and well-being on the line (both short- and long-term), in order to win a championship. It's far different for one gamer to control a football team of fictional characters based on real people and of eleven real people working together to achieve success.
I personally have nothing against video games or gamers. I don't play nearly as often as I used to, but do once in a while, and was hooked at times during my college years. However, I still see a vast difference between watching video games and watching sports, because of the simple fact that, while there are some similarities between the two, (sports) video games and sports are quite different. Would watching a gamer win the World Series with the Chicago Cubs be the same as watching the actual Cubs break their 107-year World Series-less drought? Would watching a buzzer-beater-6-overtime NBA Finals game in a gaming tournament be the same as watching the real thing? Would watching a gamer win gold medals for the U.S. in a competition be the same as watching Michael Phelps win several gold medals for this country at the actual Olympics? No, no, and no again. There's absolutely nothing wrong with gaming or even watching people play video games, but to say that watching video games is the same thing as watching sports would be like to say watching a gamer play numerous songs from The Rolling Stones on Rock Band is the same as seeing the Stones live in concert.
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/02/jimmy-kimmel-war-video-game-watchers-continued
http://www.cnet.com/news/jimmy-kimmel-says-gamers-want-him-to-get-aids-and-die/
During last night's episode, Kimmel read off some of the gamers' angry comments at his expense, including:
- "Go f**k a pigeon."
- "I dare you to start your car in the morning."
- "Go hang yourself with that fat string of bacon in the kitchen."
- "Get cancer."
- "I hope you get AIDS."
- "Jump off a cliff while your cat's in a blender and the blender is being used to brush your teeth. - sincerely, the entire gaming community"
I know, subtle, right? Granted, Kimmel may have egged on nasty comments by implying that playing video games, and especially watching them, was a waste of time. However, as the quotes above should suggest, many of the gamers went way too far. In the coming days, it'll be interesting to see just how far this fracas goes.
Some of the commentators decided to go this route:
- "Watching video games is like watching sports; it's the same thing."
While, after reading the nasty comments at Jimmy Kimmel's expense, I hesitate to argue with a gamer, I'm going to have to disagree on this.
Now, if we wanted to generally state, "People can watch and enjoy many different forms of entertainment, including video games and sports," it'd be difficult to argue with that. However, if someone wanted to state, "Watching someone play video games is the exact same thing as watching a live sporting event," I'd have to disagree.
It's true that like professional athletes, professional gamers involve themselves in competitive tournaments, earn money, and people will fly to watch the events. However, when we look at the two forms of entertainment in more detail, that's where the argument falls apart.
For one to say that watching video games is identical to watching sports, what's that in essence saying? Video games are the same as sports. Since video games have several different genres, we'll stick with the sports genre and focus on football more specifically (You see? Specifics are already intervening on the gamer's argument). Similarly, both football and video-game football have different levels (high school, college, pro) and both require a great deal of practice to reach the next competitive level. However, we'd be doing quite the disservice to professional athletes if we said professional gamers underwent the same kinds of intense physical (and mental) training as they did. Gamers don't put on a helmet and pads in 100+ degree temperatures throughout the summer. They don't constantly feel physical pain from all the hits they take on the field before, during, and even after the season. They're not at risk of a concussion by dropping back in the pocket and seeing a 320-lb. man coming at their head full-steam ahead. There are no sprints or weight-lifting required to play a video game, risking a pulled hamstring or a torn bicep in the process. Not only that, but the 24-hour media isn't constantly hounding them for a good soundbite and potentially taking a quote of theirs out of context, only to seek damage control in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
Also, while gaming definitely takes a certain amount of skill, strategy, and luck, like with sports, there's a stark difference between a person controlling fictional characters via controller on a television screen and an individual actually physically interacting with others in order to reach a goal. There's a difference between fantasy and reality. Sports may be of minimal importance in the grand scheme of things, but these are still real live humans working with and competing against each other, constantly putting their health and well-being on the line (both short- and long-term), in order to win a championship. It's far different for one gamer to control a football team of fictional characters based on real people and of eleven real people working together to achieve success.
I personally have nothing against video games or gamers. I don't play nearly as often as I used to, but do once in a while, and was hooked at times during my college years. However, I still see a vast difference between watching video games and watching sports, because of the simple fact that, while there are some similarities between the two, (sports) video games and sports are quite different. Would watching a gamer win the World Series with the Chicago Cubs be the same as watching the actual Cubs break their 107-year World Series-less drought? Would watching a buzzer-beater-6-overtime NBA Finals game in a gaming tournament be the same as watching the real thing? Would watching a gamer win gold medals for the U.S. in a competition be the same as watching Michael Phelps win several gold medals for this country at the actual Olympics? No, no, and no again. There's absolutely nothing wrong with gaming or even watching people play video games, but to say that watching video games is the same thing as watching sports would be like to say watching a gamer play numerous songs from The Rolling Stones on Rock Band is the same as seeing the Stones live in concert.
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/02/jimmy-kimmel-war-video-game-watchers-continued
http://www.cnet.com/news/jimmy-kimmel-says-gamers-want-him-to-get-aids-and-die/
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