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Major League Gaming: Time to Be Taken Seriously?by Jacob Corbin
Ah, professional video gaming… sounds a bit like an oxymoron to me. You never hear of someone’s son or daughter aspiring to be “professional gamers” when they grow up. Yet, low and behold, Major League Gaming hopes to succeed in doing just that. Since its conception in 2002, Major League Gaming, a console-only gaming league, has slowly been building up attention by holding tournaments for games such as Halo 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and more. However, most of MLG’s emphasis is on Halo 2. For years, gaming tournaments have been sort of a grassroots movement for gamers to attain bragging rights, but the scope and reward of it all has increased greatly. MLG president, Matthew Bromberg, points out that MLG is very much like traditional sports leagues. “ It’s a league. It’s seven cities and professional players are signed to the league and make money as pros. We have an ongoing pro circuit and there are rules and we have a players’ association.” Now, let’s not forget the attention MLG received in June 2006, for signing the country’s then top Halo 2 team, Final Boss, for an astounding $1 million dollars. Impressive, no doubt, but you know I find these contracts to be a bit ridiculous. I mean I’m sitting here up to my knees in books I recently bought for my new semester of college. I’m trying to obtain knowledge for a career that will keep me financially sound for years to come, but good lord if I knew all I had to do was be great at Halo 2 to make money, then by golly I wouldn’t be in college; I’d be spending months locked in a room improving my skills as Master Chief. I know… I know… I’m just jealous, but that doesn’t negate the fact that getting paid nefarious amounts of money for playing a video game is just absurd. Nonetheless, it is happening and MLG plans more surprises. We should all start getting used to this.
 UnbelievableNow, with the kind of setup MLG has, as well as competitors participating from over 28 countries, it’s not hard to notice this isn’t some tiny grassroots movement anymore. This is global, competitive gaming. It’s gaming with aspirations of something much greater than just a couple guys and girls duking it out on Xbox’s. MLG wants to go mainstream. Matthew Bromberg states, “ We spent about three years building what is the only professional video gaming league in the country. We believe that pro-gaming-wise, this will be the next World Poker Tour, the next Nascar…” And have they already? Well, they are making baby steps. MLG announced in Spring 2006 that it had acquired a number of rather large sponsorship and programming deals. Most notably, a television broadcasting agreement with the USA Network to air seven one-hour episodes of MLG’s entire tournament season during the 2006 holiday season. The television show, named Boost Mobile Major League Gaming Pro Circuit, aired on Saturdays at 10 am. You have to hand it to this gaming organization. It’s quite a step forward for MLG to gain such exposure. They have handled everything rather well and it is clear that success with its television show is not only its goal but main focus. So, I actually had the chance to watch a few of these episodes. Strangely enough, the first time, I had just woken up and turned on my TV, noticing I had missed half of the show already. Upon watching, it all seemed a bit cheesy to me. I had trouble trying to understand that there was actual commentary on how one of the Halo 2 team’s were executing their strategy. It was also strange at first to hear, “Oh and a gorgeous move by Ghandi! Ghandi is on a tear and Team Carbon is now only 4 kills away from victory.” The seriousness of it all struck me a little, but the second time around I felt different. The second viewing I watched showed me that MLG had promise. I was actually enthralled by it all. The battle between Team Carbon and Final Boss was fierce and I was rooting for Final Boss to win. I couldn’t believe I was doing such a thing. Surprisingly, I cared, and it scared me.
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ZCapitan
2007-03-08 23:09:18
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It's not a sport, it's a skill. Much like golf. You have to have a talent that takes investment of time to get good at it. Anyway, much props to people who take the time to participate and take advantage of a hobby they enjoy. Anyone know when the next episodes are coming out? Sometimes I enjoy going to my buddies place throwing back a few and watching an in-house tournament. |
djpac
2007-01-28 14:41:50
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As I took it, the main problems you have are that people like to play, not watch, the video games and that there's no reason these people should be paid for playing at such a high level. I mean, if I missed something, let me know, but those are the main points I got out of the article. How is that different from any other sport? I can play baseball too, but there's no way I'm getting A-Rod's $252 million contract. On top of that, and I know this is a shock, not everyone likes watching baseball! Some people love to play but find it incredibly boring to watch. Are these kids being "taken advantage of", as one comment put it? Well, as a college student who spent about $160,000 just so I can graduate this coming spring, I'd say teenagers who can earn that much in under two years got a pretty good deal. Maybe that's just me, but if someone told me I could do something I love for lots of money, even if they did make money off me, I'd do it. Finally, my favorite point in the article - "Still, the issues which plague Major League Gaming prove to me it will never truly compete with other true sports and successful television events." Thanks for the obvious, MLG will never be the fifth sport, it won't be NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA, MLG. Darn.
If you really want to compare MLG to something, compare it to poker. Video games aren't a sport and neither is poker. They're both something people like to play at home with their friends but can also be played at high levels. There's less luck in video games than in poker, but that's not a terrible thing, is it?
MLG gives people who are passionate about video games a place to get together, compete, socialize, interact and enjoy themselves. Unsurprisingly, there are people who find it boring, just like people find poker, golf, baseball, football, Grey's Anatomy, broadway shows, the olympics or any number of other things boring. It is entertainment for a specific audience, the gamer. It isn't breaking news that there will be people that don't like it. However, for the people that do like it, MLG has been fantastic. They've been great about catering to the needs of their fanbase and making the league open and accessible to everyone. They've given the top players, who devote themselves to these games because they love them, a place to apply their talents and have fun while also making money. Are they perfect? Of course not. But they've done a great job (by any measure) so far and I'm much more apt to trust the management team there over your concerns about their future. |
MalohiTafataha
2007-01-28 14:17:00
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“Mr. Bromberg”?? We must be dealing with a contracted MLG member. As shown, your latter comment has demonstrated an attempt at effective discourse. I applaud you. Although to fault another for failing to assume “many readers are naďve” was hilariously fallacious. Are you implying the PX360 community is stupid? I agree with your argument regarding various gaming media outlets reviews although Jacob had no incentive from anybody or organization one way or another. It was an op-ed and being such I cannot stress the term “opinion” enough. Pedantry is not a legitimate reason for reply nor should it be applied to an opinion based article. To disagree with an authors position is one thing but to label someone as arrogant and ignorant because of a simple disagreement is a horse of a different color. |
ix sh0ck xi
2007-01-28 12:22:14
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I bet this guy is a lvl 19 legit in TS. He's just sad because he can't make millions by sitting on his ass.
Also, "Games are meant to be played, not watched. You’d be hard pressed to get anyone to come over to your house purely for the purpose of watching you play a game. I’m sure my friends would be jumping for joy when I scream over the phone, “Dudes I just got Viva Pińata, come over and watch me play by myself!”"
What about golf? That is also an individual game yet it gets millions of viewers, how do you explain that?
"But seriously, not every game is amazing to watch unfold onscreen."
And Halo is one of them? What would you prefer? Dance Dance Revolution? Yoshi's Story?
The MLG TV show is for those people who are interested in Halo and just competitive gaming in general. The TV show has done a great job of making Halo a household name, people who had no idea what Halo was or how it was played are now much better informed about the game, which is what their objective was. If you acquire a knowledge of the game then you are much more likely to be interested in it in the future which is what they were trying to do. If you watch it and decide you don't like it, then don't watch it. |
BRUTAL1TY
2007-01-28 09:25:36
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Well I'm happy you enjoyed my editorial, Legolas. I'm proud of it, and the work I put into it. Now you asked me for sources for the figures on the age group of viewers? I do not have any. Merely because if you had paid attention, I stated, "average Pro Circuit viewer’s age is most certainly young; most likely, ranging from 13 to 25." I said MOST LIKELY, which implies that I am making an assumption, not stating it was fact. I tried to acquire Nielsen ratings for the show but I had a hard time finding them and I was basically unable to find a thing, so I gave up. I could have called MLG myself, but I didn't think this was a large enough deal for my editorial to do that. Tell me this, can you disprove my assumed viewer age? Sure I could be off by a few numbers, but we all know this show is geared toward young adults, so questioning those numbers is almost laughable in of itself. Moving on... now you tell me I failed to mention the GoW tournament. You are correct sir, that slipped through my fingers and I don't know how. However, the context in which I was speaking was the TV show. I never saw any GoW tourney on the last Las Vegas episode there was for the Pro Circuit Show. That was my point; if it was on that episode, hell I would have recorded it in on my DVR. I don't care how many games they have at the actual events unless they are televised. I won't be able to view them otherwise! Now you also stated that having GoW showed there was more than one game at the tourneys. Really!? Notice in the intro I stated Super Smash Bros. Melee and other games were apart of then current 06 season. I know there is other games (sigh), I was speaking of the TV show, again. You can call me arrogant, ignorant, you can question my journlastic credibility, but what I find most shocking is your inability to understand my editorial. You bash it as if, it was all hatred towards MLG. I thought I was pretty fair. MLG has some glaring issues to tackle if it wants to get larger and more mainstream. It's accomplished a lot of things, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. That was pretty much what my article stated, and you looking way to far into things. Thanks for the comments |
LTL Legolas
2007-01-28 01:00:57
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I'm quite positive that Mr. Bromberg would have the confidence and resolve about his opinions that he wouldn't need to use an alias when speaking his mind.
I called into question journalistic credibility because many readers are naive. They'll eat up whatever you shove in front of their mouths. And I'd daresay Mr. Corbin understands and recognized this before, during, and after he wrote this piece.
Granted, it's not all negative. But, and forgive me for the poor analogy, it's almost like those reviews of video games that are obviously piss-poor given by various publications that choose to highlight some small bits of quality simply because that game's publisher is a major advertiser. |
MalohiTafataha
2007-01-27 13:49:39
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HAHAHA … I found it quite comedic that someone would become so upset regarding an MLG op-ed. Accusations of arrogance, ignorance and questioning journalistic credibility are always humorous Especially when they are accusations associated with a subject matter such as this. I laughed for a good 3 minutes after reading that one. I think Legolas is Matthew Bromberg incognito. |
salvia
2007-01-27 13:38:17
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How are they being taken advantage of MT? They're getting paid, and paid well for being the best. Why do they need benefits, and how would it affect you anyway? You liberal whinners make me sick. Just enjoy the fact that gamming is more mainstream, and an Xbox is leading the way. |
LTL Legolas
2007-01-27 10:24:50
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The complete and utter arrogance and ignorance found in this piece and in the comments is shocking. Also, the lack of journalistic credibility and processes makes me cringe. Can we see any sources for your figures on the age group of viewers? Let's not forget that you neglected to mention the Gears Of War tournament that took place at the Las Vegas tournament. And, too, the fact that Gears Of War is the other online tournament title in MLG's lineup. Wouldn't that seem to suggest the utilization of more than one game? Not that it's necessary, when the previous sole game was Halo 2, the best selling console game EVER, up until a couple months ago. More to come, believe me. |
BRUTAL1TY
2007-01-26 21:48:15
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Boy is that a tough one to answer, Joel... haha |
MalohiTafataha
2007-01-26 21:05:46
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Great article! I wonder what form of retirement these MLG players receive. Do they have medical and dental benefits? 401K? Or is it merely a large corporation taking advantage of naďve teenagers and young adults. |
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