Can Video Games Become the Next Great Spectator Sport? by PBS Idea Channel

In this episode of PBS Idea Channel, host Mike Rugnetta contemplates the future of competitive gaming as a popular spectator sport in the United States.

As our South Korean friends can confirm, video games can most definitely be a spectator sport. But will they ever catch on in a huge way in the good ol’ U.S. of A? Well, pro leagues already exist, but to know if they’ll ever reach the levels of March Madness and Superbowl Sunday, we need to take a closer look at traditional sports spectatorship to figure out the REAL reason we watch. It’s more than just winning and losing: there are characters, rivalries, histories, and a host of other background information that coalesce into an AMAZING story, and we’re dying to know the ending. Could eSports ever achieve this level of storytelling?

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips