As some of you may know, I am part of the Skyrim Character Building Restoration Team. Our tasks of salvaging pictures from the old builds and re-formatting the new ones are naturally monotonous: create file, save content, rename file, repeat. My way of coping with all this is having some noise running in the background. Being a former DoTA 2 gamer, I like to listen to commentary from The International championship matches while doing the restoration.

A question crossed my mind recently. These guys, who compete in e-Sports, do they still experience fun while gaming? There's a lot of pressure involved. There's a huge crowd cheering or boo-ing at you, not to mention the assholes on twitch chat. You can't not be affected by this type of thing, you're only human. If you lose the match, you'll also lose a lot of cash, money which you need to live. So, you're 100% focused on winning and nothing else. You can no longer say you lost but at least you had fun. No man, this is a business and you failed your objective. It doesn't matter if you had fun or not. To these guys, gaming is no longer a passion, it's their day-to-day job. They spend at leat 6 hours a day in the same game improving and thinking of new ways to get better. I think I'd go crazy... XD 

So, under these circumstances of competition, can gaming still be fun?

No.

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/WuYiXiang]WuYiXiang[/url] said:[/b]

Honestly, I'm not sure. I know it's possible to enjoy what you're doing even under those circumstances, but I don't know if it's the kind of "fun" we're used to. I've listened to some interviews from the Korean StarCraft II leagues, and they seem to derive some form of enjoyment from their matches, but again, I'm not sure I'd classify that as "fun".

[/blockquote]It may be the old casual vs hardcore games case. :))

Nah, hardcore gamer doesn't meah competing or "achievement hunter". It just means that gaming is an important part of your life for which you allocate a significant amount of your time and financial resources.

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Overhate20]Overhate[/url] said:[/b]

Nah, hardcore gamer doesn't meah competing or "achievement hunter". It just means that gaming is an important part of your life for which you allocate a significant amount of your time and financial resources.

[/blockquote]I stand corrected then. :)

Based on my (brief) experience playing COD clan wars and Destiny Trials of Osiris, I could say that playing competitively is just not fun. Most just want to win a consecutive streak of matches just so they could get their reward. And if they lose, they go all rage quit and the sorts.

Also, is playing by the objective similar to playing competitively? Because I do play by the objective on some games and still have fun while doing so.

[blockquote][b][url=/profile/WuYiXiang]WuYiXiang[/url] said:[/b] @ Axius, No, Playing by objective is not the same as playing competitively. Competitive players play with something tangible on the line.[/blockquote]

Ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that out.