The art of playing video games
Why watching a teenager playing Dota 2 could be as exciting as a touchdown?
At the Asian Games of August 2018, eSports gave his first step to becoming an Olympic sport. During seven days in Jakarta, six video games, different teams of nine Asian countries compete in the first-ever endorsed Olympic event of a sport born twenty years ago in internet cafes. (Asian Electronic Sports Federation, 2018). Early this year in February, during the broadcasting of the winter Olympics of Pyongyang, Electronic Sports League (ESL), one of the first companies to organize competitive eSports events, televised on NBC a match of StarCraft II. The favorite strategy-based game in South Korea, in which the best players can perform hundreds of actions per minutes (APM), between clicks and keystrokes in order to win a game. «‘For e-sports fans, watching someone’s fingers move that quickly,’ propose Mark Cohen, senior vice president of live events and experiences at ESL, ‘is like watching Usain Bolt run.’» (Gregory, 2018).
That declaration in 2018 was an exaggeration, but it is possible that the performance of a video gamer amazes the world? That is the potential that drives the test of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In order to include eSports in the most significant event that celebrates the body, the essence of what should be considered a sport is being re-written by the audiences. Every new Olympic discipline should demonstrate first media and public interest, «since those are a key driver behind the Olympic Games» (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). In 2017 eSport is demonstrating that is not a vapid fashion. Competitive video games are now a 1.5 billion market, and the world has watched 266 millions hours of professional eSports in 2017 (Super Data, 2018), is safe to predict that qualified gamers will have the same status as other professional athletes. Perhaps even more, in 2020 eSports will be the second sport most watched in North America. Only inferior to American Football (Raza, 2018). Players that call ‘rigorous training’ to be sitting in comfortable chairs fifty hours a week (Jacobs, 2015), would be part of a ceremony that celebrates what writer Davids Foster Wallace defined as a kinetic beauty. Athletic demonstrations, like those performed by tennis star Roger Federer during a game, that make «jaw drops and eyes protrude, and sounds are made that bring spouses in from other rooms to see if you are O.K.» (Foster, 2006). Can these kinetic aesthetics be present in competitive video gaming?
Sports as a form of art
One of the oldest debate among sports scholars is if we can consider art a man running a hundred meters under 9,69 seconds. As impressive as it is the world record of the fastest man on earth, regarding aesthetics in sports the concepts such as kinetic beauty took almost three decades to be accepted in the most progressive circles of sports philosophy. The «Aesthetics of Sport» published in the eighties by David Best in one of the first academics articles, that examines sport in a different light. His inspiring analysis of sports is the foundation of how we analyze current sports, his notions about flow, effortless performance and style are still valid today. However, after this innovative reflections, he seems forced to conclude that sports could not be art. Because a work of art «is primarily of aesthetic interest» (Best, 1974). Since, at the time, every competitive sport main purpose is to win, that disqualifies it as a form of art.
Professor Best also makes a notable distinction between concept and content to clarify his argument. «Is less conducive to error to regard the aesthetics as a concept than a content — as a way of perceiving an object or activity rather than a constituent feature of that object or activity.» However, when he made that weakness visible, unwillingly predict the path that modern athleticism followed to become performers of kinetic art. For Best, when a professional runner race, for example, Usain Bolt, that competition is content. Still, since we could not compare the same action with the concept of running that everyone has experienced, it was difficult to verify how the aesthetics of the concept of running changed. Thirty years after the conclusions of «The aesthetics in sport» we can. The scientists review Bolt performance and measure the dynamics: if Bolt distraction in the final twenty meters did not happen, the record would be ten milliseconds less. (Eriksen, Kristiansen, Langangen, & Wehus, 2009). Though, this notable improvement in the concept of running, in order to become a form of art, need interpretation.
For year sports writers, as critics and scholars in more traditional forms of art, have an enormous influence to reveal or explain what the content of sports hides. An Argentinian writer in Beijing covering the race of the gold medalist wrote: «Carl Lewis was the son of the wind, Usain Bolt is the wind. It is true that yesterday, in an electric Beijing, he also became the Olympic champion of the 100 meters. Moreover, it is also true that yesterday, in an excited Beijing, he ratified that he is the fastest man in history, the only one who crosses 100 meters in 9.69 seconds. All that is true, but those are numbers, labels, medals, ink, books, leaves. Bolt is the wind». (Burgos, 2008). The description of Burgos makes understandable the intention of the runner, his casual style, and his physical prowess. It was not just a run; it was a piece of kinetic beauty.
When the biographer of Muhammad Ali wrote days after his death: «How many today know the name of his current inheritor, the heavyweight champion of the world? The story of Muhammad Ali will long outlast the sport he took up, sixty-two years ago in Louisville, to avenge the theft of his beloved red bicycle». (Remnick, 2016). The author of «King of the world» wanted to show that Ali’s life was even more important than the sport he used to perform. The memories of the Greatest of All Time transcend as masterpieces that echo to eternity.
The following is a description of the best goal of all time (Diego Maradona against England, 1982 World Cup), helps you experience in the style of a impressionists painting what happens in a moment of kinetic greatness: «The player knows he has taken 44 steps and kicked the ball 12 times, all with his left foot. He knows the play will last ten seconds and six tenths. So he thinks it is time to explain to everyone who he is, who he has been, and who he will be until the end of time.» (Casciari, 2014). In the previous examples, different athletes transcend the principal purpose of the sport they play. Their performances, their body, their life, were living pieces of art.
Although nowadays it seems obvious, establishing that sport is a form of art has many detractors. One of the most common argument, propose that modern sport are not a type of art but a system to control and manipulate the masses. The popularity of football and video games make them the potential culprits to these accusations. Following the same line thought the author of «The Aesthetic of a beautiful game» debate the argument. The same thing we could say about any art: nobody dares to say that «poetry is an alienated and manipulative business which makes people forget and forgive all evils of his or her world (…) The aesthetic attraction of football is not a sign of alienation, manipulation or ideology –it is just what it appears to be: a sign of rare pleasure.» (Kreft, 2014). From his reflection, we can conclude that the aesthetic attraction to sports is a sign of rare pleasure.
This ambiguous reflection is common. For a sports philosopher stating that a group of adults kicking a ball should be considered art is a dangerous argument. Nevertheless, nowadays we are living in a time where having aesthetics experiences outside the world of traditional art is common. «Now art is considered as just one province of the aesthetic — certainly still a particularly important one, but just one.» (Welsch, 2005). It will always depend on how those adults play while kicking the ball. The performance they give to the audience. «That is to say that both sport and art can make us experience our environment, our lives, our bodies, differently; open new perspectives, and disrupt our taken-for-granted assumptions about ourselves and our world.» (Edgar, 2013).
That is why audience around the world prefer stadiums rather than museums or watching a game instead of reading a novel; sports are conflicts «a competition to win respect, to show respect for other competitors, for your group or community which watches you» (Kreft, 2014). Sports events are similar to a theater play «(Both) must have a distinct beginning, there must be a conflict that grows in intensity, and the mood has to change; the conflict has to be solved.» (Saraf, 1980). However, in arenas, the only reason for a silent audience is when the rival team appears.
The unscripted drama
In 1995 at Wembley stadium Colombia and England national team were playing a friendly match. Exhibition matches are the sports versions of still fruit paintings. Suddenly, at the twenty-eight minutes of the first half, a fail center of England goes without harm to the Colombian area. The goalie instead of securing the ball with his hands as the football manual states, he goes and jumps with eyes fixed on the ball, and both hands open as they were pincers. With his legs stretched out, the keeper waits until the ball is about to overcome him, then Rene Higuita wrote his name in football history when he flexes his legs and with his heels clear the ball outside the area. A unique play he named with justice: The Scorpion.
The English commentator giggles, as only a kid deceived by a magic illusion, could laugh. ‘Can you believe what he just did?’ The question is directed to his partner, but also to the audience. Nobody believes it. (CNN español, 2018). The unexpected happens in sports when, inside the boundaries of the game, someone pushes the limits without breaking the rules. The attempt can be an individual act yet also a collective effort like the never seen again fifty-one consecutive passes before a goal of Liverpool in 2014 (Jones, 2014). Great sports performances have a magical quality; it plants the seed of doubt capturing the most desirable property in current times: the attention of millions.
More attention to Higuita’s Scorpion would come if instead of a friendly match the context was a final match. Those games are the realm where legends born, transcends game and statistic. The main reason why Michael Jordan become the most popular player in basketball history is his ability to score the defining baskets at the moment his team needs it most. Being the most valuable player in each of the six finals he played, grant him the attention of millions of people. Even those who never throw a ball, know his name and his number. Nevertheless, part of the context is also the arena where the sports event happen. Numerous stadiums and their design can influence in the game. ‘La Bombonera’ the stadium of the team Boca Juniors, it is designed with the tribunes positioned in the very limit of the field. The pressure coming from the football fans can influence the performance of their rivals. The context is also referring to great rivalries, every time Argentina competes against England, the scars of the past war reemerge. Winning the game becomes a sovereign national objective. Contexts could be everything outside the boundaries of the game, but still has the power to influence the performance of the athletes. The context built expectations; expectations bring audiences.
No one can script a great game of football, Higuita did that memorable play after seven years of practicing the Scorpion during training. One of the most famous quotes of Michael Jordan states: «I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I have been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.» (Hardi, n.d.). The Escorpion and the winning shots are part of the work ethic of professionals who devoted all his time to the sport. Similar to an illusionist act, it might seem natural and unscripted but has countless hours of preparation to create that effect.
The technique and style
In August 2018, the website Buildingpro.com publish at his youtube channel: The Brute Showdown. Where a weightlifter, powerlifter, bodybuilder and a CrossFit Athlete compete with each other. In the weightlifter challenge, the specialist won with surprising ease, and he was the lightest and smaller of the four competitors. When the producer asks him about his strategy to overcome his rivals, the weightlifter answered «every competitor was bigger and stronger than me. The technique is what makes me tougher.» (Bodybuilding.com, 2018). The technique is the foundation of every sport. This example shows how each discipline has its own methods. Even a twenty seconds lift hides a lifetime of practice. «One would not consider graceful the movements of a weightlifter, at least not as graceful as the maximum economy and efficiency of effort (with which these movements perform would imply)»(Platchias, 2003). However, these movements generate conflict in the audience, in a David versus Goliath manner.
The musculature is the frame, and the technique is the work of art. In this form of dynamic performance, the best technique is almost imperceptible. It only becomes visible when someone tries to reproduce them. Either in a high-speed camera or during a workout. Kicking accurate passes of forty meters. Baskets made from half court with the same ease of a shot near the rim. Dispute the fastest test of athletics, take time to celebrate, and then break the world record. Those examples are making something difficult seem easy; this effortless attribute can be considered the most aesthetic feature of a sport as long as it maintains a useful purpose. It must serve to win.
Currently, the sport that is taking this feature to the extreme is the CrossFit. The intense rounds of exercise are not based on the spectacular nature of the practice but on the resistance with which these athletes undergo exhausting fitness sessions. Having learned a particular technique for each of the tests is what differentiates the leaders of the competition. The style is also about the idea of winning and also playing well. «There are many instances where the spectators feel disappointed because even though their favorite team won, it did not play well, and there are many instances where the spectators make assertions of the kind: “X won the game, but Y played better.» (Platchias, 2003). New sports away from traditional sports fields, like football freestyle and pole dance, gain more audience by the exclusive use of movements whose purpose is highly aesthetic. These athletes develop routines which outcomes go beyond kicking a ball or dancing in the air, for them the style is the technique.
The different elements that are connected to the sport can be style even if those do not have an impact on the game. The celebrations after a goal, the monstrous dunks in the basketball, the way first places go around the stadium after a race. Each moment of the sporting event has the potential to be employed as a part of the style of the athlete. Of course, it is enough to have a clean performance, but being an act the way in which it develops during, makes it more visible and memorable. The tongue out of Jordan during a dunk, the haircut of soccer player David Beckham or the celebration posture of Usain Bolt throwing an invisible arrow to the sky, did not improve their sports performances, but help them to become characters of themselves. They have a stage persona and other personality far from the lights. Folks who train every day without being noticed.
Dota 2: the virtual thrills
One of the best ways to understand the complexity of Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2) is to compare it to chess, a sport where choices and the ability to predict the opponent’s decisions are essential. In chess «after both players move, 400 possible board setups exist. After the second pair of turns, there are 197,742 possible games, and after three moves, 121 million.» (Wolchover, 2010). Multiply that number for ten, since every game consists of ten players divided into two teams of five. Then again for 115, the number of character can be played in any match.
Among all eSports Dota 2, is especially hard to play, not only for the number of variables «video games lack the intellectual reputation of Go and chess, they are much harder for computers to play. They withhold information from players; take place in complex, ever-changing environments; and require the sort of strategic thinking that can’t be easily simulated.» (Vincent, 2018). Artificial intelligence computers can defeat every champion on chess and Go, but failed against professional Dota 2 players. «We learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs», wrote Benjamin Franklin, in the “The Morals of Chess”, in the same sense Dota 2 seems to be a terrible game to play, but also a secure path for the unexpected drama.
Every match is unique and, even in amateur levels, the amount of engagement within the experience is far more superior than traditional sports. «Playing eSports can also be considered theatrical and ‘aesthetic’ experiences, in which the players learn and practice role-playing and expressive behavior.» (Hilvoorde, 2016). In a traditional game of football in order to be a good striker, the body should be prepared to run. Virtual stages such as Dota 2 offer a similar psychological effect while sitting. The user will have a role in the team, but his performance will not be directly influenced by the quality of his body, but for his reaction and decisions. As an immersive experience «is more than just being there for the thrill and enjoyment of it. It is more than what happens between the user and the system, it is more than what happens as a consequence of the user’s actions, and it is more than the setting or surroundings.» (Dalsgaard & Hansen, 2008) It is the sum of all those elements.
In one of the most memorable games in the history of eSport the semifinals game during the 2013 International, the winner would compete for more of one million dollars. The Internation is the best-paid event of eSports, this year the champion received more than eleven million dollars. The teams were Natus Vincere (Navi) from Ukraine and TongFu from China. The best of three would decide who would go to the final. After each team had a victory, the third game was definitive. Since the beginning of the game, the Chinese team had a considerable advantage, so Navi decided to take a risk and make a prepared play. Through the coordination of two of his best players, they capture any opponent and defeat him in a single movement without any resistance (NoobFromUA, 2013).
The audacity to try something comparable with the Highita’s Escorpion , but in a meaningful game is remembered for fans of both teams «creativity, improvisation, and uniqueness make plausible the assertion that in these sports the producer of states of affairs (in achieving a function) may be a genius» (Platchias, 2003). The author of the previous quote is referring to traditional sports, but this kind of plays create a similar impression. Navi won the third game using a bug in the system. An unscripted drama happened in a video game, «these different sports all enable and presuppose complex, coordinative skills, and the ability to ‘displace’ the body and/or a tool that is used to displace an object.» (Hilvoorde, 2016). In that game, Navi players were not humans, during the match they were the heroes they pick. The discussion about it was fair, or a cheating move is still incandescent. Navi lost in the finals, and the other team banned the heroes that make the bug possible. After the tournament, the developers of the game decide to remove the bug. Part tribute for an incredible show, part to balance the game again. «This frequent switching of whole systems of rules is evident in role-playing games in which players cultivate an array of avatars. (…) Many players switch among these avatars, forcing themselves to adjust to unique social and emotional goals fluidly.» (Granic, Lobel, & Engels, 2018). Dota 2 is in constant change, every new update brings changes in the dynamics of the game, new forms to play.
Perhaps this is the biggest reason for the grand prizes offered by Dota to professional players. The money attracts the most talented players, but it is also an incentive for the community to see what a person can achieve if they dedicate themselves to one hundred percent to it. Being present during another moment of drama, where a specific form of kinetic beauty occurs. On Youtube, there are hundreds of thousands of those moments, a digital museum curated by the community. Since all the games are free to re-upload the curators can make a living of it. Thanks to that, year after year the prize has continued to grow, the same users who are willing to pay tickets to enjoy special events during the weeks of a tournament. A similar mood to the soccer world cup that paralyzes the countries that participate in it.
New aesthetic effects are free, the games of professionals show new ways to achieve a victory, small details that make an exceptional experience. Although the game is entirely free, paying for these events and other memberships does not feel like a scam, but an investment. Just as there are people who can not live far from a gym or a soccer field, in a few years, Dota 2 has generated a similar breed of fans. It will not be the most popular game, but they are here to stay.
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