Tetris Sport - summary of 3 first years Options

[benmullen]

Competetive Tetris will never be a big deal. Still, we haven't seen yet its full potential. Right now, it's very hard to find some information about the multiplayer aspect, e.g. google Tetris or have a look at Tetris.com (or try to find the non-fake multiplayer in Tetris Battle). This would have to change first.

Tetris is the most popular timeless video game. So if there is an video game at the Olymic games, it will be Tetris for sure. Still, this is very unprobable - even chess is not olympic.

I'm really surprised, and not happy with the fact that chess was taken away from the olympics. Also, tetris will NEVER be in the Olymicis, the Olympics are for older peeps. If we want to have a shot at the big time, its the X games, that seems a bit more in keeping with our tratidion. Besides the X games are a sort of proving ground for olympic stuff anyway (not that tetris will get there)

[Joshua_Tolles]

I know this has been mentioned, but I think in order for Tetris to become more popular as a sport, the commentary has to appeal to the observers who are not adept at Tetris. I am not so sure that some of the newer versions quite give the commentator/observer enough time to explain/absorb what is going on (I am talking about novice Tetris players or non-Tetris players here). The person playing might get in a bind, but with hard drop functions, he or she can cycle through 5 to 10 pieces really fast and get what they need to fix their mess, which may not be enough time for a commentator to explain to the observer what happened, what piece or pieces are needed to fix it, what the other options there are, the likelihood of the player to get a clean fix, etc.

I know most of you will roll your eyes at this, but seriously, NES Tetris is much better suited for the casual observer to enjoy watching because of its pace. You can experience a drought of any given piece at any given time, which would give the commentator plenty of time to explain what is going on. Now, I realize NES Tetris is a single player game and is not well suited for sport, so I am not suggesting that it is the ultimate version for this, I am simply saying that it is designed well (as far as the randomizer and pace of play is concerned) for an observer to enjoy with the aid of knowledgeable commentary.

I guess all I am saying is that super-fast hard-dropping may be hard to sell to a non-Tetris player, simply because they need to have things explained in order to appreciate what is going on. And they can certainly appreciate what is going on...as anyone who has seen Ecstasy of Order in the theater can tell you. When you get an entire theater full of people cheering and groaning, it is very fun

[Integration]

Is this slow enough?



This video made me think: Pft, this John Tran doesn't even drop 2 pieces per second, but still he dares to call himself World champion? My opinion: When you use harddrop, the games should be as fast as possible. Elsewise it is missing the wow effect.

Actually, I enjoyed more the 1 vs. 1 NES marathon videos at the Classic Tetris World Championships. It had that wow effect, because the pieces fall so fast and still people not only managed to survive, they constantly do Tetrises. The games even stay thrilling, when one player is 50,000 points ahead, because one mistake can cost you the game. Though, I wouldn't enjoy the screwed marathon you find everywhere these days.

[Rosti_LFC]

I have two problems with high speed.

The first is as Joshua said - it makes the game harder to follow for people who aren't as adept. It's hard to appreciate good decision-making by the players if you can't mentally keep up with the speed the game is going. It also doesn't help if the game progresses too quickly for the commentators to recognise and explain good decision-making. If you can't process Tetris quickly enough to keep up with what is actually being done with the pieces, then for the spectator you might as well not see the pieces at all and just show the stack because that's about all they can really process. Sure, you get the impressive factor with high speed, but that doesn't actually hold any long-term value for anyone.

The second is that it makes games end too quickly. And I don't mean in terms of having 10 second matches - I mean in terms of a player going from "OK" to "dead" in far too short a space of time. A lot of excitement in sports and eSports hinges around tension and not knowing what is about to happen next. If a player is about to top out, then the longer they sit on the brink of death, the more tension is raised as to whether they'll be able to survive it or not. When you combine 180tpm with the ability to easily send 6-10 lines in an incredibly short space of time, you totally eliminate any chance for that sort of excitement to build unless you're extremely good at following the game.

Speed is an easy way to increase the skill ceiling, but I think it's a fairly cheap and blunt way to do so, and it makes the game less interesting as a result.

even chess is not olympic.

Its federation is recognised by the IOC though (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_sports)

And eSports won't ever be in the Olympics for the same reason that darts, chess, pool, etc won't ever be in the Olympics, which is that they don't represent feats of physical technique, strength or athleticism and they're not what the Olympic games are actually meant to be about. Regardless of anything else about the success of something as an eSport, it's just silly media chatter to suggest anything like that will be included in the Olympics unless there's a massive overhaul of the system.

And if one does somehow make it in, then it'll be the equivalent of SC2/LoL/whatever is popular at the time that makes it.

[myndzi]

Everybody hates are for vs but I honestly think it would do a lot for the game as a "sport" so to speak, for the reasons mentioned above. Unfortunately, it is boring to people who don't need a long delay to play well... but on the other hand, it allows good players to really excel. I played meow with 60 are in Blockbox once and got positively rocked. He said he had 'too much time to think'.

I don't see that as a bad thing for a spectator-sport kind of arrangement, though. Imagine if the crazy stuff you can do in KoS was viable in a live game? More to talk about and more to watch... and more time to do it all in.

With high speed play, there's this chance for players to "come back" by playing extra fast, but with low speed play, garbage has a more inevitable, dangerous feel to it. You have to play more strategically because you can't fall back on speed to get you out of a tight spot.

Edit: Reminds me, I once planned to run a kind of multi-speed tournament; each round having a lower ARE setting. I think nobody who signed up actually played any games, but if there's interest I could try it again. Bonus points if we get some commentary to see how that works out.

[massi4h]

Shooting is in the Olympics.

[Rosti_LFC]

Yeah, along with archery because they represent sports involving a physical technique. I guess darts and pool have a reasonable element of physical technique to them in that respect, but then they don't have the traditional stuff about being a skill that would assist survival as a human being etc etc.

The other barrier to any computer game being an Olympic sport is that you need an independent international governing body for the sport to even remotely get consideration. It could be overcome, but other than KeSPA in South Korea, nothing like this exists anywhere for eSports, and it doesn't look particularly likely that it will for quite a few years yet.

But really, all other things aside, given there are things that are unquestionably sports like squash, netball and karate that aren't in the Olympic games, it seems like we'd be a solid 20-40 years before an eSport would ever gain the traction and change in mindset to be included.

Though this is all a diversion from a throwaway phrase by Henk in an interview, where I'm fairly sure he wasn't completely serious and I wouldn't read too much into it.

[Paul676]

Tetris isn't and will never be in the Olympics. But that doesn't stop it from potentially being a very successful e-sport.

[Paradox]

i think whether it is will be an olympic sport is irrelevant. eSports in general may never become olympic sports but instead there will be appropriate organizations that are similar to the olympics. Or simply leagues/tournaments that are very successful would be fine. WCG is sort of an example of that.

So far tetris isn't even succeeding as an eSport though.

[Paul676]

says people like watching fast-harddrop Tetris.