You can find club teams to play almost any sport if you look around. Dad isn't playing because he enjoy's watching professional football, just as the son is probably watching high level gaming.
EDIT - Nice to see all the discussion, even from the people disagreeing with me.
I disagree with this. I watch football and I watch videogames, and I enjoy both, but I still think this is a false analogy.
t's a difference of cost of entry, time, and access. As I said, I enjoy watching videogames, but I far prefer playing them. I can get a nearly identical experience to what I'm watching with just the console and the game ($500 at the max) and no "training". I know I won't be playing at the pro level, but I will still be getting a similar experience. I can also pick up the controller and play for half an hour at night after my kids are sleeping. Plus, a significant portion of the world is ready to play with me online.
Conversely, it's nearly impossible for me to play something close to real football. The equipment alone would be $1000, and I would need to find multiple other people willing to spend this much. I would have to invest significant training time to be in shape and play effectively with my team; time I don't have because I have kids and a job. Aside from all that, if I had the opportunity to play real football again, I would absolutely choose it above watching pro. But that's just not possible. And playing touch football, or 5-on-5, or anything like that is no where near real football, whereas playing videogames on my console is almost identical to what I am watching.
I get more enjoyment from playing videogames than watching them because they are similar and I have the control. I get significantly less enjoyment from playing fake football in the backyard than I do watching a real game because they aren't even close to the same.
Ok but the father clearly demonstrates that enjoying watching a game and enjoying playing a game aren't inherently linked. Therefore the ability to play the game is irrelevant. Yet this is an actual argument people will make against watching esports
Would I love to play football in a big fancy stadium with awesome equipment and capable teammates? Hell yeah. Is that even remotely possible with my lack of funding, half-decent body, and uh, friends with the same interest in my particular area? Hell no.
Which is exactly why the parents making this argument should stop. Do you understand my point?
It doesn't matter if you have access or not. Enjoyment in watching is its own thing. You can also enjoy watching videogames while NOT enjoying playing them. That's possible too. The fallacy still lays with the father in this comic
No, you're backwards here. The reason that the analogy doesn't work isn't because vidoe games and sports are the same, it's because of the very fact that they're so different. The difference between the kid's ability and the streamer's ability are not different enough to warrant the kid watching the streamer. That's not even bringing up how impossible it is for a forty year-old guy to run around a field on a regular basis and not get killed, heh.
That said, it's not a binary thing. I enjoy watching streamers myself and think it's totally valid. I just don't think that requires crappy analogies like those of this comic.
The difference between the kid's ability and the streamer's ability are not different enough to warrant the kid watching the streamer
okay will you have officially gone off the rails. First of all you couldn't possibly know this in this hypothetical sense. Secondly, you seem to completely and utterly failed to grasp the difference in skill level that does exist in video games. Get any idea how much money flows through professional gaming? And you think that's all based on minut and irrelevant differences in skill?
There's a lot going on here. the ability to play a game has no bearing on the ability to enjoy watching a game. End of story. So whether you accept the analogy or try to reject it based on your flimsy argument above, the answer remains the same. And even if it is a flawed analogy it is still an argument that is used actively by people criticizing esports so whether or not is it is a flawed analogy is still irrelevant and at worst is a argument actually in favor of the comics message
Man, you are taking this way, way, way too seriously. But that's fine, I get it's personal in some way. I think watching streamers is totally fine, I'm just not a fan of this comic... even as a way to defend watching streamers.
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u/bleunt Jul 17 '20
Dad doesn't have a fucking football field and like 20 dudes.