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G. M. (Mark) Baker's avatar

Oh dear, I fear you have involved me in yet another level of recursion, reading a screen about people watching a screen of people playing on a screen.

It does seem that humans enjoy watching excellence. The interesting part is that it does not seem to matter what activity the excellence is in. In fact, the more pointless the excellence is, the more likely we are to watch it. I ask myself, for instance, why I watch snooker and auto racing. Auto racing has some relation to the classic uses of sport, which is a preparation for war. Snooker does not. But snooker lets you get up close to the excellence in a way that auto-racing does not. You can't really see how a race car driver is using their hands and feet in direct relationship to how the car is holding the road. You can see that the excellence is happening. You can't see it happen.

In all the preparation-for-war sports -- football, auto racing, etc. -- there is also the element of courage. Excellence pursued under the threat of injury and death holds an inherent interest for a species evolved in times of constant warfare.

But courage is not a factor in snooker, nor in video games. What I suspect appeals about them is the element of selectivity. As a novelist, I am conscious that a novel is not a window but a lens. It distorts to focus, bringing the reader's attention to bear on one particular aspect of human experience, in order to observe it and contemplate it more easily and more intensely.

Snooker seems to do much the same thing for excellence in hand-eye coordination and the ability to anticipate the movement of bodies in space. There is no element of danger or courage involved, but Snooker refines and selects those skills and puts them on display in a very accessible way.

And perhaps the appeal of watching video games is something of this sort. (I'm guessing because I have no interest in either watching or playing them.) But maybe there are certain kinds of excellence that are selected for and refined and put on display in a video game that opens them up to the fascination of those who are interested in those forms of excellence.

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Stefania Castelli's avatar

Getting older is hard. From Monterey Pop in '67 to Win 11 Insider Preview Dev Channel you feel like a grey-haired, still revolutionary teen.

I felt old about videogames (eSports in contemporary words) since I sold, for little and poor-quality heroin, my broken Commodore 64 and its Compact Cassette loader back in 1984.

So, near my sixties, I decided to front this chapter left open years ago.

The occasion to wander among spectacular human creations occurred thanks to a Game Pass Ultimate account, Bing offered me for my robotic loyalty.

It opened my eyes to an unknown world.

I'm sincere, the best part of the titles I patiently downloaded, remains the "intros" and the creativity behind the scenes.

War in Ukraine and mass shootings in the USA increased my inner aversion for war, entertaining violence, and murder.

Then, I threw down the drain 2,000 USD on Zynga "Harry Potter Puzzles and Spells" and they made me "MVP" of my club: "Siriusly Black".

Don't need new addictions. I already got a great, enviable collection.

Before it was too late, I quit.

eSports, action games, vacuum-cleaners of credit card balances are not for me.

Lately I fell in love with "Genesis Noir": more than a game or an eSport, it's a trip.

More suitable to my chemical weaknesses.

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