Spectator sports: competitive MMOs
by Jennie Lees 
{ May 11th 2006 at 5:30PM }
NCsoft is trying to establish Guild Wars as a competitive game as well as a more casual MMO, but appealing to such a diverse audience isn't easy. However, the crowds gathering at NCsoft's booth to watch two hardcore Guild Wars PvP teams duke it out seemed to enjoy the show.At this particular event, Team EvIL and Team PnH were going head to head. The commentator did an excellent job of both explaining the game and getting enthusiastic about the action. We're somewhat familiar with the Guild Wars mechanics, but the action was incomprehensible -- while it's fun to watch the truly skilled ply their trade, it's hard to follow the intricacies of MMO as a spectator.
Guild Wars introduced an observer mode last December, but we'd have to spend a lot of time watching before tournaments like this became easily accessible. On the other hand, watching the pretty colours flash by is relaxing amidst the buzz of E3.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CQQLGUY @ May 11th 2006 5:50PM
sweet... i guess..
Cerni @ May 11th 2006 6:45PM
Spectator MMOs???
Doesn't interest me one bit :-P
Karmakin @ May 11th 2006 6:49PM
It's not just watching any MMO that's confusing online.
Guild Wars PvP is VERY daunting for a new player. (It actually has a pretty good learning curve, but the top level is VERY high)
Personally, I love it for that very reason. There's so many different conditions and effects going around, spikes and countering spikes, positioning and body-blocking. There's no limit to how good you can get. I like that.
Aw crap. They're playing Isle of Meditation as well (Probably the most complext of the Guild vs. Guild maps). That's not going to help things :)
godspiral @ May 12th 2006 8:05AM
Guildwars does a good job blending RPG with FPS. Hard on noobs though.