E-Sports Are Bringing Play and Performance Back to Video Games – Slate Magazine

In contrast, e-sports games are unending tests of skill and dedication, not the intricately crafted but finite experiences of narratively rich blockbuster titles. E-sports games are more similar to basketball or chess than to The Last of Us, which unfolds like an interactive movie. In Dota 2, you enter the matchmaking queue to look for other people to play with. After choosing their characters, or “heroes,” each team of five enters the set game world. These heroes than attempt to gain strength and destroy a structure in the home base called the “ancient.” When one of the ancients is destroyed, the game world is completely reset, and the player has the option to queue up for another game. Each game pits 10 people in a unique, dynamic competition, so the concept of “finishing” the game does not apply as it does in The Last of Us, Assassin’s Creed, or other prestige titles.  There is no limit to the number of times the process can be repeated, because the product is never “used up.” The experience is not consumed. Instead, it’s produced by the players.