What do you think?
Rate this book
Good Luck Have Fun: The Rise of eSports
Esports is one of the fastest growing--and most cutthroat--industries in the world. A confluence of technology, culture, and determination has made this possible. Players around the world compete for millions of dollars in prize money, and companies like Amazon, Coca Cola, and Intel have invested billions. Esports are now regularly played live on national TV. Hundreds of people have dedicated their lives to gaming, sacrificing their education, relationships, and even their bodies to compete, committing themselves with the same fervor of any professional athlete. In Good Luck Have Fun, author Roland Li talks to some of the biggest names in the business and explores the players, companies, and games that have made it to the new major leagues.
Follow Alex Garfield as he builds Evil Geniuses, a modest gaming group in his college dorm, into a global, multimillion-dollar eSports empire. Learn how Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill made League of Legends the world's most successful eSports league and most popular PC game, on track to make over $1 billion a year. See how Twitch.tv pivoted from a video streaming novelty into a $1 billion startup on the back of professional gamers. And dive into eSports' dark side: drug abuse, labor troubles, and for each success story, hundreds of people who failed to make it big. With updates on recent developments, Good Luck Have Fun is the essential guide to the rise of an industry and culture that challenge what we know about sports, games, and competition.
Follow Alex Garfield as he builds Evil Geniuses, a modest gaming group in his college dorm, into a global, multimillion-dollar eSports empire. Learn how Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill made League of Legends the world's most successful eSports league and most popular PC game, on track to make over $1 billion a year. See how Twitch.tv pivoted from a video streaming novelty into a $1 billion startup on the back of professional gamers. And dive into eSports' dark side: drug abuse, labor troubles, and for each success story, hundreds of people who failed to make it big. With updates on recent developments, Good Luck Have Fun is the essential guide to the rise of an industry and culture that challenge what we know about sports, games, and competition.
268 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2016
28 people are currently reading
409 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 25, 2017
This book was an easy read and I imagine it will appeal to all the gamer geeks out there. I used to be one myself before I discovered reading was actually more fun. My main problem with this book is the lack of a well-defined structure which, if it did have one, would enable me to really get into it more easily. It introduces a host of gaming legends, team managers and top teams willy-nilly and as a result, feels like a really long magazine article. It would have been better to build the book focused on a few central players and wrap the rest of the narrative around them. The good parts are when the author gets into the real game action, especially at crucial stages of important tournaments, where we read about amazing moves, players buckling under pressure, teammates blowing up at each other. Unfortunately, Li doesn't do that nearly enough.
March 7, 2018
Overall I think Good Luck Have Fun is an exciting way to get people with little background knowledge into esports. However if you already have a fairly extensive knowledge about esports nothing in this book will be of much surprise, though it is still worth a read. This book goes into how esports started and how it was shaped into what it is today. It also goes into some of present day esports "problems" such as diversity and equality. I don't think they are as big of problems as the present it but I will get into that later.
One of the interesting things in the way the author wrote this novel was the style of character progression even though it is non-fiction. The character progression starts as how the real life person was before encountering esports and how their own interaction with it changed them as a person. It is very similar to a traditional non fiction sports book which really made the point of esports being considered as an actual sport more compelling. I think another way the author made their novel unique was how they kept the flow of the book with the actual change of esports, which let you understand how long certain games were in the spotlight for esports.
A huge critique I have with the novel was how chapter 6 was handled fairly poorly. It seems as though the writer wasn't talking about the statistical problems with esports, just personal ones with not much evidence supporting it. Even with those glaring problems I would recommend this book to anyone.
One of the interesting things in the way the author wrote this novel was the style of character progression even though it is non-fiction. The character progression starts as how the real life person was before encountering esports and how their own interaction with it changed them as a person. It is very similar to a traditional non fiction sports book which really made the point of esports being considered as an actual sport more compelling. I think another way the author made their novel unique was how they kept the flow of the book with the actual change of esports, which let you understand how long certain games were in the spotlight for esports.
A huge critique I have with the novel was how chapter 6 was handled fairly poorly. It seems as though the writer wasn't talking about the statistical problems with esports, just personal ones with not much evidence supporting it. Even with those glaring problems I would recommend this book to anyone.
March 5, 2017
Very fascinating details and insights. As an esports junkie myself, this book as a quick and interesting read, that reminded me of the beginnings and added a lot of names and backgrounds. If you are keen to know, what you are missing out and why this is the fastest growing market, this is your one stop read.
April 9, 2022
Roland Li did a really great job with this book. I'm not remotely a gamer and am not of the generation that understands the current gaming world. And the current gaming world, or gaming world in general is not a subject with lots of literature about and is difficult to sift through the mediums and manage to condense it into a book. For that alone, this book is already a great book. But Roland besides having studied his subject well in terms of the growth of the business, he manages to include some of the cultural aspects of the gaming world which are fundamental to understand the direction the gaming world is going. I loved that. Lastly, Roland gives the gamers a huge part in the book which gives them a legitimacy that they deserve as athletes. The gaming world is not just about games and the consumers but most importantly of the players playing the game. He even describes some specific matches with the dialogue of the players and the actions of their fantasy characters. It gives you a glimpse in what the experience of the players is like which someone like me, that has no idea about Twitch, can understand now. The modern gaming world is a mix of technology, pop culture, fantasy and sports all mixed in one which is immensely attractive for the youth.
The book started with counterstrike, the old school first person shooter game that was based on the videogame Half life. It was vaguely inspired by some terrorist attacks at the time but what makes it stand out as a game is the unforgiving, fast paced gameplay that is heavily team based. Counterstrike isn't remotely one of the best games, let alone best shooter games but it is important in that aspect for what will become competitive gaming. In these early stages of the "professional" gaming world, the major obstacle is the funding, of course, and the organisation.
Besides the United States, the other major country involved in competitive gaming is Korea. In fact in many ways they are far ahead of any country to their determent. Koreans play computer games more so than console games because of the fast internet in their country. Their game of choice is the strategy game, Star craft. The learning curve of games is an important factor in the popularity of games and that's a interesting point that has to be balanced with the complexity of a game in order for it to be competitive. The entrepreneurship of these Tec guys is something Roland covers extensively, which I loved and may be something that even the gamers are not aware of. Partnering up with major sponsors in the right place along with changing past products into a new model has made the competitive gaming world advance so fast in comparison to many popular sports that have stagnated over the past due to no reformations ever being made by old owners. Livestreaming for many hours has been one of those innovations in how the product is shown to the audience. It started from livestreaming the daily lives of some gamers (reality TV) and then just gaming, to then just having fun content that gamers could relate to the authenticity of the streamers. This is essentially the rise of the streaming service Twitch which is now so big that it can stand alongside YouTube and Netflix but targeting a market of it's own, gaming. Twitch is still evolving and there are other types of streams on the service which is leading to a different type of business. One of the main distinctions of twitch as well is the free content for hours as opposed to paying for an event, like the UFC does, or other major sporting events. The next big game Roland talked about was Dota, a evolution of Warcraft in a sense that again relied more heavily on the team aspect and was much more combat heavy as opposed to the economic aspect of Starcraft. Later, Dota would be watered down even further with a even easier learning curve, into a new game, League of Legends which ultimately become the biggest online game in the world. The success of League is also due to the format in which it makes it's money. The game is free which makes it accessible while having a huge focus on buying in game items such as "skins" which don't alter the gameplay, which would make it unfair, but rather give each player their own personality and flair. This model has far outdone the outdated model of buying a 60 dollar game ( or more) that the consumer might not like (thereby hesitate in buying) and then the game not providing any other options of making money. The target audience being in Asia (because of their sponsors) and also making the game free has allowed for an enormous pool of potential consumers and at the same time avoiding the rampant problem of piracy.
When it comes to the athletes/gamers I was most interested in the skill and training required. Countless hours are required to be put in gaming, working on your multi tasking and fast twitch reactions. Some gamers had to adjust their hobbies or daily lives to preserve their valuable hands. The professional life of gamers in terms of the performance alone is already quite short, which is surprising to me. The sheer competitiveness of the games, weeds out the weaker ones. Only the ones that are fully dedicated to gaming, that are not held back by monetary constraints or any duties like another job or serving in the army for a year or two(something common for the youth in Asia). The lack of monetary incentive as well stops the players committing to the profession long term as well and they have switched to other "games" or ventures such as professional poker. It's extremely admirable to me those gamers that move countries, to Korea for example, to immerse themselves in the gaming world and pursue their dreams. Something I really like about the competitive world is that these outcasts of society (socially or physically) have completely changed their destiny into becoming these alphas in their own realm. They generally don't even go by their given names and use their avatar names. They could become paid professionals that are admired by fellow gamers, feared by adversaries and also wanted by women or men. This elevation of status so quickly for these young people has got them into some hot water though. A frequent problem is the profane language being broadcast. Although the online gaming world has almost developed it's own language full of slang, called Twitch chat, some players have gotten themselves in major problems with media and sponsors for their racial slurs and homophobic terms. Regulating those has become a problem and what is being ultimately broadcast is an issue as well as one case even had a gamer commit suicide by overdosing on pills. Possibly the part I was most interested about was in regards to the sexism online and the role of women in the gaming world. Sexism is obviously rampant online where a bunch of faceless teenagers face no consequences with their language. So girls that are visible or known face an incredible amount of abuse and bullying. Although girls make up about half of all online gamers around the world, they still face way more issues in the gaming world then men. The lack of representation is evident with barely any female characters in comparison to men and most of them being over sexualized. The prime example is Lara Croft. Some major twitch streamers have leaned into this over sexualisation of women and have gained millions of young, horny followers. But many, or most, have not. It's a very delicate topic that I think is shifting with pop culture also shifting. In fact, Lara Croft nowadays is much more realistic and less crass. The physical aspect of the sport is levelled in gaming, unlike the vast majority of other sports but that ultimately is irrelevant once you take into account the immense social and cultural imbalance between the sexes. Once professional gaming had been well established and more popular, another problem professional players faced is the power imbalance between the player and the developer, making them have no other option but to accept contracts that are not in their favour. In this new and developing world, the regulations have not caught up yet and it must become a bigger focus before the problems become increasingly more difficult to solve.
The competitions are a work in progress in order for them to become a stable, successful and exciting business. One component already established that has become vital is a good and vibrant colour commentator. This audible element of gaming is also essential in streaming too as the interaction between player and spectator in real time, is something that has even elevated gaming above other sports. Sports on TV might be a model that is dying out in the near future. As mentioned earlier, the dominance of the Korean players especially in Starcraft has been a problem for their success in some ways. Sounds counterintuitive but their monopoly over the game has limited the potential of international competition and also limited international online gaming when players are not English speakers. Top Korean players were also respectful and not interesting personalities which were needed for the popularity of matches. This has lead to the other evil of online gaming, unchecked racism. Online gaming has had a big disparity in the amounts of Black and Latino gamers. There are multiple reasons for this but one of them is that "fighting games" or arcade games have been more popular with those demographics. Arcade games distinctly distinguish themselves from online games and have not been supportive of competitive gaming. Massive Japanese console companies that are household names have surprisingly done the same, seeing competitive gaming as a challenge to their market as opposed to community building. Arcade gaming also has a different model of games being timed and the player paying depending on how much time he plays. Almost the polar opposite. Arcade games also value vintage and old school features whereas Online competitive gaming is all about innovation, which has then welcomed the booming tech companies.
Lastly, towards the end of the Book Roland talks about some issues of the current of future gaming world. With the lack of funding for professional gamers and also with a predominantly young male audience, professional gaming is going to have to deal with match fixing, in which desperate gamers can make money to get by and also naïve young consumers are entering in this unknown grey area of sports betting. Even more difficult to regulate as betters might not be betting actual money, which might already be illegal in many countries, but rather in game items, which are worth real money despite not being physically real. On top of that, are there drugs like Adderall that should also be regulated with players for them not to have a unfair advantage over other players?
The future of professional gaming will certainly need a lot more regulation for fair play and fair business deals for these dedicated players spending countless hours on their craft. The gaming world though will need to build on it's community aspect in order for healthy and concrete business to be established.
The book started with counterstrike, the old school first person shooter game that was based on the videogame Half life. It was vaguely inspired by some terrorist attacks at the time but what makes it stand out as a game is the unforgiving, fast paced gameplay that is heavily team based. Counterstrike isn't remotely one of the best games, let alone best shooter games but it is important in that aspect for what will become competitive gaming. In these early stages of the "professional" gaming world, the major obstacle is the funding, of course, and the organisation.
Besides the United States, the other major country involved in competitive gaming is Korea. In fact in many ways they are far ahead of any country to their determent. Koreans play computer games more so than console games because of the fast internet in their country. Their game of choice is the strategy game, Star craft. The learning curve of games is an important factor in the popularity of games and that's a interesting point that has to be balanced with the complexity of a game in order for it to be competitive. The entrepreneurship of these Tec guys is something Roland covers extensively, which I loved and may be something that even the gamers are not aware of. Partnering up with major sponsors in the right place along with changing past products into a new model has made the competitive gaming world advance so fast in comparison to many popular sports that have stagnated over the past due to no reformations ever being made by old owners. Livestreaming for many hours has been one of those innovations in how the product is shown to the audience. It started from livestreaming the daily lives of some gamers (reality TV) and then just gaming, to then just having fun content that gamers could relate to the authenticity of the streamers. This is essentially the rise of the streaming service Twitch which is now so big that it can stand alongside YouTube and Netflix but targeting a market of it's own, gaming. Twitch is still evolving and there are other types of streams on the service which is leading to a different type of business. One of the main distinctions of twitch as well is the free content for hours as opposed to paying for an event, like the UFC does, or other major sporting events. The next big game Roland talked about was Dota, a evolution of Warcraft in a sense that again relied more heavily on the team aspect and was much more combat heavy as opposed to the economic aspect of Starcraft. Later, Dota would be watered down even further with a even easier learning curve, into a new game, League of Legends which ultimately become the biggest online game in the world. The success of League is also due to the format in which it makes it's money. The game is free which makes it accessible while having a huge focus on buying in game items such as "skins" which don't alter the gameplay, which would make it unfair, but rather give each player their own personality and flair. This model has far outdone the outdated model of buying a 60 dollar game ( or more) that the consumer might not like (thereby hesitate in buying) and then the game not providing any other options of making money. The target audience being in Asia (because of their sponsors) and also making the game free has allowed for an enormous pool of potential consumers and at the same time avoiding the rampant problem of piracy.
When it comes to the athletes/gamers I was most interested in the skill and training required. Countless hours are required to be put in gaming, working on your multi tasking and fast twitch reactions. Some gamers had to adjust their hobbies or daily lives to preserve their valuable hands. The professional life of gamers in terms of the performance alone is already quite short, which is surprising to me. The sheer competitiveness of the games, weeds out the weaker ones. Only the ones that are fully dedicated to gaming, that are not held back by monetary constraints or any duties like another job or serving in the army for a year or two(something common for the youth in Asia). The lack of monetary incentive as well stops the players committing to the profession long term as well and they have switched to other "games" or ventures such as professional poker. It's extremely admirable to me those gamers that move countries, to Korea for example, to immerse themselves in the gaming world and pursue their dreams. Something I really like about the competitive world is that these outcasts of society (socially or physically) have completely changed their destiny into becoming these alphas in their own realm. They generally don't even go by their given names and use their avatar names. They could become paid professionals that are admired by fellow gamers, feared by adversaries and also wanted by women or men. This elevation of status so quickly for these young people has got them into some hot water though. A frequent problem is the profane language being broadcast. Although the online gaming world has almost developed it's own language full of slang, called Twitch chat, some players have gotten themselves in major problems with media and sponsors for their racial slurs and homophobic terms. Regulating those has become a problem and what is being ultimately broadcast is an issue as well as one case even had a gamer commit suicide by overdosing on pills. Possibly the part I was most interested about was in regards to the sexism online and the role of women in the gaming world. Sexism is obviously rampant online where a bunch of faceless teenagers face no consequences with their language. So girls that are visible or known face an incredible amount of abuse and bullying. Although girls make up about half of all online gamers around the world, they still face way more issues in the gaming world then men. The lack of representation is evident with barely any female characters in comparison to men and most of them being over sexualized. The prime example is Lara Croft. Some major twitch streamers have leaned into this over sexualisation of women and have gained millions of young, horny followers. But many, or most, have not. It's a very delicate topic that I think is shifting with pop culture also shifting. In fact, Lara Croft nowadays is much more realistic and less crass. The physical aspect of the sport is levelled in gaming, unlike the vast majority of other sports but that ultimately is irrelevant once you take into account the immense social and cultural imbalance between the sexes. Once professional gaming had been well established and more popular, another problem professional players faced is the power imbalance between the player and the developer, making them have no other option but to accept contracts that are not in their favour. In this new and developing world, the regulations have not caught up yet and it must become a bigger focus before the problems become increasingly more difficult to solve.
The competitions are a work in progress in order for them to become a stable, successful and exciting business. One component already established that has become vital is a good and vibrant colour commentator. This audible element of gaming is also essential in streaming too as the interaction between player and spectator in real time, is something that has even elevated gaming above other sports. Sports on TV might be a model that is dying out in the near future. As mentioned earlier, the dominance of the Korean players especially in Starcraft has been a problem for their success in some ways. Sounds counterintuitive but their monopoly over the game has limited the potential of international competition and also limited international online gaming when players are not English speakers. Top Korean players were also respectful and not interesting personalities which were needed for the popularity of matches. This has lead to the other evil of online gaming, unchecked racism. Online gaming has had a big disparity in the amounts of Black and Latino gamers. There are multiple reasons for this but one of them is that "fighting games" or arcade games have been more popular with those demographics. Arcade games distinctly distinguish themselves from online games and have not been supportive of competitive gaming. Massive Japanese console companies that are household names have surprisingly done the same, seeing competitive gaming as a challenge to their market as opposed to community building. Arcade gaming also has a different model of games being timed and the player paying depending on how much time he plays. Almost the polar opposite. Arcade games also value vintage and old school features whereas Online competitive gaming is all about innovation, which has then welcomed the booming tech companies.
Lastly, towards the end of the Book Roland talks about some issues of the current of future gaming world. With the lack of funding for professional gamers and also with a predominantly young male audience, professional gaming is going to have to deal with match fixing, in which desperate gamers can make money to get by and also naïve young consumers are entering in this unknown grey area of sports betting. Even more difficult to regulate as betters might not be betting actual money, which might already be illegal in many countries, but rather in game items, which are worth real money despite not being physically real. On top of that, are there drugs like Adderall that should also be regulated with players for them not to have a unfair advantage over other players?
The future of professional gaming will certainly need a lot more regulation for fair play and fair business deals for these dedicated players spending countless hours on their craft. The gaming world though will need to build on it's community aspect in order for healthy and concrete business to be established.
March 16, 2018
I am a gamer.
I have been playing video games for years. For the past 4 years I've been an avid League player, and I've followed Esports pretty heavily.
This book does a good job explaining where Esports began, but at times gets off track. It feels like this book is not as organized as it should be, and jumps around a lot. It's told more like a story than an informational book, which is fair, it just wasn't what I was expecting. It was also interesting that it only mentioned Riot Games and League of Legends in the last half of the book, because the Esports scene for League has skyrocketed in the past 5 years. Last year alone at Worlds, they filled a Korean Olympics stadium. The book was written two years ago, so it's understandable that the information isn't as up to date as I would like, but I still feel it doesn't touch on League as much as I would like. Even though Esports did get it's roots in things like CSGO and StarCraft, nowadays it's more Overwatch, LoL, etc.
Maybe it's just because I'm a League player and wanted more about it. There was also only SKT which was mentioned, which was odd. There are so many famous League players, and so much about Riot and the community that wasn't mentioned. I just feel like for such a big part of the Esports community, it was glossed over heavily. Other than that, it was interesting to read where that scene originated, and how we got things that millions use every day, like Twitch.
Overall, it was an interesting read. I would recommend for anyone interested in the beginning of Esports, especially CSGO.
I have been playing video games for years. For the past 4 years I've been an avid League player, and I've followed Esports pretty heavily.
This book does a good job explaining where Esports began, but at times gets off track. It feels like this book is not as organized as it should be, and jumps around a lot. It's told more like a story than an informational book, which is fair, it just wasn't what I was expecting. It was also interesting that it only mentioned Riot Games and League of Legends in the last half of the book, because the Esports scene for League has skyrocketed in the past 5 years. Last year alone at Worlds, they filled a Korean Olympics stadium. The book was written two years ago, so it's understandable that the information isn't as up to date as I would like, but I still feel it doesn't touch on League as much as I would like. Even though Esports did get it's roots in things like CSGO and StarCraft, nowadays it's more Overwatch, LoL, etc.
Maybe it's just because I'm a League player and wanted more about it. There was also only SKT which was mentioned, which was odd. There are so many famous League players, and so much about Riot and the community that wasn't mentioned. I just feel like for such a big part of the Esports community, it was glossed over heavily. Other than that, it was interesting to read where that scene originated, and how we got things that millions use every day, like Twitch.
Overall, it was an interesting read. I would recommend for anyone interested in the beginning of Esports, especially CSGO.
May 22, 2021
I read this around the time I took on my new role at Ubisoft, and found it to be a great read on how we’ve gotten to what we have now when it comes to the world of esports. A good read if you want to know more about competitive gaming, and the major players (not necessarily current major players, but the people who helped define the scene).
August 19, 2021
Bland/inconsistent writing style IMO but serves it's purpose - learned a lot about the history of the industry.
June 10, 2020
Этой книге фатально не хватает нарратива. Понятно, что история киберспорта слишком объемна, чтобы уместить ее в одну книгу, но конкретно в этой выбор тем выглядит необъяснимо рандомным. Например, в первой главе рассказывается, как в середине нулевых в Штатах и Канаде (книга вообще очень американо-центрична) жил себе поживал полулюбительский контр-страйк. Организовывались небольшие турниры, кто-то ездил на WCG и особенно там не блистал, а потом какая-то большая телекомпания решила сделать из контры шоу по правилам “большого спорта”. Поначалу вроде даже что-то получалось, но потом наступил 2008 год, кризис, все рухнуло; глава заканчивается, и больше в этой книге про КС не будет вообще ни слова. В результате целая глава почти целиком оказывается посвящена полузабытым ноунеймам, а настоящие легенды контры типа Таза или Гет_Райта ни разу не упоминаются.
Дальше все примерно так же: во второй главе рассказывается о том, как американцы открывали для себя Старкрафт (и чуть-чуть про корейцев еще), в четвертой – про justin.tv и как из него вырос twitch (и это последняя глава, где вы встретите слово twitch), в пятой – как появились Riot Games (по-моему, там не упоминается вообще ни одна команда; может, и упоминается, но я ни одной не запомнил), в шестой – как в киберспорте ущемляют женщин (внезапно!), дальше – столь же резкий переход к теме Доты и ее бешеных призовых. Кульминация – пятый International: американцы наконец-то что-то выиграли. (IT’S A DISASTAH!, если вы понимаете, о чем я)
Кому эту книгу посоветовать? Не знаю. Юные любители электрического спорта все интересное отсюда уже знают (возможно, даже разбираются лучше автора). Их консервативные родители, скорее всего, ничего не поймут. Кто ЦА? Какие-нибудь инвесторы, которые что-то слышали о том, что киберспорт сейчас в моде и думают, стоит ли в него вкладываться? Хрен знает. Думаю, вы ничего не потеряете, если эта книга пройдет мимо вас.
PS: Респект господину А. В. Соловьеву (кто бы это ни был) за неплохой перевод и ценные примечания к тексту книги. Смело могу сказать, что с ними она стала лучше оригинала.
Дальше все примерно так же: во второй главе рассказывается о том, как американцы открывали для себя Старкрафт (и чуть-чуть про корейцев еще), в четвертой – про justin.tv и как из него вырос twitch (и это последняя глава, где вы встретите слово twitch), в пятой – как появились Riot Games (по-моему, там не упоминается вообще ни одна команда; может, и упоминается, но я ни одной не запомнил), в шестой – как в киберспорте ущемляют женщин (внезапно!), дальше – столь же резкий переход к теме Доты и ее бешеных призовых. Кульминация – пятый International: американцы наконец-то что-то выиграли. (IT’S A DISASTAH!, если вы понимаете, о чем я)
Кому эту книгу посоветовать? Не знаю. Юные любители электрического спорта все интересное отсюда уже знают (возможно, даже разбираются лучше автора). Их консервативные родители, скорее всего, ничего не поймут. Кто ЦА? Какие-нибудь инвесторы, которые что-то слышали о том, что киберспорт сейчас в моде и думают, стоит ли в него вкладываться? Хрен знает. Думаю, вы ничего не потеряете, если эта книга пройдет мимо вас.
PS: Респект господину А. В. Соловьеву (кто бы это ни был) за неплохой перевод и ценные примечания к тексту книги. Смело могу сказать, что с ними она стала лучше оригинала.
January 12, 2021
This is a great esports history book that demonstrates how it started, tells the stories of people behind it and even what happened to them when they quit professional gaming. I got reintroduced to nicknames and team names that I used to hear.
However it left me wondering what Asian players went through cause a lot was told about Europe and the US. It's a wonder in one way that esports survived cause what I've seen here is that perhaps the industry still lacks sportsmanship and ethics, now it is enter whether it is possible or not cause some people's behavior and attitudes don't always let them stay within sports and a younger industry is not different, though it's clear that a team would probably want to restrain from toxicity.
He also mentions challenges that the industry keeps facing nowadays with old sponsors still looking out for traditional advertising channels and overlooking what they should be looking. This should not really pose a threat to its existence with sponsors like Red Bull though.
I like that there's a chapter dedicated to Twitch. The author is meticulous and tells the story of some matches so well that these descriptions bored me. It should be interesting to see how people so far away from gaming imagine what's happening on a screen whey they just read about it.
However it left me wondering what Asian players went through cause a lot was told about Europe and the US. It's a wonder in one way that esports survived cause what I've seen here is that perhaps the industry still lacks sportsmanship and ethics, now it is enter whether it is possible or not cause some people's behavior and attitudes don't always let them stay within sports and a younger industry is not different, though it's clear that a team would probably want to restrain from toxicity.
He also mentions challenges that the industry keeps facing nowadays with old sponsors still looking out for traditional advertising channels and overlooking what they should be looking. This should not really pose a threat to its existence with sponsors like Red Bull though.
I like that there's a chapter dedicated to Twitch. The author is meticulous and tells the story of some matches so well that these descriptions bored me. It should be interesting to see how people so far away from gaming imagine what's happening on a screen whey they just read about it.
March 9, 2018
This study is rather informative than enlightening, so is a waste of time. Anyone interested in picking this book has already a slight idea about the videogames that the author exhaustly and unnecesarily describes in here. We all gamers know how to play League of Legends, we all know what Starcraft is about, we've already seen stadiums filled with euforic teenagers and beautiful cosplayers; reading this book felt like listening to your grampa trying to teach you how to use the internet.
Still, two chapters were pretty cool. He exposes the harassement on women community and also talks about the busisness of big teams. These two chapters were great and they lead to some topics worth of discussion, but the rest of the book is repetitive and somehow insulting, like the author forgot that already informed gamers would want to read it.
So this book is rather a basic journalist study for anyone who wants to know about eSport, but never have played any competitive videogame.
Still, two chapters were pretty cool. He exposes the harassement on women community and also talks about the busisness of big teams. These two chapters were great and they lead to some topics worth of discussion, but the rest of the book is repetitive and somehow insulting, like the author forgot that already informed gamers would want to read it.
So this book is rather a basic journalist study for anyone who wants to know about eSport, but never have played any competitive videogame.
May 2, 2019
Неплохая книга, рассказывающая подноготную становления современного киберспорта. Рассказывается про Counter-Strike чемпионаты, про WarCraft III и StarCraft, про League of Legends, и, наконец, Dota 2. Кроме того, поведана история создания Твитч, главного поставщика игростримов.
В целом, симпатично, жаль, что автор проигнорировал историю чемпионатов по Quake (но отчасти об этом можно почитать в 'Masters of Doom'), но, видимо, его больше интересовала история становления профессиональных команд, нежели одиночек, ведь игроки приходят и уходят, а продюсерские команды остаются.
Книга чем-то напоминает 'Наша игра', тоже больше похоже на репорт о состоянии индустрии, чем художественное произведение. Могу порекомендовать тем, для кого слово Дота2 и ЛоЛ - не пустой звук, или просто интересно было бы почитать о киберспорте.
В целом, симпатично, жаль, что автор проигнорировал историю чемпионатов по Quake (но отчасти об этом можно почитать в 'Masters of Doom'), но, видимо, его больше интересовала история становления профессиональных команд, нежели одиночек, ведь игроки приходят и уходят, а продюсерские команды остаются.
Книга чем-то напоминает 'Наша игра', тоже больше похоже на репорт о состоянии индустрии, чем художественное произведение. Могу порекомендовать тем, для кого слово Дота2 и ЛоЛ - не пустой звук, или просто интересно было бы почитать о киберспорте.
November 8, 2021
A fun, informative, enjoyable listen! (I listened to this on Audible)
I love that it covered everything from the journey of up-and-coming gamers and their persistence before the industry was big, and that it was really focused on the gamers’ perspective. The book addresses gender equality, women in gaming, racism, discrimination, match fixing, the business side of companies like Twitch developing (one of my favourite chapters, which reminded me of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier —an incredible book relevant to this one), the consequences of online audience backlash, and workers rights in the gaming industry. Lots of fun quotes and varied insights!
I don’t play, but I do watch a ton of documentaries and audiobooks about the esports industry and this one has a lot to offer to the canon 👍🏾 10/10 recommend, and loved that it came free with audible plus!
I love that it covered everything from the journey of up-and-coming gamers and their persistence before the industry was big, and that it was really focused on the gamers’ perspective. The book addresses gender equality, women in gaming, racism, discrimination, match fixing, the business side of companies like Twitch developing (one of my favourite chapters, which reminded me of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier —an incredible book relevant to this one), the consequences of online audience backlash, and workers rights in the gaming industry. Lots of fun quotes and varied insights!
I don’t play, but I do watch a ton of documentaries and audiobooks about the esports industry and this one has a lot to offer to the canon 👍🏾 10/10 recommend, and loved that it came free with audible plus!
December 31, 2018
gg.
całkiem fajna lektura dla każdego, kto interesuje się eSportem. autor skupia się na Alexandrze Garfieldzie i jego karierze, co mnie osobiście nie ciekawiło zbyt bardzo. całkiem interesujące opisy rozgrywek. minus za opisywanie oczywistych mechanik w grach - rzecz moim zdaniem zbędna, gdyż chyba każdy kto sięga po taką książkę ma pewną podstawową wiedzę o tak popularnych grach jak CS albo DOTA? plus za fantastyczny rozdział o problemach z reprezentacją, zachowaniu wobec kobiet oraz rasiźmie w eSporcie.
całkiem fajna lektura dla każdego, kto interesuje się eSportem. autor skupia się na Alexandrze Garfieldzie i jego karierze, co mnie osobiście nie ciekawiło zbyt bardzo. całkiem interesujące opisy rozgrywek. minus za opisywanie oczywistych mechanik w grach - rzecz moim zdaniem zbędna, gdyż chyba każdy kto sięga po taką książkę ma pewną podstawową wiedzę o tak popularnych grach jak CS albo DOTA? plus za fantastyczny rozdział o problemach z reprezentacją, zachowaniu wobec kobiet oraz rasiźmie w eSporcie.
June 6, 2022
Having read several books on esports recently, this was one of the better ones. Li seems to come from an endemic standpoint that’s easy enough to discern. My only issues where that it felt as though it was written as individual chapters that were all pieces together after the fact and then also the book felt like it just… ended seemingly with no real conclusion.
Also, I listened to the audiobook and found it rather humerus that the narrator mispronounced Nadeshot, Pewdiepie, and Natus Vincere (2 completely different ways).
Also, I listened to the audiobook and found it rather humerus that the narrator mispronounced Nadeshot, Pewdiepie, and Natus Vincere (2 completely different ways).
May 15, 2018
Many books on esports have a problem with either painting too rosy a picture or being poorly informed, but this book was surprisingly balanced and I think accessible to those who are still looking to learn more. I would definitely recommend reading for those interested in learning about the growth of esports and gaining some historical perspective.
April 20, 2022
Well, this is certainly a book about eSports, but it falters in not having any particular aim. It attempts to have a more historical angle in the beginning, but it soon descends more or less into a collection of essays and impressions. It's okay, but not essential in any way.
September 29, 2022
Very interesting account of most popular e-sports disciplines (games), their respective teams, and development over the years. Also some interesting moments from the lives and careers of several most prominent individuals in e-sports history. If you're gamer, you can't not like this.
June 26, 2018
Such a fun and informative read on esports and how it has gained traction in the world of entertainment!
July 4, 2018
Great overview and first person perspective on the e-sports industry. Objective analysis on what the industry looks like.
October 23, 2019
Great introduction to Gaming and background
July 18, 2021
very insightful :) got a little heavy on dota mechanics towards the end, and i definitely won't remember names or tourneys, but still a cool read
July 6, 2022
Breve historia de literalmente el título del libro. Incluye menciones a cosas que la industria de los videojuegos ya no debería ni recordar y que siendo sinceros ni debieron haber pasado.
October 27, 2023
not for me. that’s all i will say.
February 28, 2017
A worthy successor to Michael Kane's Game Boys. loved the comprehensive feel. Only wish they'd covered the fighting game scene better.
October 6, 2023
Cursory Glimpse into Esports.
It's an informative read about the world of esports. The author delves into the industry's growth and history, offering valuable insights for both newcomers. The book provides foundational knowledge about the industry's evolution, but it occasionally falls short of delivering the depth and engagement desired by readers seeking a more profound understanding.
This book serves as a suitable introduction to the world of esports for beginners but may leave seasoned enthusiasts craving a more comprehensive and immersive experience.
Conclusion: A decent book for those looking to grasp the basics of esports, but it falls short of delivering a truly engaging experience.
It's an informative read about the world of esports. The author delves into the industry's growth and history, offering valuable insights for both newcomers. The book provides foundational knowledge about the industry's evolution, but it occasionally falls short of delivering the depth and engagement desired by readers seeking a more profound understanding.
This book serves as a suitable introduction to the world of esports for beginners but may leave seasoned enthusiasts craving a more comprehensive and immersive experience.
Conclusion: A decent book for those looking to grasp the basics of esports, but it falls short of delivering a truly engaging experience.
Read
August 26, 2016It's an enjoyable look at some key moments in esports, along with reflection about what the history might mean for players, fans, and developers. The narrative focuses on Alexander Garfield (Evil Geniuses, Alliance) who acts as a guiding thread. Some readers might find this attention problematic, but Li treats his subjects fairly. I quite enjoyed the scenes describing matches, as I feel Li was able to make the events exciting even for readers with limited knowledge of the games (I play League, but I don't play DOTA 2 or SC).
May 25, 2021
Great listen/read to gain basic background of gaming industry and evolution of eSports sprouting from South Korea, Europe, and the US. As a non-gamer, it gave me macro picture of the gaming (from Counter Strike to Starcraft and LOL) and streaming (Twitch) industries and how these companies was founded and grew.
November 26, 2016
Especially in light of everything that has been happening in the League of Legends scene with Riot and the NA/EU LCS teams, this is a must read to learn about the history of eSports and what it could mean for its future as a whole.
November 7, 2016
Easy to read, very enjoyable and friendly to the reader.
Currently reading
January 11, 2019Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews