First of all, this book gave me quite a few surprises along the way. I ha no idea that South Korea was largely interested in pro gaming, let alone being the land of the pro gamer. I assumed it would have been China or Japan. I wonder if they still are considered the leaders in professional gaming or if they have been surpassed. I also found it surprising that South Korea has its own sporting association that regulates and maintains the gaming competitions. The idea of online competitive gaming is an interesting one, it allows you to play anyone in the world, people are no longer resticted by location to find competitors.

It is also interesting to see that some competitive gamers see them selves as professional athletes. At first considering videogames as a sport seems silly, my own definition of ‘sports’ are something that requires actual physical activity. But considering that chess, poker, and formula 1 racing are all considered sports and broadcasted on ESPN, why shouldn’t competitive gaming be considered as such? The training and skill that professional gamers go through and the actual tiers of difference in skill between casual and professional gamers should be enough to qualify them as a sport. If not that then the fact that there are in fact competitions and they are increasingly popular should be more than enough to qualify them.

Another aspect of Competitivie gaming that I found interesting was the idea that its not just skill and practice that makes competitive gamers so good, but the psychological aspects of playing. The idea that you must size up your opponent psycologically in order to play the neccisary moves to best them is an imporant aspect of gaming. The meta-game. The game inside the game is a key part of gaining the neccessary skill set to win. There is also the idea of gamer style and regional style that we discussed in calss a few times. Everyone has their own game styles and player imposed rules that they used. When going to a competition, there are set rules that players must follow in order to play. I wonder if this gives some gamers more of an advantage over others, if they happen to play by the rules when they’re not at competitions.

The book also talks a lot about gender in gaming and challenging gender roles in the gaming world. Gaming is an ideal sport for both genders because there is no divide for physical activity. Its a mental and skillful game, its not based on how much you can lift. There is still a long way to go in the integration of women into the gaming world due to the fact that some or most women choose to hide the fact that they are a woman, and there is often mysogonistic talk used in game play.