We borrowed the punchline from Dabe, who actually had this experience IRL. Or, in game I guess. But the game was being played in real life? I'll have to sit down for a second and really think about where the parentheses begin and end on this shit - I'm being seized 24/7 by incalculable whorls. You usually try to figure it out from the names, there's only a few total formats they use, but occasionally you don't know and you might feel compelled to ask. I feel like asking a person if they are a bot is probably worse than leaving it ambiguous; it's nice when they simply volunteer the information. I guess we also have to consider that these bots have become ensnared by carnal hungers. I'll keep an eye on it, I guess.
I'm pretty interested in Rivals as an eSport, for the reasons I've already enunciated: their heroes are often just… odd. They take crazy liberties with genre norms which make the game a kind of puzzle. At least, at my level of play. I'm curious about where the top end is gonna shake out, which is why I was checking out some of the invitational stuff going on - here's a link to some Day 2 shenanigans. It's pretty whacky and fast, these people scare me a little bit. But the deckbuilding that comes along with team comps in Rivals has that season's Team-Up powers and bonuses, a kind of X Factor extra layer to all of it that I'm excited to see progress and get embroidered over time.
This said… I think Rainbow Six Siege is the most interesting, entertaining, and legible eSport out there, and they just did an invitational that was pretty gripping "tbh." You should absolutely check it out - it's casted very well, and any deficits you might have in terms of game knowledge will melt away. I remember when they showed off their overhead, full-map camera before release three billion years ago and I was like, man. Lots of people were out there trying to make digital sports of various kinds, and at that point it wasn't clear if they were just shaking their tiny fist at a cold universe or if they actually had something. I think it wasn't clear even on release if it was gonna work out
(CW)TB out.
