Spectator Sport

 

By: Jonathan Seidel

Baseball Doesn’t exist: gladiator battle spectating and baseball park fun spectacle 

The YouTuber Baseball Doesn’t Exist uploaded a video discussing the extremes  baseball owners will go for fans to come to the games. Some were ludicrous but this has grown to amusement park levels. Baseball games have gone beyond the game for merely profit and fun. 

The range of activities surmised by owners to bankroll their games is incredible. Whatever it takes to get fans to buy tickets. Baseball games have become an amusement park. A theatrical performance only heightened by its additions. Whether that be free hot dog day or race against the mascot. The goal of these additions is to add more to baseball than just the baseball play. There needs to be more than just the gameplay. How to get non-baseball fans to come to a baseball game is to add not baseball elements. Giving all sorts of giveaways and carnival features makes the spectacle less about the gameplay and more about the experience. The game is for the resilient few who enjoy the game but many are awaiting the intermission. They can’t wait for the bottom of the inning. The precious moments before the batter enters the batter’s box. He is check swinging off to the side and the first baseman is hurling grounders for the shortstop to relay over. All this is happening and fans are looking elsewhere. They are preoccupied with the fun that is ensuing. The theatre that has emerged from its hiding place to entertain them. 

NBA fans can’t wait for the timeout to end. They’d rather the dance team not do their thing. They’ll cheer for the million dollar shot but anxiously await the gameplay. The sport is focused upon. The gameplay is nourished. Many fans are in it for the game. They see celebrities sitting court-side and desire better seats to be near their idols. The game is fast, there is little time with exception of halftime to rest. Halftime is to chill, refill and use the loo. A time to recompose. The same is with football. The gameplay, the gladiator might is concentrated. Fans can’t wait until halftime ends. When will the game be back on. Less games means more expensive tickets and the physicality is enjoyable. There is more action and aggression. Baseball is a long season and little physicality. It is more a posh sport that would be played in England. A sport of upper-class suit wearing tycoons than unpolished razing athletes. It is a game of skill and coordination not athletic superiority and ferociousness. Its lackadaisical weekday outing drawn out season is too much to follow or enjoy. There is just too much to care. Inform when the playoffs begin to tune in.   

Given its procedure, the sport could have shortened the season but that would undermine America’s past time. Stubbornness and pride maintained despite the erosive character of the sport. Owners were forced to act in the name of the sport. How to get more people to not only watch but come to the stadium. What can the stadium provide that television couldn’t. There are so many games why come to each one. Well because at this game there would be this give away. All types of creative ideas. To inspire fans to enjoy. The die hards were dwindling so how to appeal to those who didn’t care so much. Instead of trying to inspire newfound love into the sport, the owners took a more devilish route. They tried to acquire those non-fans with zero connection to baseball to come. It was immense work but it was effective. All different acrobatic events enticed people to come. Sometimes they got out of hand but people came. People enjoyed the unique experience provided at baseball stadiums. It wasn’t for the game but for the experience at the game. 

In time, they have not only catered to those non-fans but to fan’s families. What if your wife isn’t a fan? What if your child is bored? There is a waterslide, video game room, a bar. All sorts of options to keep you coming to the game. Bring your family, there always something for them to do. Even if you are bored there is a place to relax elsewhere. There are many options to choose from. Keep coming and we’ll keep you engaged and entertained. This brilliant tactic has changed the perception of theme. It has some similarities with universities adding expensive non-academic facilities whether a pool or a lounge. Enticing prospective students to enjoy the university beyond the academics. While it began as a nice benefit, it becomes the centre of a decision. The same is with baseball, the aesthetic beyond the gameplay is preferred by a large amount of fans. It is the entertainment that exceeds the game itself. Baseball games are not only about the game. The sequences the points. For some that matters yet for others it is engrossment in other additions. 

Interest is not fuelled by desire for the gameplay but for the extracurriculars. For the entertainment that lies outside the game. Whether that be on the field, in the stands or in a different wing of the stadium. Such doesn’t matter because it is in the complex. It is a part of the stadium. It is as if a family went to the mall and while the sister went shopping, the youngest was roaming around in the jungle gym and the elder brother went for a ride on the roller coaster all the while mom went to buy groceries. There is something for everybody even dad could go catch a movie if he grew bored. The mall has everything. Something for everybody. The baseball stadium is the preoccupation of the fan but other non-fans can find enjoyment there two. It has become its own mall. A complex that has surrounded the intended spectacle with other enjoyable features. Even spicing up the normative experience for non-fans to enjoy. To partake in the festivities over the sporting occasion. It is but providing the joy for the spectator in all sorts of ways. 

It’s truly a marvel of modern allocation. No hypermarket but a supermarket with traces of extra goodies. A place with its intended entertainment only to find more twists and turns to grab attention. In the YouTubers own name, baseball doesn’t exist. It is merely a fictitious creation of play-by-play dotted lines. There is some figures encircling the bases, a ball whacked with a bat. Yet that is for the insiders. Many see the advertisement and quickly lower their gaze to the bottom. Where is the freebee? What are they offering now? The new aesthetic grabs interest. The game is in the background. Listening to the radio. Cool but of no real consequence. This slide though, the hotdogs come on. The aesthetic is the focus. The feature is the joy. Baseball is a figment of action. Theatre kids directed in a slow dance. Old people can watch it but the entertainment is in the fun stuff. In the absurdities and actionable elements. Don’t focus too much on the game. That is but an echo to the non-fan. It is the rest that is endearing. The experience of all else outside the game. 

Baseball owner’s galvanised interest in purchasing tickets. Producing new aesthetics entices the experience even if there is engagement with the game. It is but background noise. Something to look at periodically. The stadium is a mall with so much to see. Spend a few moments watching and then spend the rest endorsing the entertainment. It is a spectacle of cheerful enjoyment for the whole family. 

Personal Experience

By: Jonathan Seidel

Legend of Zelda and endless autonomy  

   

The original Legend of Zelda is an incredibly frustrating game. Dropped in the middle of nowhere given a quick sword to defend against the monsters but other than that the cryptic messages by the old man and endless wandering are the only way to beat the game. The beauty of the game is open autonomy. There is rare uniform, no passerby secrets to direct. Trust your gut and head forward.

The game is a pain. It is difficult and stressful. Wandering in circles searching for some clarity. It could take hours. Perseverance is critical. The game does come together but it takes some time. There are collectibles. Better weapons and items to pass difficult areas. To build up this inventory is to wander aimlessly for hours. It is tedious but it is also reassuring. When that item is found accomplishment soothes in. The greatest feelings of success are from the long tiring tasks. Each collectible is a step in the correct direction. There is no levels only boss stages on a horizontal axis. Everything is on the screen it only need be uncovered. That is not simple nor easy. Yet it prioritises experimentation. Trying different tactics to excel. Maybe there is a secret gem behind this bush, maybe turning left will reach the dungeon. It is a game of chance for the first timer. The newness is Barcelona for a tourist. A paratrooper in the jungle. Take risks and cautiously trot along. It is a bit overwhelming with so many  possibilities but it is this openness that allows the creativity and independence of the player. 

Many games today have hints or helpers to guide along the way. I remember seeing Madden 20 (I think) having a user catch. Though even A Link to the Past eased the burden of the figuring the game for yourself. Super Mario was a level by level game so it was quite straightforward while that didn’t make the levels the mission was obvious. RPGs provide some latitude but Zelda was just another level of all over the place. Super Metroid has a similar method. There is a lot of running through different areas searching for various items. There is a semi-uniform model but it is adventurous with much to figure out. With Metroid, it felt there was momentum in the correct direction. Each boss felt leading to the next stage. Even after the third boss it didn’t feel that the journey was becoming more linear. It felt that the rest of the game was far in the future. Many RPGs provide a map or NPCs to receive guidance. The old man was the one available asset yet his cryptic messages were ambiguous. The developers had much fun with the puzzle pieces dispersed throughout the game. Hidden treasures to ease the game were placed randomly but creative. There was no guide just persistence. Never give up. Keep moving forward. Keep trying. With enough time in the game, results would show but patience was key. A simple sword against the hoard of monsters constantly respawning. It was too open. Too much space to figure nothing. 

The mantra of the game was exploration. Enjoying the gameplay as it gradually unlocked doors to the next stage. It was open for the fun and autonomy sampled to defeat the game in one’s own style. Spending time exploring, killing new monsters on the edge, hitting random trees to open hidden staircases to buy new items. It is a game of experience. A game to delve into the exploration with no guide. Counting the number of screens to recall how far the dungeon was from the original spot. I can’t speak for the older gamers who played it before the modern graphics but as a younger individual, the exploration is not of appearances but of travelling. The cool exotic nature of modern gaming. The realism and the upfront aesthetics are not the pixel generated illustrations. The exploration is a manner of enjoying the journey. A tourist walking down a random road instead of heading straight for the historical site. The experience is the patience of the solo journey. With the exception of the old man’s merchant life in the cave there are no other NPCs. The protagonist is completely alone in the gameplay. It is a lonely for some but for others the wonder of simple examination is worthwhile. Enamouring aesthetics pale in comparison to good gameplay. The story is simple but the gameplay is gruelling. Such a game is a worthwhile puzzle.

Zelda’s experience is heart-wrenching and chaotic. Hairsplitting stress scrambles the positive enjoyment from the game. Anticipating to win, the game is an adversary. The game is trying to destroy the player’s mind. Where is the joy? Where is the fun? The fun is in the dialectical play. It is precisely the difficulty that brings the greatest benefit. It is through displeasure that sublime shines brightly. Awe shoots out of the mundane. The seemingly intolerable is an unpolished gem that needs a quick wipe to see its glory. The mountaintop is realised in the moment of reaching the peak. The mundane mountain is nothing but treacherous. Tiring to climb but its peak is an inexplainable site. Results from toiling only amplify the experience. Expectations heighten the joy. There may be a psychic element but the truth of the beauty is correlated to the normative classic perception. The marvel that sprouts from the unexpected is overwhelming. Yet the expectation itself cannot meet the actual experience. The aspiring potentiality fails to comprehend the actual. The mundane tedious wandering is an art. Piercing the mundane enjoys the moments of mechanical affiliation. The same routine killing monsters and receiving gems is overlayed with the open-ended exploration. Each screen is mimicked with different monsters but the same idea. The creativity is not in the monster type but in the protagonist. To decide his fate is to find pleasure in his path. 

A wonderful game for the strategist not the aesthetician. The priorities of the player are pinned against the normal routine of games. Games are to be fun but also realistic. They are to be engaging with the player. NPCs ought to be present to provide guidance. Arcade games were simple straight to the point. Pac-Man has a simple mission but Zelda does not. Zelda is unique since it allows freedom to reach the end. How to reach that end is up to the player. The protagonist has free will in his way to victory. The gameplay is caught in a dialectic since there is no other voices he either decides to beat the game or forever explore. To indulge in eternal trekking all over the map or to search for the dungeons. Yet it is a process game. The dungeons will eventually will be happened upon. Walk in every direction experiment enough and the dungeons will be found. It comes down to patience. The dialectic is apparent because there is so much freedom. Both options are legitimate according to the gameplay. Other games force certain accomplishments to move to the next stage. Zelda observes the player to decide his destiny. Move left, right, up or down. The mindset must be of experience to instil the necessary patience. It is a game of experience not results. Challenging but strategic. 

Zelda’s uniqueness is a favourite. It is tough without proper patience. Be strategic and enjoy the journey. Do not think about the steps to win just the gameplay itself. It separates itself with the soloist episode and lonely atmosphere. It is just the player and the game, just the protagonist and the monsters