One month ago, news hit the Internet that Farming Simulator 19 would receive an esports league. Now, for many, Farming Simulator 19 is not the most exiting game, but that got me thinking. Plenty of other games would, however, make great esports platforms. So, here are a few that should receive their own esports leagues.
Games That Deserve Their Own Esports League
Retro Arcade Games
Arcade games are serious business. Gamers place quarters into slots, rack up as many points as they can, lose all their lives, put more quarters into slots, and repeat until they either run out of quarters, beat the game, or clear so many stages that the level counter exceeds the arcade cabinet’s memory.
Some gamers will never stop in their eternal quest to achieve the highest of high scores, and much like the Highlander, there can be only one.
Some arcade cabinet players are extremely competitive, as demonstrated by people like Billy Mitchell, the dethroned King of Kong. That level of competitiveness would make for an ideal esports league.
Imagine: an esports competition where participants compete not to KO one another but simply to score more points. Gamers would continue playing until they lose all of their lives, no breaks allowed. Whomever gets the high score wins. It would be a challenge of split-second decision making, twitch gameplay, and stamina.
Plus, each year could feature a different game. One year the esports arcade league could feature Donkey Kong, the next PAC-MAN, the year after that could be Centipede, then Galaga. Each year could bring new challenges, new surprises, and new champions.
Games That Deserve Their Own Esports League
Worms
Real-time strategy games are a popular esports category, and it’s easy to see the appeal. Two players enter a digital arena, control armies that feature different units and tactics, and try to outsmart and outplay one another. However, while these games are highly tactical, they don’t give players a lot of time to plan their strategies, which is where Worms comes in.
The Worms franchise is a long-running strategy series where players command worms. Cartoonish, talking worms who wield everything from bog-standard Call of Duty ordinance to Loony Toons Acme Corporation anvils.
Instead of constructing and commanding armies, Worms narrows its focus so players only have to decide what weapons to use and where to aim them.
Depending on the weapon and its trajectory, players can sow mass devastation or self-destruction. Plus, Worms games feature destructible terrain, so each weapon is as dangerous to its target as it is to its wielder.
While most esports RTS games are 1v1 affairs, Worms focuses on teamwork. Well, teamwork and blowing up everything with flying sheep that fart poisonous gas.
A Worms esports league would provide audiences and players with a strategy game that requires communication and camaraderie. More importantly, since the franchise is rated “E10 for ages 10 and up,” even children could participate in a Worms esports league. With their parents’ permissions, of course.
Games That Deserve Their Own Esports League
Destiny 2
The Esports world is full of first-person shooters, such as Overwatch, Rainbow Six: Siege, and Halo. However, one prominent FPS option, Destiny 2, isn’t on the list, despite a constant stream of updates that just begs for an esports league.
Even though it’s unlikely that Destiny 2’s developers ever saw the game as an esport, Bungie keeps their latest title alive with tons of new weapons, loot, and PvP modes that could potentially inject new life into esports competitions.
Destiny 2’s most powerful loot includes some pretty nasty bonus effects not seen in many other games, such as boots that reflect projectiles while sliding and beam weapons that can paint the floor in exploding lines.
Players could mix and match these pieces of equipment for devastating combos that could make or break their chances of winning, and since Bungie produces a fairly constant stream of new loot, the meta could change every season in new and exciting ways.
More importantly, a Destiny 2 esports league could be a welcome change from the normal FPS fare. Granted, much of the Destiny 2 esports scene would focus on its vanilla PvP modes, but Gambit would change all that.
This unique blend of PvP and PvE isn’t a common sight, especially in esports games. Gambit could promote novel team strategies and makeups that simply aren’t viable in strictly PvP matches, which could help stave off any possible esports stagnation.
Games That Deserve Their Own Esports League
Warframe
Warframe’s PvP is somewhat lacking compared to other games, but it is augmented by all of the ninja moves that make Warframe’s PvE fun and frantic, which is something you can’t say for many esports titles.
Since Warframe is about superpowered space ninjas, the developers spent a lot of time polishing the movement system to be as fast, fluid, and dynamic as possible.
The game’s parkour system lets players string together jumps, double jumps, wall jumps, long jumps, slides, and glides to stay as mobile as possible.
Depending on the map, talented players can go for long stretches without ever touching the ground, and the same is potentially true for Warframe’s PvP modes.
Granted, Warframe’s PvP prohibits certain Warframes, weapons, and mods; but the game’s PvP matches are still as frantic as its PvE, thanks to the parkour. Few, if any, esports games feature parkour, so even Warframe’s otherwise vanilla capture the flag and team deathmatch modes would provide quite the spectacle.
Moreover, Warframe includes the special PvP mode Lunaro, which is essentially lacrosse but with super-powered space ninja suits. Since lacrosse video games don’t get much attention, a Warframe esports league that focuses on Lunaro would be a fairly novel concept.
Games That Deserve Their Own Esports League
Prop Hunt
Normally, when you think about first-person shooters in esports, you think about Overwatch and Rainbow Six Siege. Moreover, no matter how much these games encourage teamwork, the player with the quickest/itchiest trigger finger usually wins. However, Prop Hunt turns the basic FPS formula on its head, and few FPS esports games do that.
Prop Hunt began life as a special game mode for Garry’s Mod and is best described as a game of hide-and-seek where one team hides in plain sight by transforming into in-game assets (aka. props), and the other team hunts them down with guns.
The game mode penalizes players who attack actual props by damaging their health, so players should abandon the “kill them all and let God sort them out” approach and instead pay attention to the environment.
Ideally, a Prop Hunt esports tournament would play out like a regular round of Prop Hunt. One team would take the role of the hunters and has to kill the other team, which consists of players disguised as props.
After each match, the teams would swap, so the hunters become the hunted and vice versa. The hunter team would gain a point for every member of the other team they eliminate, and the hunted team would gain a point for every member that survives the round.
The team with the most points at the end of the competition would win, and since plenty of Prop Hunt maps are available, each with their own layouts and props, no two competitions would ever be the same.
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