It occurred to me that I don’t know any FOSS e-sport games off the top of my head and I don’t know why. I looked it up and it doesn’t seem like there are many tournaments around and I got to thinking about what would make a good FOSS e-sport and I don’t know that I have a really clear idea of it. It’s been on my mind a lot though so I wanted to see what you all think about it.
What FOSS e-sports do you like? What do you wish existed that doesn’t? Do you think there should be FOSS e-sports? Do you think they’ll never work, never be sustainable, or not be good? Does the concept of monetized tournaments go against the very ethos of free software?
I think generally when something like a paid fighting game makes a large tournament, they build up the appeal by spending a lot of money (eg, large displays, big venue, etc). All in the hope of driving more money spent on the game itself, not just tickets to watch the show (which will often be largely online)
If no one is paid to spread appeal, it’s not going to be big. We hate ads and marketers, but in their absence we see what little happens just from the odd printed flyer.