Fansided

Has esports gone too far with Farming Simulator’s new esports league?

By Christine Wang Dickson

LAKEWOOD, CO - DECEMBER 07: Ky Kennedy, 25, plays a video game at N3rd Street Gamers Localhost Arena, an esports mega center on the grand opening December 07, 2018. The new facility boosts an 18,000 sq. ft. space, largest in Colorado, where gamers can use 120 PC's to play and compete in the latest video games, the space also features VR, an event stage, large video screens and monitors, a lounge, food and drink and will eventually have a full-service bar. Localhost Arena will host organized esports events and tournaments. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
LAKEWOOD, CO - DECEMBER 07: Ky Kennedy, 25, plays a video game at N3rd Street Gamers Localhost Arena, an esports mega center on the grand opening December 07, 2018. The new facility boosts an 18,000 sq. ft. space, largest in Colorado, where gamers can use 120 PC's to play and compete in the latest video games, the space also features VR, an event stage, large video screens and monitors, a lounge, food and drink and will eventually have a full-service bar. Localhost Arena will host organized esports events and tournaments. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /
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It’s 2019, and virtual farming is about to become a competitive sport. What do you do?

When you think of esports, you usually think of a highly tactical game, one with a lot of fighting and gunplay, one that requires a high level of skill. Games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive or Overwatch might come to mind, team-based endeavors that involve one side eliminating the other with strategy and precision. Or perhaps you think of popular battle royales — Fortnite, PUBG or Call of Duty: Blackout — that require a player to loot up with as many weapons as possible before taking out enemies in the quest to be the last one standing.

You know what you don’t think of?

Farming.

GIANTS Software, the developer of the Farming Simulator game series, is hoping to change that soon. Earlier this week, they announced that they would be starting the Farming Esports League, which will take the newest installment of their franchise, Farming Simulator 19, and turn it into a competitive sport with a prize pool of €250,000. They’ve already secured sponsors and have 10 European tournaments planned. This also isn’t their first rodeo, having hosted a competitive Farming Simulator event in 2018 they called Farming Simulator Championship.

If you’re feeling the urge to ask, “They can’t be serious, can they?” we understand. But we can also say with certainty that they are being serious.

There is a lot of buzz and a lot of money to be had in esports. It’s a growing industry and everyone seems to be clambering for a piece, whether its Epic Games, Robert Kraft or Drake. The growth extends to the games themselves. Where once it was just the likes of Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., Starcraft and League of Legends, now there are a plethora of games with a professional competitive scene and teams.

Intuitively, it feels like a stretch to make a statement like, “Any game can be an esport if it tries hard enough.” And yet it is starting to feel truer. Every game has mechanics that can be measured, which means that there’s a way to measure a player’s level of proficiency even if it’s only by the number of deaths incurred or the time it took to complete a task. Nowadays, even mobile games have competitive leagues, as evidenced by Clash Royale.

Perhaps a better question to ask is should a game become an esport? Now that is a question one can definitively say no to under the right circumstances. Unfortunately, the entities that organize esports leagues are willing to lob quite a bit of money at the question until they finally come to the realization of no on their own.

So until an esport league definitively fails, the people who want to make it a reality will keep trying, armed with a game, money and a dream. And that will certainly be the case with Farming Simulator 19.

The game itself was a huge commercial success, selling a million copies in just ten days. Graphically and mechanically rich, it took the simulator genre to another level with the amount of detail it included regarding tractor attachments and insect repellents that we non-farmers could only assume was extremely accurate. But nothing inherent within the game screamed esports. The game developers themselves seemed to struggle at making the game competitive for their Farming Simulator Championship, choosing to throw the main farming mechanic out the window in favor of just making it a hay bale stacking challenge. Imagine making your game an esport by throwing the main part of it out the window and just focusing on one of the minigames.

Fortunately, GIANTS has announced that the Farming Esports League will be different, that hay bale stacking will graduate to a 3-vs-3 competition that will “stay true to its roots in farming and combine real field work like harvesting with fun and challenging game elements.” That’s all the detail they’ve given so far, withholding just enough information to intrigue the gaming community while also not making a dent in its armor of skepticism.

Whether esports has gone too far with Farming Simulator 19 entering its ranks is a question that won’t be answered until the league actually launches. Very simply, the answer will hinge on whether people end up watching it. And even though it’s hard to imagine anyone sitting down to watch people compete in a video game where you manage a fake farm, you may end up being surprised.

Next. Rocket League now has full cross-play across all platforms. dark

Just as there are professional bowling and darts leagues whose competitions are broadcast on ESPN, there are all kinds of games for all kinds of gamers. Someone out there is going to be interested. All you have to do to show you’re not is to not tune.