Gaming Finale Will Test Mettle

Sixteen of the best computer-game players converged on Seattle Thursday in preparation for the first finals of the Professional Gamers' League. Over the course of the next two days, the players will shoot, blow up, and - quite frequently - kill each other as they fight for the championship.

Yet the players are not the only ones whose mettle will be tested. Despite a successful first season, the question remains: Can the PGL ultimately turn computer games into a spectator sport?

"After you have done everything, it boils down to whether consumers care or not," said Seema Williams, online industry analyst for market watcher Forrester Research Inc. "Major sports events that we take granted today - like the Olympics - took years to get an audience at all."

Forrester estimates the online game industry will top $1 billion by the year 2000. Some analysts believe the online gaming industry can - without a doubt - support a league. To mine that vein of cash, however, the PGL needs to turn a game that is meant to be played into entertainment that is fun to watch.

The PGL grew out of an idea formed by Joe Perez, the manager of online events at online game service Total Entertainment Network. With chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), the league was kicked off in early November.

By the end of the month, more than 1,500 players had registered to take part in the first season in two categories: Action (playing Quake) and Strategy (playing Command & Conquer: Red Alert).

"It's the spectators that matter, not players," said Garth Chouteau, spokesman for the PGL.

"As long as we have the best players in the world playing, the numbers don't matter," he said. "If we get the best, the person who plays for fun will be that much more likely to watch."

Chouteau believes that the eight Quake players that will be going head-to-head on Friday make up eight of the top ten players worldwide.

The finals in Seattle will give an indication of whether Quake matches are entertaining enough to be an event. More spectators will translate into sponsorships, and that means cash for the league.

While companies such as chip maker AMD, modem maker US Robotics Inc., and even Levi Strauss & Co.'s Dockers division have already placed their bets on the nascent league, those firms will not keep upping the ante without a growing audience.

Yet to grab eyeballs, the PGL needs to make its content more entertaining. Only toward the end of the three-month season did the PGL start offering something of interest to the wanna-be spectator. Anyone with patience could download replays of the Quake matches, which followed a single player during the match, looking down from a third-person view.

But more than that basic vantage point is needed. "Not everything a single person does during a match is interesting," explained Forrester's Williams. "Instead, SportsLine-like wrap-ups would be better. Show a couple of hits or the key plays that make the games, and the audience will be more interested."

Indeed, only a few people find enjoyment in looking over someone's shoulder as he plays a computer game. Instead, the PGL needs to turn the matches into entertainment with multiple cameras, commentators, and games that let players be individuals.

This is no surprise to the infant league. "What we want to do in Season 2 is to provide webcasts of future matches," said the PGL's Chouteau. "Over time, we will take the nascent camera technology - the 'watch' feature on games - and offer spectators more compelling entertainment."

Yet, in the end, the fact that the alter egos - or avatars, as they are sometimes called - of the participants do not feel anger or fear, do not sweat or scream, and are not individuals, may spell the eventual death of spectator video-game competition.

After all, the point of sports is to show that we, too, can overcome the obstacles. And that may prevent the PGL from doing so.