EARLY TELEVISION VIDEO GAME TOURNAMENTS AS SPORTS SPECTACLES

This article looks at two televised video game tournaments from the 1980’s from the viewpoint of sports spectacle. Through the analysis of the television episodes and comparison to modern eSports-scene, the aim is to see, if there were similarities or differences between sports broadcasting and video game broadcasting at the time. The article suggests that because of visual choices made in sports broadcasting, the video game tournaments adapted this style coincidentally, which might have affected the style of eSports-broadcasting later.