DDR Petition to Become a Sport

[Apoc]

DDR, and all dancing games really, has its own subculture by now, a group of dedicated and in some cases nearly fanatical devotees who think the game's one of the best ever made, and consider its potential nearly limitless. Both counts are true - as long as every person on the planet has access to Stepmania, there's literally no limit to the possibilities in terms of stepcharts and song selection.

But while it's a healthily thriving subculture, most of us feel -this is what I feel at least, and the impression I'm getting from this thread- that the game does not get taken seriously enough by the average passersby, and it is still greatly undervalued by most people. For some reason when the thought of being a sport is mentioned, a lot of people seem to believe these problems will be alleviated - won't it be more popular if it's an official U.S. sport? Won't that mean that more people will fully appreciate what the game has to offer?

Maybe. But I'd like to point out that we were all drawn to the game because of what we saw in it, whether our first experiences were skeptical or enthusiastic, whether we felt like seeing what all the fuss was about or if we immediately fell in love with the concept. First and foremost we love the game. Competition is secondary. Being a sport will change that, and the enjoyable aspect of the game will diminish to nothingness as the elusive hunt for total perfection becomes more and more synonymous with 'playing.' Sure, more people will play it, but those people will not be true fans of DDR. They'll be fans of competition.

Part of the magic of the game is its slight counter-culture edge, or at least where I live - the game's just not popular. A few arcades have it, but nobody's ever on the machine. When I go and play, I'm the odd man out, but that doesn't bother me. When I talk to my friends about it, I'm the only one among them who plays it regularly. I have one other friend who plays, and he's just barely a Heavy player, and doesn't play very often. But I don't mind being part of the minority; in fact, that's part of what's so appealing. We're not following the crowd. We're playing DDR because we love it.

Know those Gatorade commercials where the film is monochromatic, and you can see people playing various sports and sweating Gatorade of their preferred color? Imagine DDR tournament regulars in those commercials, sweating red Gatorade while AAA'ing soullessly difficult new boss songs. I don't know. I think being a sport would push DDR towards buying into the corporate sponsorship game and becoming a sellout. Imagine professional DDR players wearing ad-covered outfits due to sponsorship contracts. Imagine seeing top DDR tournament players in commercials to endorse a new Nike shoe for several million dollars. Profitable? Yes. But it all adds to the decay of the game's essence, which is rooted in individuality, in expression, in enjoyment.

We are fast closing in on a crossroads in dancing game history. The game will start to dissolve. Players will be hard to find. Most people around the world will look at the idea of a dancing video game and laugh out loud. The whole concept will be treated as an old and ridiculous fad on the decline. It is up to you and me to help get the game the respect and love it deserves. Being a sport will do just the opposite.

Maybe you don't agree, but that's my feeling.
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CEO Nwabudike Morgan wrote:

I, CEO Nwabudike Morgan, on behalf of Morgan Industries, approve this post.

[KingofLight06]

[Daniel]

[Lobster Jesus]

More like make ITG a sport. DDR has been done over plenty of times now, with barely any songs left to AAA (thanks to UM4 and SN). DDR would be gone quicker than it will be without becoming a sport.
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[mistercow_pnoy]

[GotACoolName]

[QWERTYkid911]

How do you define "sport"? That is the real question in this thread.
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[quote:ce519f785b="Flamebait"][quote:ce519f785b="_jpoppyz_"]that kid prolly gets 10 times the amount of pussy in a week than any of you guys will get in your lives.[/quote]
10 x 0 = 0[/quote]

[KingofLight06]

[Ghettobarney]

[Flameboat]

[GotACoolName]

[Flameboat]

[MaskedFalcon]

What's in a name? That which we call a sport
By any other word would smell as sweaty.
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tac-tics wrote:

The song A is actually pronounced "Wizzy wizzy boop dah dah dodo kazoo!" and it always has to be shouted.

[KingofLight06]

[Obsessive]

I'm going to correlate a bit for my sake:

Floor Pads - Playing field
Target arrows - Goal
Scrolling arrows - Balls
Hitting the arrow (Perfect) - 3-pointer
Hitting the arrow (Great) - normal point
HItting the arrow (Almost...whatever it's called) - free throw
Miss - Miss
Song/Stepchart - game boundaries/rules
Mods - strategies
Results screen- Score
WPF - Official Sponsored Tournament
Teams - Teams (lol)

My problem is that Konami/Andamiro hold the sole Monopoly in thier respective sport as far as equipment goes. We have options to playing fields and equipment as far as every other sport goes (Street court, grass field, clay surface, astroturf, etc) To increase the diversity of play and strategies. If RoXor was still in business, I would say this is perfect, because you have 2 play fields to play the same songs (different cabinets = different play conditions).

Andamiro has the best chance to elimiate this because they have like 4 different cabinets for the same set of songs (theoretically they have SD, DX, FX, SX, and all of them look and feel different). Basketball itself is not held under copywright. An actual basketball isn't copywrighted either even though it's roughly standardized (into...3 types? I forget). All DDR Cabinets are standardized and sadly copywrighted. IMO PIU is already more of a sport than DDR is, because of the WPF being held now for 3 years, and the rules about "teams" being standardized. In fact, I will go ahead and say that we add PIU to the "Extreme Sports" category, and I will consider it such.

Now...We look at the console side, and there are like 20 vendors of DDR Pads. Nice ones, crappy ones, soft ones, hard ones, foam, plastic, etc. This is an excellent progression as far as being a sport is considered. But that is only one half of the equation. DDR games hold a monopoly on DDR gameplay now that RoXor is gone (Stepmania is theoretically an option, but is also illegal to use for profit-It would count as a "pickup game" of DDR, but not Official) Consoles count as differing play locations I suppose...I can imagine that, even though you still need to buy something to play it (a console, TV, etc), it's just a logical extension of play equipment.


EDIT: I am 100% confident the genre of "dance gaming" is a sport. If We look at it in that context, then There are no monopolies since both Andamiro and Konami are seen as suppliers of equpment, even if the styles are different, that is simply creative variance (ie, the difference between asphault and grass-you need the same general strategies to play the same sport, but each field has it's own quirks that you must learn)

DDR - Grass field
ITG - Asphault
PIU - Underwater (because it needs almost a whole new way to use your current skills)
SM - Astroturf

..Yes...I like this.
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Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/crufix

[Daniel]

I agree, but it's Stepmania, PyDance, Dance With Intensity and other simulators that makes dance gaming a sport.

[ǝɥʇʎɔs]

Way back in ye olden times (early 2006, when I was a n00b), there was another argument like this one. The general consensus was thus:
Err wait, I don't remember the consensus
Okay, i think the general consensus was something like
"DDR is a fun game with a large fan base. However, it is too contrived to be a sport in the general sense. Arrow-smash is too confining and does not seem to fit the general rule of other sports in that some self-redefinition of the rules is possible"
Quite frankly, I wouldn't say that the word "sport" really has anything to do with anything, and wouldn't help the game very much. It's still the same game, and it will always attract a certain crowd of people. It's not like saying "Oh, I'm an athelete" and then when asked about it, saying "I play DDR" is exactly going to gain you much respect, and why should it? Arrow-smash looks dumb, and smells terrible. That doesn't mean it's bad or anything to that effect, but you can't think of it as a, well, something to be that proud of (except in a community of ddr players). If you aren't considerate and likeable, don't think that attaching the label "sport" to your favorite game is going to change anything-it's all on you.
/ramble
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i'm only into irony ironically

[Daniel]

[Apoc]

[eryk]

IT'S A VIDEOGAME.