Big Brother Meets Esports? Welcome To The New CSGO Reality Show
Reality TV shows are a mixed bunch, aren’t they? For every show that captures the imagination, there are a plethora of humdrum, vapid nonsensical shows that make ‘stars’ of someone with a clear aversion to developing any form of human intelligence, taste, or decency.
It seems that the esports community is now not immune to the allure of such programs with news that influencer Bezlikiy is set to develop their own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive reality show, which will be streamed on Twitch.
Now, the popularity of CS:GO cannot be denied. There have been 759 million hours watched of CS:GO esports games on Twitch, 17 million hours of gameplay has been logged and on average, a CSGO stream will attract 86,000 viewers.
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These are numbers that are sure to get any reality TV show guru very interested.
CSGO Reality Show
The proposed TV show will be streamed live 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. It is reportedly set to show a ‘warts and all’ style view of what it takes to become a top professional playing CS:GO.
The idea is that viewers will be able to see the process behind how a top-level CS:GO team is created with individual players selected to join the team and then going to live in a house, where cameras will stream the footage of what happens.
If this sounds very familiar, then it is, because that is precisely what happened in shows like Big Brother or MTV’s real world. Only this time, instead of learning about why one of the inhabitants doesn’t like cats, we may gain an insight into their esports passions instead.
As yet there is no start date for the proposed show and for some, that could be a blessing.
Why a CSGO Reality Show could go wrong
There are no doubts that Bezlikiy’s intentions here are honourable. I do feel that an insight into what it takes to become a top-level CS:GO player and work as part of a top-level team, viewing how this process is started and pushed through to a conclusion and the dynamics between the individual members of the team, could be very refreshing to witness.
It could also serve as a welcome eye-opener for those that believe that Esports professionals simply eat pizza, drink coke and sit on their backsides all day doing little else other than play games with their friends.
However, there is a real chance that the show could well descend into something a little more exploitative.
As we have seen with other reality TV shows, the more mundane aspects of the shows are not what attracts viewers. It is the relationships, affairs, nudity and feuds that attract the viewers in their millions.
For example, if you were to put together a TV show which featured Esports Top Ten highest paid Twitch Streamers and just showed them streaming together, it would be dull. Show them actively decrying each other, fighting and arguing, or developing relationships or engaging in something controversial, and it all becomes far more engrossing and interesting for the viewer.
My concern here would be that while the subject of a CSGO reality Twitch show is a good one, the way it is being pushed does seem to edge towards becoming less an exploration of what it takes to become a top esports player and part of a successful team, into being something more exploitative.
That could have a detrimental effect not just on those taking part, but on all those involved in the esports industry itself.
Tastefully and intelligently done a CSGO reality show would be a fantastic thing. However, taste and intelligence are not bywords you readily link with many reality TV shows at the moment and that is my main concern here.
Photo & Instagram credits: bezlikiy