The growing field of esports has begun to draw more and more attention both within and outside of the video gaming community, which means there are more eyes watching when something goes wrong. Two of the commentators reporting on the Northeast Championship 2021 offline esports event this weekend discovered that when one of them drifted off to sleep during a livestream.
The fighting game event was held on November 6, 2021, and featured a list of titles including Guilty Gear Strive, Melty Blood: Type Lumina, Soul Calibur 6, Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition, Tekken 7, Pokken Tournament DX, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike, Granblue Fantasy: Versus, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Dead or Alive 6, and Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown. This isn't the first time esports professionals have made mistakes, but it may be one of the funniest.
Nerd Street Gamers was one of the organizations handling streaming for the event. The commentators on its stream were SwagG740 and lukeaimsworthtn, and a particularly funny segment of the stream was shared by Reddit user rhythmstixx. During the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Top 8, SwagG740 turned to his partner and found lukeaimsworthtn seemingly unresponsive. After asking if lukeaimsworthtn was okay and gently prodding his arm, SwagG740 burst into laughter as he realized that lukeaimsworthtn had fallen asleep in the commentator's chair.
After a period of bewilderment, lukeaimsworthtn defended himself by claiming that it had been a very long day for him and the room they were streaming from was cold, which might explain why he seemed to be sleeping huddled in his jacket. He went on to state that he was struggling, all while SwagG740 continued to cackle in the background. This funny but unprofessional moment may say something about the differing expectations esports commentators are held to--such situations rarely crop up among commentators covering other sports. The recent popularity of esports has led several famous titles including League of Legends to be considered for the Olympics, which could lead to a gaming climate less forgiving of mistakes.
As of writing, it appears that esports fans are generally sympathetic to lukeaimsworthtn. One user stated that they understood his struggles, while a second declared everyone had been there at some point. Several users expressed interest in learning which match he had fallen asleep during, many of whom were surprised to hear that it wasn't Street Fighter 5. Another group of users discussed SwagG740's laughter instead, which some appeared to find cartoonish or disquieting.