Not so long ago, participating in video games was generally regarded as the type of activity that was enjoyed by mainly computer geeks or nerds in dark basements or bedrooms. Today eSports has become the latest rage. So, you may be wondering how far this fad has come over the last few years and may just become as if not more popular as the traditional sport activities such as cricket, rugby or football and basketball.
What Are eSports?
The term known as eSports is an abbreviation for Electronic Sports and refers to professional or competitive video gaming. Players are able to compete or play against one another in specific tournaments that feature an extensive range of the popular PlayStation, Xbox and PC games that includes the titles such as “Call of Duty” and “League of Legends”. Players will more commonly compete in a team, yet there are the tournaments that are available for the individual players.
Competitive video-gaming actually is not as new as a development that many may think. In fact, the first competition that was recorded occurred in 1972, when students from Stanford University participated in what was named the “Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics”. 2 teams competed against each other to become champions of a video-game that was called “Spacewar”, with the use of a PDP-10 computer located in the AI (Artificial Intelligence) Laboratory. 5 individual players also competed against each other in the “free for all” version of this event.
These activities really took flight in the 2000s. A number of large-name organizations and tournaments were established during this time, which included MGL (Major League Gaming), that continues to host competitions all over Canada and the USA. The organization was purchased by Activision Blizzard, who were the creators of the well-known “Call of Duty” and “Hearthstone” games.
Today, the majority of the leaders in tournaments are now held in massive venues that offer prize funds that are a lot more substantial compared to previous years. The Hearthstone World Championship in 2016 which was held at Blizzcon, in the Anaheim Convention Center, based in the US, offered a prize pool total of an outstanding $1,000,000. The winner known as Pavel from Russia took home a prize of $250,000. He was also awarded with a beautiful custom-made trophy that was made out of bronze, wood and glass.
Players that show a talent for these sports have the potential to earn a significant amount of cash during their careers. For example, a top-earning player from the UK in 2015, who goes by the name of Nate “Ataraxia” Mark, walked away with an approximate £78,009, from playing “SMITE” in this year. In addition, the players based in the UK, usually earn a lot less compared to the international counterparts.
However, these activities have gone onto attract much controversy, with some people stating that discrimination and inequality are rife in this professional part of the gaming world. For example, an inaugural eSports Industry recently occurred in London, yet not one of the nominees included a woman.
The Role Of Spectators In eSports
Competitive gaming has become increasingly popular among spectators, with many festivals and tournaments that are all live-streamed so that they can be accessed by a number of viewers across the globe in a variety of countries. Recently Amazon made an announcement that it has plans to launch a brand-new tournament known as the “Champions Of Fire Invitational”, that will feature a £100,000 prize-pool that will be broadcasted live on Amazon.com, Twitch, Amazon Fire TV along with a number of other popular social-media channels.
Twitch has been recognized as the global leading video community and platform for gamers was first established in the year 2011 and was purchased by Amazon in the year 2014. GeekWire stated that this service currently has over 1.7 million active-streamers, along with 100 million viewers that watch about 421 minutes every month.
Anything which attracts such large amounts of spectators in this way appeals to large businesses and the right sponsorship enables professional and competitive video-gaming to increase rapidly. In the month of August 2016, NewZoo made a report that eSport revenues in 2016 were set around $493 million, which is a figure which has increased by 7% from $463 million that was projected from the beginning of that year. This is representation of year-on-year growth of about 51.7%.
The spectators are boosting income of the bookies from across the globe. Earlier on this year, the CNBC made a report that stated that they believed and made a prediction that fans are expected to bet with https://www.rivalry.gg/ and others, about $23.5 billion on the different eSports by the year 2020, which is derived from market research that was conducted by Eilers.
How Does The Competitive Video Gaming Compare To The Traditional Sports?
Many individuals would argue that the activities of playing a computer game is not really classified as a real type of sport. This has to do with players that are just sitting and staring at a computer monitor for many hours. However, Professor Ingo Froböse from the German Sports University based in Cologne, states that these activities do demand exceptional motor skills along with superb hand-to-eye coordination. Participating in these video games can also result in the production of increased cortisol levels which is known as a stress hormone.
The levels of cortisol that are produced are similar to the levels in race-car drivers. Froböse also states that in his opinion the eSports are demanding as any of the other sports types and in many cases even more demanding.
So many would like to know whether eSports will become the leading sports activities across the globe, or even like a few people have suggested and believe that they will eventually feature at the Olympic Games. Regardless of what happens, an overall idea that this type of gaming might become career options that are viable, might even offer parents with comfort when they find it an impossible task to pry their children or teenagers away from their PlayStations, Xbox or PCs.
