If I say that video games should be real sport, people would laugh. Around the world, gaming and eSports are considered as a real “sport”. Today video games have become one of many world’s watched tournaments on TV. Personally, I’ve competed and played in many eSports tournaments at the age of 16. ESports or anything that takes hours and hours of time should be considered as a real sport such as football and basketball.
Schools have offer full rides because of the sport so-called “eSports”. They will be doubters and haters about eSports, but it will only fuel the motivation for eSports popularity.
Esports and competitive gaming generally started in the United Kingdom or France to be exact. Esports took years and years of success to get where it is now. Although the United Kingdom so-called started the movement of eSports, they are many countries behind them. The French team, ASA (All Sports Authority), broke many boundaries in France. The team was created in 2000, but it’s still an organization that supports eSports. The more popular eSports games are played on PC such as CS: GO (Counter-Strike Global Offensive) and LOL (League of Legends). Statistics show that out of all the video competitors, only 44% of them are females and 56% are male competitors (ESPN). The French team played a new game that recently came out which is League of Legends. The game came out on October 27, 2009. For example, eSports and video games in generally helps people stay out of harm’s way such as Gang violence, drugs, and etc.
Although the United Kingdom started the spark of eSports, the United states were not far behind the race. The game system “Atari” hosted the ever first tournament in gaming history. They featured “The space Invaders Tournaments” with over 100,000 people to participate. Esports has changed from their first tournament to now by getting broadcasted on the television. The statement, “We are at a point now where fans no longer question why we are covering an eSports event, but asking for more” (Traditional sports). Although the crowds for NFL games are crazy, but the crowds that come out to support eSports are outrageous (Henry Young). The audience range is from 204 million to 292 million; however, that is a 43% increase in two years (Henry Young). The organization “UMG” been holding gaming events mainly for “Call of Duty” all around the United States. Many United States industries has put money and money into pro gaming teams for sponsorships. The sponsorships allow the teams to represent the organizations on their jerseys. Usually, sponsors of the teams buy the team pass, hotels, and airplanes tickets for each player on the team.
They are cons of competing and watching eSports. One issue is, Gambling and money issues with the competitive Scene. The online scene for gaming makes it easy for underage betting and gambling. The game CS:GO(Counter-Strike Global Offensive) is the easiest game to take advantage of by gambling and betting. The common betting game is CS: GO(Counter-Strike Global Offensive) for their virtual camos or “skins”. For Example, the team iBuypower (Counter-Strike) have gotten a huge ban because throwing or gambling on a game. The ban was issued in August 2014, but the ban was over-ruled on July 24th, 2017.The online gambling and betting can lead into addiction quick for younger competitors. Recently, CS:GO(Counter-Strike Global Offensive) put a ban on betting and gambling with anything relative to their game. The “Streamers” use to gamble on the website “CS:GO Big” on Twitch, but twitch put a stop to it. That is one of many major bans of eSports history!
The pros of competing and watching eSports are scholarships, job opportunities, and meeting new people. One of the colleges that gives out esport scholarships is “The University of Pikeville”. Also, Pikeville is my hometown which only makes that ten times better. The scholarships, doesn’t even have to be eSports, that you’re eligible for helps take money off the schooling. Esports creates jobs such as “Streamers” and “Youtubers”. Basically, streamers and you tubers put their gameplay online to share their talents to the world. However, they are paid by the views and likes on each video or live-stream they create. For example, members of ember, a North America based team, are paid from $57,000 all the way up to $ 65,000.
Sometimes, they will earn a bonus of $27,000 for their performance (Commentary). They are also paid by the ads they run on “Twitch” or “YouTube”. The average pay for a famous you tuber is around $1,000,000, but YouTube puts a tax on every video that is created. The difference from a streamer and youtuber is that a streamer can receive “live donations” from their viewers. From the game designer Jane McGonigal says, “ McGonagall pointed to statistics, such as that people spend 300 million minutes a day playing Angry Bird or 170 hours per year per player in Call of Duty. These numbers help make sense of why some people are concerned that gamers only want to escape reality, she said, noting that psychological studies link escapism to suicide, anxiety, eating disorders, alcoholism and addiction.”
The fan base of eSports grew in a crazy amount of popularity. They are many different league’s such as MLG, ESL, and Minor League. The pro league is for the most advanced and talented eSports competitors, but it takes hard work and dedication to reach that goal. Out of all the eSports Leagues, MLG, is the largest and most successful which came out in 2002. Although the Pro league is the goal for competitors, there is a Minor league for upcoming eSports players. I believe that if your dream is to make your idols into rivals, so don’t stop to you hit the top.
Esports brought a huge financial solution by selling merchandise, tournament tickets, and etc. For example, the game LOL (League of Legends) championship, hosted in Chicago, was seen by 44 millions of people around the world. The estimated price of sports tickets are around $100-150 by the seating placements at the arena. In 2019, the prediction for the revenue is one billion. Although eSports sell tickets for tournaments, they also sell merchandise such as t-shirts, pants, and etc. Therefore, the money sold by tickets and merchandise goes to “pool play” and to evolve the world of eSports. For example, the X-Games was when they first viewed eSports. The team that won a gold X-Games medal was “Optic Gaming”, but they were two other teams that also received a silver and bronze medal. This huge growth could help expand eSports to become a Olympic Sport! The earliest this would be possible to take place would be in the summer Olympic games in 2020 (eSports real fact).The DOTA-2 international tournament pool prize cash was more than the “Super Bowl” and “World Series” (eSports real its). In 2022, eSports will be an official sport in China at the Asian Games (eSports real its). Although like most fans come around the world for the Super Bowl, pro-gaming fans come out from all over to pack the arena. ESPN first started showing eSports in 2015 when they broadcasted “Heroes in the Storm” on ESPN (Henry Young Esports).
In conclusion, eSports should be considered as a real sport such as NFL, NBA, and NHL. The information earlier in the essay should persuade you and help you decide yes or no for eSports. Remember, the net worth price is almost as much as the NFL Net worth.
“The only boundaries for you are those, you place in yourself.” ― Zoltan Andrejkovics
Originally published 15.10.2019.