A League of Their Own
William Lee wakes up every morning and heads to work, the downstairs living space in his incredibly spacious home in Malibu Hills. William Lee, also known as “Scarra,” is a professional video player, or Cyber Athlete. Lee strolls to his high-powered computer, provided to him by a generous sponsor, and begins to play League of Legends. League of Legends an online multiplayer game that currently has thirty-six million online players. William Lee earns six figures a year as do his four roommates/teammates because they are currently viewed by the gaming community as one of the world’s best League of Legends teams. Team Dignitas. Video games are no longer a fad or a phase, they are now a competitive and lucrative team sport.
Video games have become much more than a fantastical escape or a time-wasting, brain-draining, drab; they have become an incredibly enjoyable and profitable profession, suited for the best and brightest gamers, who are regarded as equal to their physical sport-playing counterparts. E-sports is the rising phenomenon of tournament-style competitive video game playing. The massive percent increase in video game popularity as well as E-sports have paved a smooth road for unlikely athletes, aptly named, Cyber Athletes. These Cyber Athletes have been around since the late 80s and early 90s, when video game arcade contests began to occur more frequently. The immense rise in Cyber Athletes is because of the new and addictive multiplayer games that allow individuals to interact with temporary teammates and overcome intellectually challenging obstacles. The controversy surrounding calling E-sports a sport is met with intense arguments from all spectrums: gamers and non-gamers will both argue for or ag...
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The thrill and excitement that sporting events bring, whether you are spectating or participating, has been a part of human culture throughout history. In the more recent years, video games have emerged in equal popularity compared to sports. Yet, some people go so far as to categorize video games a sport. Video games are not a sport because it does not require extensive physical exertion or exercise
Back in the day, gamers would use dials and keyboards to move simple two-dimensional shapes across a tiny pixelated screen. Since then, forty years later, friends and family are able to play together in ultra realistic virtual realities. Games are no longer only played by geeky teenage boys spending the day at an arcade. Video games are now for men, women, boys, and girls of all ages. According to a survey taken by 23 participants at McHenry County College on April 22 2014, 96% of them have played video games before, 61% play video games weekly, and 9 of the 16 women surveyed currently play video games. These results show that not only are video games extremely prevalent in modern day life, contrary to popular belief, a good portion of women play them as well. Many different types of personalities play video games as well. Video games are no longer an activity only desired by introverts. Not since the internet has allowe...
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.
The term “gamer” tends to be synonymous with “geek” in many people’s minds. They see gaming as a device that absorbs the majority of the time of the user, leaving them as mindless empty, pale husks with no ambitions other than beating that next boss or shooting the enemy in the face. However, few gamers waste their life away. On the contrary, many of these so-called geeks tend to be more social than the average person, and farther down the technological curve than most. For the truth is that gaming is a rather useful and beneficial hobby. It gives people an outlet to focus on, and can connect them with many others worldwide. It can teach and entertain at the same time, and can be a useful distraction at other times. In this essay then, closely examining the gaming hobby in comparison to other methods of entertainment will show that gaming is obviously the better method for using free time and connecting people.
Video games have positive and negative aspects. Acording to a study, those who spend hours and hours in playing ‘civic games’ were found to take more part in different community services like social work, politics or protests, as compared to those who never took interest in vidoe games. Hence video games are proved to increase one’s social interaction skills. The kind of friendship and ethics that are learnt by the young gamers while playing video games provide evidence that they are not completely harmful to our society. (Heins, 62)
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The world we live in has changed dramatically over the last thirty years with the invention of the internet, smart phones, and video gaming systems. The world we live in now was unimaginable and the technology advances we have made are remarkable. Video game consoles and how we as a society play them has changed dramatically since the beginning of gaming in the 1970’s. Over the last decade there have been many arguments concerning video games such as too much violence, obesity, addiction, social wellbeing, and many other health related issues. Video games also have some advantages to include hand eye coordination, a strategic mind set, educational and teach life lessons to the players. However, video games do cause more harm than good because the negative outcomes out weight the positive aspects of playing video games.
In the upcoming summer 2020 Olympics billions of people across the world will be watching competitive rock climbing. During the summer X-Games, there will be proclaimed professional athletes competing in eSports, a revolutionary new form of competitive video gaming. Even chess-boxing, a sport that contains a combination of chess and boxing, will make its way into many major sporting competitions. Every year new underground sports find their way into becoming a considerable part of mainstream conventional sports. Although many traditional sport fans refuse to consider unique and niche sports legitimate, sports can be defined on a wide spectrum of required physical or mental skills.
Throughout the course of history, individuals have enjoyed playing sports. Whether it would be throwing a football, sprinting around the track, or kicking a soccer ball; sports have been a popular activity worldwide. The determination and expertise needed to play sports at the highest level has made it a challenging yet enjoyable activity. However in the recent years, sports have slowly drifted off from it’s traditional roots of physical prowess and into competitions of mental proficiencies. With the exponential growth of technology worldwide, it is not uncommon for the average household to have a computer, PS4, Xbox One, or even a Nintendo 3DS. In fact, the introduction of new technological entertainment has served as a gateway for the new generation of athlete culture; video games. As a result of the growth of video games, Esports (short for ‘Electronic Sports’) is slowly being integrated into athlete culture worldwide through its spectacular foundations, overwhelming popularity, vast prize pools, and recognition by official authorities.
3. “Video Games” by Chris Jozefowics. Published by Gareth Stevens Publishing 2010. Pleasantville, NY 10570-70000 USA. Produced by Editorials Directions Inc.
Sports video games, video games that replicate a real life sport, have been around ever since the first video game console was released . Magnovox Odyssey, one of the first video game consoles, consisted of a table tennis game. Atari’s Pong, another sports video game, one of the very first video games was also a replica of table tennis (Suellentrop 7). As the video games have become more realistic and more popular amongst sports fans, they have created a vast impact on the video gaming industry. FIFA, a soccer video game by EA sports, captured 10% of the 351 million video game playing soccer fans around the world (Consalvo vii). Today, sports are a popular hobby for many people, but
Bell, Chris. "Video Games: The Sport of the Future?" The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 26 June 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Should video games be considered a sport. I think video games should be considered a sport. Some reasons why they should be considered sports are how many people participate in them. Many people don't think that video games should be classified as a sport but I believe differently. In this research paper I will be looking at both sides of the discussion and what makes or determines a sport. I will also be discussing my views and some facts that support my views on whether video games can and should be considered a sport. In this paper I will be researching three main topics that I believe to be key points in determining a sport. Also how some sports were recognized as a sport and how a specific hobby may become a sport played
Videos games are no longer played solely for fun, but also turning into a new way to make money. There is a new, up and coming world that many people are not aware of, and that is the world of competitive gaming.
The advantage of playing online game is that it allows people to communicate to numerous numbers of others from different cultural backgrounds and countries. In the game, a gamer may want to exchange his item with someone. Therefore, he/she has to negotiate with others. Repetition of this negotiation can develop a gamer’s social skills. The disadvantage of online gaming is that spending most of free time in front of a monitor wills remove teenagers from their friends and society. Online games are not for entertainment purpose only.