Everyone always asks what is e-sports, to be simple it's an electronic game that's played on a competitive level with prize pools. Most recently the government has recognized one of the most popular games known as League of Legends as an actual "sport". By allowing this to be noted as a sport players are allowed to get visas to come and play in North America or Europe or even Korea if they so chose, some regions are harder to get visas but they are obtainable (US Government).
The question still stands what is e-sports? For the lack of a better definition it's really the spectators that makes e-sports what it is, those who are willing to watch and follow the competitive scene instead of watching typical sports for their entertainment is what makes e-sports what it is. This in return makes the scene grow and turns a game into what is truly known as an e-sport (Trending). Although anything can be considered and e-sport if played at a competitive level, the spectators and crowd are what makes it grow and become big.
E-Sports isn't a new thing, it's more so that it's become a relevant thing now. As the scene grows more people become involved which causes the scene to grow more, people have been making a living since the late 90's off their skills in the gaming scene, however it wasn't until 2010 when Blizzard released Starcraft II that e-sports really grew and blossomed into what it really is today (Jackson). Major League Gaming or MLG was one of the first tournaments that really help e-sports continue to grow, to this day MLG has become one of the most prestigious eSports organizations in the world. MLG is considered to be one of the true pioneers of eSports within the USA (Jackson). Blizzard hosts a $1.6 million prize pool for St...
... middle of paper ...
...uldn't be passed off as something foolish or a waste of time because you can make a career off it especially with how fast the scene is growing.
Works Cited
Jackson, Leah. "The Rise of ESports in America - IGN." IGN. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
O'Neill, Patrick H. "'StarCraft: Brood War' Proves the Best Esports Are Timeless." The Daily Dot. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Soper, Taylor. "The Rise of ESports: More People Watch Video Game Competitions than Major Sporting Events - GeekWire." GeekWire. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Tassi, Paul. "2012: The Year of ESports." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Dec. 2012. Web. 13 May 2014.
"Trending Games | League of Legends | Dota 2 | Clash of Clans | Smite | Total War: Rome II." What Is ESports? N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
"US Government Recognizes 'League of Legends' Video Game as a Sport." KPCC. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Jacobson, Robert. Sports in America: Recreation, Business, Education, and Controversy. Wylie, TX: Information Plus, 2006.
Soccer (Football) is said to be the world’s most popular sport in the world, USA are one the few countries where soccer isn't the main sport. The beautiful game is a game of passion; fans coming together to form a ‘religion’ but all this fun and excitement come down to money. The football business is one that generates a great deal of revenue from betting to tickets, TV and shirts sponsorship and transfer deals. You can argue it’s the richest sport in the world. Here in America we are late boomers to the soccer craze, which is why our league isn't as strong as other like the Barclays Premier League, LA LIGA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A etc. In the year 1996, MLS was founded and the association was not favorably disposed to by the general public. As time went by, more Americans accepted and grew interest in sport. The Major League Soccer and United States Soccer Association (USSA) have since had hard time attracting revenue due to numerous problems.
From the age of folk games to the age of televised sports (5th ed.). (pp. 62-63).
Poker has developed a massive following in recent years, with the help of media outlets like ESPN and Fox the game of poker is world renown now. “This mainstream acceptance is due to increased media coverage of high-stakes poker tournaments such as the 2003 World Series of Poker and various weekly tournaments on the World Poker Tour.” (/iml.jou.ufl.edu...) The two outlets that represent this game people would say that the game of poker is a sport. We can all agree that it is a game but does that necessarily make it a sport? Of course the serious poker players will say that it is, but for the players of other games qualified as a sport say otherwise. So despite the recent growth in popularity of poker; the claim of it being a sport has brought criticism. What about poker makes this a valid discussion; the two networks that broadcast it or is there really qualities of sport behind this game.
Smith, Chris. “X Games Brings Action Sports Stars To Mainstream Popularity.” Forbes.com. 1/27/2012, p36-36. 1p.
In today’s world of big time professional sports there are the two major players and they are football represented by the National Football League (NFL) and baseball represented by Major League Baseball (MLB). Now there are other sports that the American public enjoys watching, however the argument generally boils down to which sport is the true favorite of the American people: baseball or football. In this paper I will attempt to examine both sports from several different angles to include attendance, television revenue, ticket costs, venues, salaries, entertainment value, and athlete perception. The goal of this exercise will be to determine, once and for all, which sport is the American favorite and can truly be called the “American Pastime”.
(Attention Getter) Since 1972 with the creation of pong, video games have been one of the leading ways to spend free time around the world. (Link to Audience) With the creation of all sorts of different
As technology advances, new and creative forms of entertainment immerge from these advancements. One form that has grown immensely in popularity over the past dozen years has been video games. Taking form nearly four decades ago, video games have been one of the major embodiments of the growth of entertainment technology. Today, video games have taken many shapes, from the general PC and console games to special applications that can be found on social networks and even millions of cell phones around the world.
Broadcasted competitive gaming has been around since the beginning of arcade games when people were competing for the highest score on shows like Starcade back in 1982(Bell). However, in the past couple of years the competitive gaming world has exploded in growth with more games, more tournaments, more players, and bigger cash prizes. During this most recent November there were eight major tournaments for a multitude of games including League of Legends, Call of Duty, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive and some less competitive games such as Battlefield 4, FIFA 14, and Street Fighter. With over a five million people watching these tournaments it is clearly visible that there is a passionate and large group of people that want this competitive gaming scene to expand. With all the activity going on in only a month and with smaller tournaments running all the time it is clear to see that competitive gaming or more formally called eSports has become in such a small time. However, the important question is whether or not eSports should be considered an actual sport like Football, Soccer, or Basketball. According to a ruling by the Olympic Committee, League of Legends already is, and will be taking a place in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with other games being considered for the 2020 Olympics. Although there are those out that would like to dispute this ruling and say that eSports don’t meet the requirements of a traditional sport. A big argument has been conceived from the committee decision, but not all the arguments being used is valid and then there are those that.
"Interest In Gaming Grows With Focus On Competitiveness, Engagement And Critical Thinking. (Cover Story)." Electronic Education Report 14.12 (2007): 1-3.
The sports industry is a business enterprise focused on sports. This market includes organisations, activities, and people who are involved in organising, promoting, producing and facilitating the progression of sports and the entertainment of all stakeholders (Pederson 2011).
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.
Sports should be regarded as originally intended: strictly as a form of entertainment. These days, while it is considered entertainment, it is actually much more serious than that. Sports are productive – to a certain extent. When people cross the fine line between fan and fanatic, that's when sports are brought into a new dimension. That's also when the business side of this entertainment approaches the spotlight.
MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) are very popular with kids these days, but there is this one game named League of Legends which is highly developed and challenges the mind into thinking and strategizing carefully. This game was originally developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. League of Legends also has 118 champions and still increasing, each champ has a different set of skills, different play styles, and different difficulties which make them all unique in their own way. Also this game is international featured in Australia, the United States, Canada, Europe, Philippines and South Korea, etc... This MOBA is free to play and makes is highly enjoyable the only down part is to buy skins you will have to pay money to get RP points which are used to buy them. There are also tournaments where the best teams in the world fight it out to see who deserves to be the best team in the world or to be the best team in there region.
Lastly, came the pop up of new sports never thought of or imagined before. There became a huge trend in nontraditional sports because ESPN and ESPN2 needed to create sports like substances to broadcast on their networks. They wanted to market sports to all different kinds of audiences. Often times it was the decision of the gatekeeper. They got to decide what they did and did not want to be shown to the viewers in the stands. Also, another deciding