ESports are a growing worldwide phenomenon. The term “eSports” stands for “electronic sports” and encompasses competitive and professional video games. They are not like the average sport. There is nothing physical about them, but they do require massive amounts of talent and dedication, as does any other sport, and should be recognized similarly.
According to junior Andrew Post, eSports should be seen as others sports.
“ESports should be considered a sport because the players spend a lot of time practicing to refine their skill, similar to professional athletes. Sports are entertainment and eSports are just as entertaining as say, baseball or football,” Post said.
The difference between regular video games and eSports is similar to the difference between a street pickup game of basketball and the NBA. It’s the same sport but one is professional and the other is for fun.
The video game industry is growing. Nearly every video game has some form of competition in it, which makes it easier for eSports to adapt to the game and gives the video game a chance to become an eSport. This makes for multiple games that are eSports, as there are many sports that are all different.
“If you look back on gaming, it started off very simple. The games have gotten better and better and more fun,” Post said. “With more games comes more players and with more players comes more competition. ESports should continue to get bigger and bigger as long as games increase in quality.”
ESports have gotten so big they appear on popular sports programs such as ESPN. In fact, on ESPN’s website there is a complete page dedicated to eSports.
According to an ESPN article, eSports’ biggest tournaments compare to nearly any sporting event; the only sporting event that had more viewers was the Super Bowl. As for the money these professional players make, the only sporting events to make more money than one of the eSports competition champions were the World Poker Series and the Super Bowl.
The most popular eSport games are Dota 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Smite and Starcraft 2. On ESPN, the only games that gameplay is shown for is Dota 2, League of Legends and Hearthstone. ESPN has articles about the other games but no gameplay is shown yet. The release of their page for eSports on the ESPN website is fairly new so maybe there will be more gameplay of other games on the page soon.
The only difference separating conventional sports from eSports is the athletic aspect. When one really looks at it, they are actually not that different. They are both forms of entertainment that are just for different audiences. They both have professional players that spend massive amounts of time dedicated to what they love and who are very skilled at it. ESports players deserve the same respect as other athletes.
