A VERY SHORT TOUR ABOUT E-SPORTS

Talking about E-sports is something that can be really exciting and we can make a flashback to remember how most of us since we were kids started to be fond of video games.

Mario Bross, need for speed, and if we go further back we could name Pong, Arcade, Space Invaders among others. In general, electronic sports are video games that can be played competitively.

If we take a brief look at the history of electronic games, the games that come to mind are FIFA, Counter Strike, Dota, Doom, League of Legends, StarCraft, which are still very popular today and are played in competitive tournaments, as well as MOBA games, including the well-known Fornite. 

Many people consider that this type of games cannot be called e-sports, but come on! the recognition of millions of people in society where they value the preparation, effort, concentration of the competitors make them a true e-sport.

In general, e-sports are much more similar to traditional sports than they are different. There are also races, competitions, teams, stars, broadcasts, sponsors, specialized media, regulations.

E-Sports… just commerce?

Now, we all know that for the creators of E-Sport gaming leagues and tournaments, there is a commercial purpose of creating the league and that is to expose major technology brands through an attractive gaming environment for both players and businesses.

 At the end of the day my dear friends, that is irrelevant to the lovers of this type of sport. 

The idea of earning money to play video games may seem comfortable. However, in addition to the demanding routine, the impossibility of reconciling aspects of personal life and the lack of family support, becoming a cyber-athlete often depends on luck.

Another interesting thing about this sport is that they have incredible support, as they are sponsors of giant brands such as Kingston, Logitech, Razer, AOC and Alienware Coca Cola, Pizza Hut, these teams of consumer goods brands such as Monster Energy Drink and AX. 

Have you noticed that every day there are more and more celebrities who declare themselves the No. 1 fan of e-sports? Even basketball, soccer and tennis players among others. This is one of the reasons why these sports are becoming attractive and recognized by other people. 

In sports there are stars recognized worldwide as Michael Jordan, Pele, Tiger Woods and Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Messi and countless other great athletes who can be called stars; and in the case of e-sports also happens, there are great players who increasingly take more fame because of their great skills in this type of competition.  

Particularly I admire the outstanding players in e-sports many times the lovers of these types of games are surprised to see the young people who can become the best players and also for their great skills in each of the games. 

Similarities and Differences between real sports and e-sports

E-sports bring much less expressive numbers than popular sports. However, it is possible to point out commonalities to scale the comparison: presence in advertisements, idolization by fans, inspiring success stories and use of personal image to create trademarks.

As for the e sports fans, we can see an audience or spectators that have different ways of watching the games, a large part of them do it from live platforms such as Twitch, others prefer to watch them live and there are even the most fanatic fans who travel from one country to another so as not to miss a tournament.

But let’s be honest. Undoubtedly, the more traditional team sports and mass markets have a bigger dimension than e-sports. However, it also seems that the existence of similarities noted in the functions and characteristics of these organizations helps to bring e-sports closer to the traditional.

It should be noted that traditional sports are much more important. The volume of money moved, the number of athletes and professionals involved and the number of spectators are indicators of the distance between the two types of sport. 

The most relevant difference is possibly the cultural recognition that traditional sports have over e-sports.

Let’s analyze this, sport has always been valued for the benefits it brings to those who practice it, its positive values for health, self-esteem, stability and perseverance are universally associated with sports practices, and not with e-sports.

Other Interesting E-sports Factors

Personally I like to see how video games are being taken more and more seriously and there are people who can make a living out of it. For someone who likes e-sports and its multigames it can happen that when someone makes a move is like when they score a goal in soccer.

In that sense I think we will be more and more surprised to see new game updates, more challenges for players, even in those classic games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter or Pokemon. 

In this virtual world there is something for everyone, there are those who prefer the EVO championship style e-sport championships, where they put together several games of the same style, and thus have more space to see what the new jewels (new games) have to offer in terms of competitiveness.

What is also worth pointing out, dear readers, is that without a doubt electronic games also have their detractors. There are people who express their concern about the effects on the player’s health, since they have to spend a lot of time sitting down and their vision is affected, among others.

There are also comments that one finds in the networks and in various forums of people who dismiss the effort made by players of these games and even fear that they replace traditional sports, something that seems to me totally crazy. 

As a curious fact and you probably already know it is that there are certain universities in the U.S. and have scholarship video players as if they were normal athletes, as well as training schools for lovers of electronic games. 

What do you think about electronic games? We will continue talking about them in future articles as it is a wonderful world that is worth knowing more about.