Erzberger, Tyler. “Mental Health Issues Remain Pervasive Problem in Esports Scene.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 24 Aug. 2018, www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/24427802/mental-health-issues-esports-remain-silent-very-real-threat-players.

• This article is about possibilities of mental illnesses that esports athletes face. Because the lifespan of a pro gamer is very short and begin early, usually in their teenage, many professional gamers are facing difficulties when they are forced to “keep up the good work” regardless of various situations they might be in. “Unlike traditional sports, one of the charms of esports is how close a fan can feel to their favorite player: conversing with them on Twitter, talking and donating money to them while they stream on Twitch, going to fan meetings after a regular-season game.” This is true indeed, but this just means there are fewer personal spaces for esports athletes. Also, this article points out that most of the professional gamers are living in a “team house” where they spend practically everyday doing everything with each other, not having enough personal time desired for mental health. This article points out well that despite esports athletes may not go through physical illnesses like traditional athletes, yet they are at risk of dangers of getting harm just as much as traditional athletes do.

Smith, Noah. “As Millions of Dollars Pour in, Esports Teams Offer Varying Visions of the Future.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/04/17/millions-dollars-pour-esports-teams-offer-varying-visions-future/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f9176cbda49a.

• Smith points out that how esports’ profit model is different from that of traditional sports. Traditional sports’ profits are “based heavily on television broadcast revenue and box office receipts,” whereas esports’ fuel depend heavily on sponsors, profits from content creation and apparel. Authorities in the field of esports say that because esports is very new-born thing with a short history, many steps they are taking are now setting precedents for future. They also vow that they will be launching well-organized programs with decent curriculum as traditional sports do. According to Goldman Sachs, 79% of esports viewers are under 35 years old, and they use a diversity of platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, HBO, Netflix, and ESPN. Because the viewers/fans of esports are still young, authorities are confident that esports is going to be, over time, outgrow some of the very popular traditional sports and will be able to as profitable as traditional sports, if not more, because “it’s the next generation of media and media consumption.”

Stanton, Rich. “The Secret to ESports Athletes’ Success? Lots — and Lots — of Practice.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 29 May 2015, www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/13053116/esports-athletes-put-hours-training-reach-pinnacle.

• Stanton points out that esports professionals are “generally in competition by their mid-to late teens, and most are retired by their mid-20s.” Because professional gamers are very likely to be spending most of their days practicing in front of their personal computers, they had not been spending much time involving physical fitness until recently. Greg “IdrA” Fields, a former Starcraft II champion, remarks that his training schedule was 12-hours-a-day of gaming with only one or two days off a month—which means he spent almost all of the time when he’s not eating or sleeping practicing. Even in 2019, hours-long practices are very common. However, as more people come to realize the need for the esports athletes to grow mental and physical prowess, professional esports teams started to provide physical fitness programs for their athletes and supplement equipments for better posture, even a physiologist doing wrist massages. Yet I’m afraid that the importance of physical and mental fitness may never surpass the importance of talent, as authorities suggest that they would “always look for the talent.”

Taylor, T. L. “Esports Broadcasting.” Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming. Princeton University Press, 2018, pp. 136–211.

• Taylor explains how broadcasting of esports events are different from broadcasting of traditional sports. She describes how esports was successfully and rapidly grew in past couple of decades. Unlike television-based traditional sports, esports uses personal computers and streaming services to grant access to a large crowd of people over the entire world through many digital broadcasting platforms, namely Twitch. She rightly points out that “sports are, as a number of scholars before me [Talyor] have noted, largely ‘media/sport’ now.” As interest in the gaming industry and technology grow, she points out that most authorities in the field of esports are very confident that their business will soon start to flourish. She also introduces several business models that esports has: partnerships, media licensing, white label products (BlizzCon, for example), sponsorship, in-game contents, advertisements, pay per view, event revenue, and crowdfunding. Unlike traditional sports, esports uses games developed by companies who want credit for their intellectual properties. Thus, there have been problems between league hosts versus game developers—they must come to an agreement for esports to truly bloom.

Taylor, T. L. “Growing an Industry.” Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming, The MIT Press, 2015, pp. 135–180.

• In this chapter, Taylor compares traditional sports and esports and analyzes how esports was able to grow since its recent birth. She points out that esports still struggles with breaking out of whole “geek” reputation and “bad-influence-for-kid” reputations. She rightly points out that esports “are often not seen as providing readily apparent connections to lifestyle brands” (157), explaining why despite all the remarkable growth esports have not been successful attracting sponsors who are not technology-related. She also explains in detail what happens when esports promoting groups’ interests make cacophony with game developers over IP by thoroughly examining the situation of Korea E-Sports Association versus Blizzard (game producing company). She also examines how government and non-government organizations have been trying to promote esports as a form of legitimized sports by explaining the work of South Korean government, which was very passionate about growing esports industry since late 1990s. Taylor rightly points out transnational nature of esports, which foreshadows a promising future, as many of the authorities in the field of esports believe to be.