As far as we know, non-internet inventions of mankind, namely televisions and books, are not going to be completely replaced by internet-based inventions, such as streaming services like Netflix and e-books. However, internet-based inventions are certainly growing very rapidly and efficiently. Many people and companies have been recognizing this fact and starting to acknowledge that mankind is now in internet-based phase and not to go back. For a recognizable amount of time people used to spend on playing sports is replaced by times to play internet-based competitions, a brand-new term “e-sports” was coined and started to spread into people’s lives.
The word has not been used commonly until 2010s, but early forms of esports—video game competitions—were not widely appreciated by people. Even nowadays, there is an argument whether we should take esports as real “sports.” To some people, esports is considered nothing more than immature video game contest. However, to others, it is indeed considered as a form of sports, which can be enjoyed by multiple people, and create a significant amount of profits by carrying it out. Apparently, as personal computers and mobile devices are widespread to more population of the world, esports has accessibility to all those people. As people are exposed more to gaming industry and making more contact to it, people’s interest toward esports grew.
The industry of esports now has tens of millions of dollars invested by numerous companies; however, esports companies are not sure whether there is the best way to develop the industry. Some are trying to emulate what traditional sports established over time, owning teams which participate in several different video games as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are doing in traditional sports. Others extend their business model and actively participate in content creating and selling apparels. (Smith) Since the birth of esports is not a long time ago, people could not determine which way works best yet.
When traditional sports’ profits are “based heavily on television broadcast revenue and box office receipts” (Smith), esports, which barely receives television broadcast coverage, could develop into an investable business item because of its universal accessibility by live streaming services, and because of the crowd’s shift from traditional media sources such as televisions to internet and social media. When there is an esports match, live streamers throughout streaming platforms such as YouTube and Twitch start co-streaming the match and comments what is going on at the match, attracting a very large number of viewers. People love to communicate with each other when watching a sports event. In case of traditional sports, people would gather to the stadium where the match is physically going on, or to the bars where they can grab a beer and talk to each other, cheer for their favorite team. Online streaming platforms are a dreams-come-true medium, an ideal setting for it can hold literally countless spectators and it is very easily accessible. People can decide to watch any esports match whenever they want, wherever they want— even when you’re in a public transportation on your way from or to work. The busy and complicated lifestyle that modern people developed left relatively less spot for traditional sports fans to enjoy their hobby, but esports fans can transcend all physical limitations, and this is definitely very attractive for many people. Therefore, even though there barely is a coverage by television broadcast, esports has been able to attract audiences and money to flourish.
Even though esports is a seemingly promising industry, the professionals are having hard time to remain in their positions of the industry. “Few careers burn as intensely—and as briefly—as that of an eSports professional. Players are generally in competition by their mid-to late teens, and most are retired by their mid-20s. It’s often due to burnout or fatigue: The intense lifestyle and constant hours of work it requires to be a professional gamer just aren’t realistic for decades-long spans” (Stanton). Professional gamers used to spend most of their time (12+ hours a day) practicing, which leaves barely enough time for very minimum essential human activities such as eating and sleeping. By their late mid-20s, professional gamers’ wrists, spines and necks would just fall apart, making them impossible to participate in such intensive schedule of practices, which can directly affect their performances in their leagues. In order to protect their players health, esports companies started to include physical activities to get their professional gamers in shape to lengthen their career lifespan longer and provide equipments designed for gamers. This problem may not easily be resolved for the companies must look for talent over physical fitness of a professional gamers. However, in order to grow as a decent career choice, the esports industry should find a better way to manage its dedicated professional players.
Mental health issues are also a factor that may hamper esports from flourishing. For a professional gamer, living in a team house with teammates is prevalent practice, brought over from South Korea. According to ESPN, during a competitive season, “players will get maybe one day off a week to themselves, with the rest littered with scrimmages and individual practice” (Erzberger). 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” (Erzberger). This is true indeed, but this just means there are fewer personal spaces for esports athletes. Also, the fact that most of the professional gamers are living in a “team house” where they spend practically every day doing everything with each other means the esports athletes are not having enough personal time desired for mental health. 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.
Some scholars like T.L. Taylor tries to compare traditional sports and esports and analyzes how esports was able to grow since its recent birth. Taylor points out that esports still struggles with breaking out of whole “geek” reputation and “bad-influence-for-kid” reputations. She points out that esports “are often not seen as providing readily apparent connections to lifestyle brands” (Taylor 2015, 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.
She also 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” (Taylor 2018, 137). 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.
Our lives have never been more convenient with the widely propagation of technology, especially computers. We wake up in the morning, look at our phones, acquire knowledge about weather, check our emails, and so on. Computer-based technology is omnipresent, and it has empowered us to be extremely efficient and all-knowing-at-will. Recent advancement in technology enabled people to participate in almost any kind of experience online, access to video clips, listen to music, resulting in an exponential growth in internet-based industry, namely esports. Even though there still are some downsides that need to be taken care of, the future of esports remains promising. For esports industry to bloom even more, well-organized programs with decent curriculum as traditional sports should be provided. Once esports gears up with better curriculum, they need to set decent business models. When the problems are fixed, the industry of esports would finally be recognized as a form of sports, and the world would witness the new generation of sports.
Shawn Ha 