What is eSports?

Competitive gaming is not a new concept. If you have ever been to an arcade, you have likely seen strangers and friends competing on games like Street Fighter, Dance Dance Revolution, etc. Over the past 20 years there has been unprecedented growth in the industry of eSports.

There are several key innovations and milestones that contributed to this explosive growth. The invention of personal computers and gaming consoles resulted in Local Area Network (LAN) parties, where people could play and compete locally. Furthermore, the introduction of the internet enabled people to compete with individuals and teams globally. Naturally, this has led to countless opportunities for tournaments, both online and offline. The ability to live-stream and upload your gameplay allows hundreds of thousands to tune in regularly to watch matches and scrimmages.

As tournaments started to become more popular, it became increasingly clear that more formal business organizations needed to exist to organize these matches and tournament. These organizations range from: Major League Gaming/Gamebattles, ESEA, FaceIt, Gfinity, etc. Each of these organizations has helped propel and power eSports.

I highly recommend watching this short documentary by PBS, if you are interested in learning more about the world of eSports. To summarize, within eSports there are several genres that competitive gaming can be sorted into:

Shooters (Halo, Counter Strike, Call of Duty, etc.)

(Halo, Counter Strike, Call of Duty, etc.) Fighting (Street Fighter, Tekken, Super Smash Bros, etc.)

(Street Fighter, Tekken, Super Smash Bros, etc.) Real-time Strategy (StarCraft, WarCraft, Command & Conquer, etc.)

(StarCraft, WarCraft, Command & Conquer, etc.) Multiplayer Online Battle Arena — MOBA’s (League of Legends, Dota, Smite, etc.)

Shooters and MOBA’s are heavily focused on teamwork and team coordination. In contrast, real-time strategy and fighting games are typically individuals competing against one another. Each of these genres of eSports is incredibly large; however, MOBA’s and Shooters are really leading the charge currently. Specifically, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and League of Legends.