Just as die-hard fans live by the successes of their favorite football teams and players, video games have evolved a similar culture of professional leagues, massive international tournaments and even bigger audiences. “Professional gaming” is perhaps the most succinct way of defining the culture of esports. Footballers and tennis pros play sports; gamers play esports.

While the popularity of esports has yet to match that of non-virtual displays of physical prowess and strategy, the industry is booming and is expected to be worth nearly $1.5 billion by 2020. That’s a lot of gamers who take what they do very seriously.

Just like with real sports, esports is a general term covering a variety of different games that are played professionally, featuring almost every genre in which there is a clear winner or loser. Real time strategy (RTS) games like Starcraft helped pioneer the culture of esports and the pros train to think strategically and play faster than their opponents. But first-person shooters (FTSs) and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) type games have also drawn dedicated gamers to play in local and international competitions.

Almost any game with a big enough base of dedicated players can join the world of esports but, similar to how baseball remains mostly an American sport, esports are more popular in some parts of the world than others.

Esports have gained immense popularity and recognition in South Korea in particular, where many of the best players and coaches are trained. The culture has also grown by leaps and bounds in China, Europe and the United States, however, and international tournaments regularly pit the best players from each country against one another.

Many of these large international esports competitions can be attended live in massive arenas that hold tens of thousands of fans. Millions more watch competitions online on YouTube and Twitch, which both offer live-streaming services.

With more and more people finding their way to gaming and esports, there is room for explosive growth that can be facilitated by Buff, a new ICO that’s making it much easier for gamers to be more dedicated and follow their dreams. BUFF is a loyalty platform built for gamers, and realised through a rewards based token economy. The BUFF platform creates a loyalty scheme where gamers can accumulate BUFF coins simply by doing what they love best — playing eSports games. BUFF coins are earned through in-game progress and achievements, as well as amount of time spent gaming and can be spent on virtual goods.

Buff makes esports more accessible and more rewarding for the gamers who are dreaming big, so go ahead! You could soon be the world champion of your favorite game and Buff will guide you there.