Tiger Dome, Korea University filled with fans who came to watch the APEX S2 final. Photo credit: OGN

Why do we watch esports?

Why do people from all around the globe watch teenagers and young adults play a video game? Why did a myriad of girls gather on 8th of April in the Tiger Dome, Korea University to scream in adoration of boys and young men? Not up-and-coming or already established pop-stars, but rather ones who spend the majority of their day in front of a computer screen, in an activity that is to this day heavily associated with kids.

The answer to that question, is rather simple. For the same reason millions of people around the world watch drivers go round and round in circles; that otherwise reasonable adults can start fistfights over which man they are likely to never meet is better at kicking a ball; or why in a modern society that can be progressive to fault, two people enter a cage to figure out who’s the better fighter.

It is because we adore competition.

Make no mistake, what we watch is very much simple video games. But it is also people who’ve put thousands of hours into an activity, trying to discover and expand the limits of their human potential by becoming the best they can be at said video games. For, it might not be important to the world, and no one wakes up thinking them playing well is of the utmost significance to the fate of humanity; however, it is nonetheless important to the people who compete and the ones who watch. In fact, to those, it might just be one of the most important things in the world.

Lunatic-Hai, rushing toward the trophy after their win. Photo credit: OGN

The huge plays and impossible clutches, the genius strategies and innovations, the drama … Oh! The sweet, delicious and often hilarious drama! Any of these and number of other factors contribute to why following esports is an enjoyable activity. In the core of everything though, stands the competition and a competitor’s drive to be the best. Without the obsession to be the best and to win, there is nothing to keep a person going for countless hours through an injury in hopes to better themselves. Without it, there is nothing to keep one’s brain busy with the game day and night, trying to come up with a never before seen strategy. Without it, nothing will force a loyal young man to leave a team of friends amidst the peak of their performance for another team, only for the chance of becoming better and winning more. Without the drive for the all-important victory, every story line that follows is gone.

This is why competitive integrity is sacred, because without it victory has no value. And when that is the case no one cares, neither fans nor competitors.

This is why Valve refuses to consider reversing the bans on the IBP players, no matter how misguided it may seem from the outside.

This is why the likes of sAviOr and Life, the once revered by fans as gods among men, turned into the most hated esports figures in their homeland overnight and got their names erased from history as far as Blizzard and KeSPA are concerned.

Not because they broke the rules, but because they dared to threaten the competitive integrity of their respective disciplines.