This week we talked about Esports.  Very recently gaming has become more and more popular. What was once seen as a mindless pass time has now transformed into a serious profession.  One of the most interesting things about Esports for me has been the resemblance it has to physical sports.  Sports have been around for a very long time, and the community and culture around sports has had a lot of time to develop and evolve over time. When it comes to playing video games, it has just very recently been seen as a possible profession. There are many similarities and differences between the Esports and regular sports. One similarity is the path to becoming a professional in sports vs in Esports. For regular sports, people often have to be a part of a team and build up their skills until a scout comes and picks them up.  For Esports players it is similar in the sense that they have to either play on a serious gaming team or work their way up to professional standings by competing in many smaller competitions.  Most people compete in gaming conventions and can get noticed by people there.  Unlike regular sports, video game players can become noticed through their own personal streams and be picked up and put into an Esports team that way. Another similarity between the two are how games are presented to the viewer.  Both have similar editing styles and commentary. There will be replays of interesting plays, and there will be the commentators hyping up the games and explaining to the viewer what is happening as it is going on.  At the end of games, certain players can even be interviewed.

There was a time where I was extremely into Overwatch and I watched a lot of Overwatch league.  I would always watch my favorite team the NYXL and cheer for them to win.  They would have the commentators that were very entertaining.  The players would have their own jerseys and each team would even have their own entrance to the stage at the start of every game.  People could get tickets and be in the crowd to watch the games happen live. When they would show the crowd, I would see people with jerseys of their own, face paint, merchandise, and funny signs they would hold up to the camera. It was just as energetic and exciting as what would typically be seen in a stadium for most regular sports.

Unfortunately, one difference that sports and Esports have is the stigma attached to them.  Worldwide, sports are accepted and ingrained into most cultures.  Video games is still seen as something that shouldn’t be taken seriously by a lot of people.  I hope that over time, more and more people will respect the talent and skill it takes to play professionally. Hopefully then, Esports players can be taken more seriously just as normal sports players are.

Works Cited

Taylor, Nicholas Thiel. “Now You’Re Playing with Audience Power: the Work of Watching Games.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 33, no. 4, 2016, pp. 293–307., doi:10.1080/15295036.2016.1215481.