The Evolution of eSports
The concept of playing video games professionally has been a controversial topic since the very beginning of the introduction of video games. However, from the very first recorded video game competition in 1972 till today, eSports has grown in popularity far quicker than many can imagine, and it will most likely continue to grow very far into the future.
Electronic sports, or eSports, are a term for organized competitive gaming at the highest professional level. The most popular video game genres associated with eSports include but are not limited to: real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooters and multiplayer online battle arenas(MOBA's).
The concept of competitive gaming all began in the October of 1972 with a game called “SPACEWAR”. At this event, 24 students were playing at the Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory in an event named the “Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics” for a chance to win a year’s subscription to the “Rolling Stone” magazine. The event was also reported by Rolling Stone. (Brand, 1972)
However, the earliest large-scale video game competition would go to the Space Invaders Championship held by Atari in 1980. This particular competition would attract more than 10,000 participants, with only one leaving as the victor. The Space Invaders Championship would soon light the path for the establishment of competitive gaming.
In 1981, Walter Aldo Day Jr., American businessman and historian founded Twin Galaxies; an organization whose purpose was to promote video games and publicize its records through publications such as the Guinness Book of World Records. In 1983, this organization created the U.S. National Video Game Team, which consisted of Billy Mitchell, Steve Harris, Jay Kim, Ben Gold and Tim McVey, with Walter Day as the captain. The team was involved in competitions, ran the Video Game Masters Tournament for Guinness World Records and even sponsored the North American Video Game Challenge Tournament.
In the 1990s, eSports was truly born, and along with it came the first proper eSports competitions. For example, the 1997’s Red Annihilation tournament for the First Person Shooter game “Quake” is considered to be the first real instance of eSports, along with drawing over 2,000 participants. The winner of the tournament received the Ferrari of lead developer, John Carmack.
In 2002, the largest and most successful giant of the eSports associations, Major League Gaming (MLG) would be born. This league would feature a diverse variety of video game genres- from first-person shooters to real time strategy games, along with offering prize pools larger than $170,000. ( MLG’s mission is to promote eSports on a global scale through premier competition and to deliver gaming content to viewers anytime, anywhere on their own livestreaming platform, MLG.tv. The MLG Pro Points Ranking System has become a benchmark for determining the best competitive players around the globe.
In 2011, the League of Legends held its very own Dreamhack tournament had been reported to have over 1.6 million viewers from around the world, and in the following year of 2012, the League of Legends World Championship Series attracted roughly eight thousand viewers live, with an additional 900,000 viewers from around the globe watching live, along with a five million dollar prize pool. During 2013, the League of Legends World Championships attracted a grand total of over 32 million viewers and fans, surpassing Game 7 of the NBA Finals in America by 7 million viewers.
The South Korean Government-formed Korean eSports Association, KeSPA, formed in 2000 in order to rule over the professional video gaming scene still holds strong today, and as of 2012, oversees a collection of 25 different games involved in the eSports scene, along with ascending players skilled enough at StarCraft II, League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients 2 to celebrity level status.
“The United States Government recognises League of Legends Pro Players as professional athletes and award visas to essentially work in the United States under that title. This is ground-breaking for eSports. Now we can start looking at international players- when they come over, it’s much easier to process as they’re recognised by the government,” states Riot Games’ eSports manager, Nick Allen. It has been confirmed by Riot Games that professional League of Legends players are eligible for P-14 Visas, the same visas used in various American sports including the NFL, the NBA, MLB, and NHL in order to bring players over from foreign countries.
The eSports industry provides many different ways for gamers to earn money; all while doing the things they love and playing the games they play. The many different ways that the players of this game can earn money include being a professional player, thus earning a salary from the company in charge of the game being played, livestreaming on websites such as Twitch.tv, creating community friendly videos for websites such as YouTube, through sponsors, and even through winning tournaments both local and international.
Players regarded as ‘professional’ in the game which they play, depending on which team they play, earn a salary from both the company in charge of the game that they play, and from the organization which they play for. The average League of Legends player earns roughly $35 000 a year from Riot Games alone, with $12 500 earned per split they play in (roughly $450 a match), placing North American LCS players in the earnings range of Major League Soccer players in America.
And what do you think? Do you think that electronic athletes should be considered athletes?
Nice article man, well written, well researched. Keep up the good work!
But yeah, e-sports are freaking huge these days - the sad thing is that a large portion of people still views videogames as something for children only.
I do believe it is because of the "game" inside the word, if they were called i.e. interactive media from the start, people would have a very different view of them.
Have you heard of the Rainbow 6 Pro League ? - I have been a huge R6 fan since the 90s...the new R6 has great gameplay to watch and they have great cash tournaments all the time.
I'm sorry, I'm not fan of the fps, I guess it's because I'm too bad, but R6 is a good game, and I know that his community is very competitive.
Ah no worries brother. Practice makes perfect. R6 is highly tactical and not your average FPS. If you are not a fan of FPS to begin with not sure I could recommend it to you. Check it out though if you want, it is a top notch game. Thanks for the post though brother.
meep
I am surprised the crowd is that big. The sport is bigger than I thought.
eSport is one of the biggest social developpement of our generation to me, and kind of makes me think of crypto currency. Most people didn't know about it or thought it was bs, but it eventually made it's way to be this huge thing we know :)