Cartoon by Marty Loftin
One day soon we may see sports like football, soccer and baseball as antiquated as the death sports of the ancient Romans. In the age of electronic entertainment, the traditional sports industry might find itself becoming obsolete.
Electronic sports, or e-sports, should be recognized as equals to their non-electronic counterparts.
E-sports are multiplayer videogames of a competitive nature. Some games are played with one player facing another, such as the fighting games “Street Fighter” or “Super Smash Bros,” while other games require teams of players to work together, such as “World of Tanks” or “League of Legends.”
There are also games in which players compete against a clock or for a high score. For years gamers have competed to complete games as fast as possible, sometimes exploiting glitches in the software to skip levels.
A provocative documentary, “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” tells the story of people throughout the United States each working to beat the world record for highest score for the arcade game “Donkey Kong.”
E-sports might seem too different to qualify as a sport, but it requires only a little thinking outside of the X-Box to understand why video games are sports.
Besides the Olympics there are the Paralympics and Special Olympics, which are designed so that people with physical or mental disabilities can compete and be celebrated for their strength, speed and dexterity.
E-sports allow people to compete against their fellow gamers, and while this stage is not as large as the Olympics, one day it could be. In the future it will become increasingly difficult for society to keep investing the amount of resources necessary to maintain thousands of billion dollar stadiums. Although sports can be an economic boon to some communities, others suffer from the huge amounts of money misspent on building and supporting stadiums. Besides the initial cost of building a sports stadium, the upkeep costs when it is not in use cost communities millions of dollars each year.
E-sports are widely becoming more popular thanks to the ever-increasing technological nature of our world. It is easier than ever to play video games with anyone in the world, as well as share videos of the gameplay to a receptive audience. E-sports have received coverage on ESPN, though the e-sport audience mostly relies on online streaming services like Twitch.tv to broadcast live video or Youtube to share individual videos. Video game tournaments usually take place in convention centers and are usually free to watch online, with some featuring a pay-for-chat feature. The only cost to watch these online events is the occasional short advertisement. This is a lot easier on consumers who would rather not waste money on stadium parking or overpriced snacks.
E-sports are nowhere near perfect. Unsportsmanlike conduct has long been a thorn in the gaming communities heel and many gamers have begun to speak out about the abuse of Adderall and Ritalin to improve performance in tournaments. Many players have experienced their share of foul-mouthed gamers and women are too often harassed online. Fortunately, game companies and organizers are successfully tamping down abuse.
Developers continue designing games even after release in an attempt to be competitive and balanced. This process can last for some time because games and the strategies involved continue to evolve over time. Game developers can underestimate the effectiveness of certain aspects of their game and later “nerfed” those aspects by making them less useful.
Last month musician Lupe Fiasco and professional player Daigo Umehara faced off in an exhibition match to celebrate the release of “Street Fighter V” due to Fiasco tweeting fans about how much he respected Daigo’s talent. Fiasco managed to defeat Daigo.
Good video game players can come out of nowhere and impress fans. MadCatz, a gaming accessory manufacturer, sponsors Daigo and different companies sponsor many other players. While sponsorships do not pay as well as a full-time job, it helps keep professional gamers afloat financially between high-paying tournaments. Many of the larger gaming tournaments can pay from $1,000 to $1,000,000 in prize money. Sponsorships usually pay from $3,000 to $5,000 a month.
Professional athletes are role models for people of all ages and professional gamers are becoming just as respected by their own audiences. These online personalities cultivate followings organically over the Internet and make their living posting videos online and surviving off advertising revenue and donations. A Global Games Market Report by Newzoo predicts the video game industry will break $100 billion by 2017.
Why would someone watch a game that they could just play themselves? On the other hand, why would someone watch a sport when they could play it themselves?
Sometimes it is just more fun to watch.
