Are video games becoming a sport?

By Josh Teixeira

For some, video games are becoming as competitive as some professional sports. Electronic sports, or eSports as they are often called, are a competitive form of gaming in which various games are played either online or in real life against live opponents.

“Technically, eSports have been around since the 70s when tournaments were held in arcades for games like Space Invaders,” said Shaun Byrne, 25, organizer and promoter of the upcoming eSports event No Man’s LAN. “The first recorded tournament was held at Stanford in 1972 for the game Spacewar! and the prize was a year subscription to Rolling Stone Magazine. That being said, the big boom didn’t come until the 90s when the Internet became more widespread as well as live streaming pioneered by Twitch.”

Twitch is an online streaming service and community for gamers. It is used to broadcast and stream gameplay online, often with video including the streamer and a chat system for viewers to interact with one another.

“YouTube, and even more so Twitch, are the reason for the eSports boom in the past five years,” said Byrne. “They’ve made content available to a large number of people around the world and have effectively converted millions of people into fans. Before the platforms existed, eSports appeared briefly on network T.V. but failed. Now, when asked if it needs to be on T.V. for it to be successful, I say that it’s built its own way of reaching people that is even better.”

eSports are undeniably competitive considering how much time players put into their craft and the fact that they work with coaches and analysts to help break down their playing. Last year, a total of 71 million people watched as the Season 3 World Championship of League of Legends took place in the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

“The term eSports will bring out the ignorance in many people who have never been exposed,” said Byrne. “The stigma of basement-dwelling nerd gamers is still very prevalent and people like myself that are in the industry must fight this every day. eSports requires top notch hand-eye coordination and reflexes which alone should be enough for it to be considered a sport.”

According to Byrne, some of the biggest games associated with eSports are Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, Starcraft 2, Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros. League of Legends holds the most viewers on average compared to other eSports with more than 100,000 viewers every day. The next highest averages are Counter-Strike with and 30,000 and Dota 2 with 25,000.

“eSports is definitely still a niche worldwide except for maybe in Asia,” said Byrne. “That trend is no different in Windsor. However, the number of eSports fans grows daily.”

The community is heavily involved in the eSports scene just like regular sports fans. They cheer for their team, bet on them, treat the players like athletes and in some cases, fix matches.

“I mainly play and practice about eight hours a day with my team,” said Brandon Dunn, a local eSports player. “I feel there’s not much of a scene here in Windsor. It’s slowly creeping up with PC gamers more than console gamers.”

Recently, sports news outlet theScore has launched an eSports app on Android with an iOS version set to be released shortly, aiming to be the first media company to attract the adverting dollars of an audience that has grown to over 71 million people. CEO of theScore John Levy said he believes eSports should be treated as a fully-fledged sport.

“They’re taking something that’s about to boom in the next few years and taking advantage of it as we slowly get eSports known,” said Dunn. “But regular sports consumers, let’s face it, are not interested in eSports. They want the NFL, NBA or any mainstream sport highlights on theScore.”

Joe Bumbacco, 15, is another eSports player who joined when he was 14. On average, the majority of eSports players start professional circuits around ages 17-19.

“The local eSports scene in Windsor is pretty bad, and we definitely need more events consistently,” said Bumbacco.

No Man’s LAN is an eSports event in which various teams compete in different game tournaments. Other guests are allowed to participate in any game. The event will be held on March 13-15 at the St. Clair College Information Technology Club on 2000 Talbot Rd.