Esports

Bright, dazzling, and shimmering lights, loud music, cheering and roaring crowds throughout the arena, these are the things you would first notice in an Esports event. Wait wait... Esports? Perhaps you’re wondering what Esports is. Well, Esports is short for electronic sports which is a term for organized video game competitions where professionals compete. Esports is actually a really broad term because many genres are associated with electronic sports such as real-time strategy, fighting, first person shooter, and multiplayer online battle arena. You can compare Esports to sports because sports isn’t limited to one specific activity, but in fact, hundreds of sports exist. In the same way, Esports covers a wide range of genres. 

But wait, Electronic sports? Like where’s the sport in sitting around the computer all day playing video games. Isn’t that too easy for it to be considered a sport? If you think it’s that easy, well that’s where you’re wrong. This video entitled “LoL and NFL” by LoL Esports shows Chris Kluwe, an NFL player, comparing League of Legends, an esport, to Football.

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Summarizing all of his points, e-sports may not be a physical sport. It’s more of a mental sport, but even if it’s a mental sport, there’s also a physical aspect in it because usually, reaction times are really important in game. For you to learn a game in e-sport, it usually takes an ample amount of time just like sports, and it requires determination and practice.

Now you might be wondering. Esports.. How come I have never heard of this before? Where did it come from? Allow me to give you a brief history. Esports started to gain fame during the early 2000s, and until right now, it’s still gaining ground and momentum. However, if you trace back Esports to its origin, it actually began way back in 1972 where the earliest known video game competition began. It took place on October 19,1972, at Stanford University for the game Spacewar. From then on, more video game competitions started to take place but it was not until the 1990s that Esports took advantage of a new technology at that time, the internet. It is a well known fact that the internet connects people to one another, and as time passed, the internet became an effective form of communication. From snail mails, e-mails took over, and from phone calls, now there’s Skype for that. Esports was able to take full advantage of these perks. Because of the internet, people could now compete with one another without the need of them being present in one physical location, making it easier for gamers alike. In the present time, Esports is already starting to make a name for itself, and in my opinion, I think that Esports would continue to grow and become larger than what it is today.

If you’re interested in trying out Esports, I’d recommend playing games that your peers usually play because you would be able to learn more since you have friends who are experienced in that particular game. But if not, I’d probably recommend multiplayer online battle arena games such as League of Legends, DOTA 2, and more. Overall, Esports is something that you may want to try because it not only requires you to think, but it also requires you to have effective communication with your teammates (if you’re playing team-based games, and it also requires you to execute plans against your foe, but the most important of all is that Esports is something that can be enjoyed and it’s fun to play video games, so why not give it a try?

by: Raymond Acero