When computers were first created they were made to help with complex math and evaluate equations. As time went by and computers became increasingly powerful, more programs were created for computers, such as text editors and games. Computer games have advanced a long way, from Spacewars! to World of Warcraft and beyond. With the success of computer games, particularly ones that allow you to play online against others, a new phenomenon called e-Sports has arisen. E-Sports are organized video game competitions and have grown in popularity rapidly in recent years.
The Early Days
The first known video game competition was held in 1972 for the game Spacewars. The first large scale video game competition, held in 1981, attracted more than 10,000 people to compete playing Space Invaders. Televised e-Sports also arrived during this time, with a TV show called Starcade which ran from 1982-1984. During an episode of Starcade, two contestants would play 3 different video games and try to amass the greatest number of total points total.
Online Gaming Arrives
Starting in 1990, games that allowed players to play against each other online began arriving. The first online multiplayer game was Netrek. Netrek is still played to this day, and has been labelled as the first online sports game. At this time larger e-Sports competitions also started emerging, including the Nintendo World Championships which were held across the United States in 1990 and 1994, as well as the Blockbuster Video World championships which were held across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Chile.
The Current Day
Since the beginning of the 21st century, many gaming competitions have been formed; the World Cyber Games, the Intel Extreme Masters and Major League Gaming all hold multiple competitions for multiple games. E-Sports first became popular with the introduction of competitive Starcraft play, which continues to be popular, especially in South Korea where professional Starcraft players are treated like celebrities. Some other popular e-Sports games are Starcraft 2, League of Legends and Dota 2. E-Sports are increasing in popularity, with players and teams earning a living off of stream revenue and event participation.
Starcraft 2
Starcraft 2 is the latest version of Starcraft, the first major competitive e-Sport game. In South Korea there are two television channels dedicated to broadcasting Starcraft matches, as well as many major tournaments held all over the world with prize pools going up to $170,000. Starcraft pits two players against each other, each controlling a race of alien beings and driving the production of fighting units in order to defeat the opposing race. The highest earner in the 2013 season of Starcraft was Lee Jae Dong – commonly known by his handle Jaedong – who earned $489,384.83, a record for earnings in a season.
League of Legends
League of Legends is a newer game than Starcraft, and is played with two teams of 5 playing against each other in a MOBA – a multiplayer online battle arena. Each team takes turns banning then picking champions for each of their players to control. The teams then proceed to fight and attempt to destroy the other’s base which is located at the opposite side of the map. League of Legends has had increasing success in each of its three seasons as an e-Sport, starting with a $100,000 prize pool at the first season’s world championships and growing to an $8,000,000 prize pool for season 3, with $2,000,000 of that being the prize pool for the finals. It has also enjoyed a wide audience, growing from 200,000 concurrent viewers during the first season’s world finals to 1,400,000 concurrent viewers during the season 3 world finals. While Starcraft is a PC game that must be bought, League of Legends is a free-to-play game that allows players to pay money to unlock characters more quickly and for aesthetic changes.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is a similar game to League of Legends in that it is free-to-play, has teams of players each controlling a hero character that will level up and gain skills, as well as gold used to buy items. Dota 2 has been available as a beta – a pre-release state meant for testing – to gamers since 2011, and was officially released in July 2013. The 2013 championships, called “The International”, had a prize pool of $2,800,000 with $1,400,000 going to the winning team.
Conclusion
E-Sports are becoming more popular and widely accepted in the 21st century. A professional Canadian League of Legends player, Danny “Shiphtur” Le, has even been granted a United States P1-A Visa, which is designated for “Internationally Recognized Athletes”. As e-Sports continue to evolve more games will start to be played competitively, keeping many children’s dreams of playing video games for a living alive.
References
[i] [eSports]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://pnimg.net/w/articles/0/571/a3c3b4c9c9.jpg
