Esports is not dead

On July 21st in Seattle, Washington, two teams of five players took their seats on the main stage of The International 2014 - the winning team would take home over 5 million dollars. However, money isn't the only thing on the minds of the players. Teams Newbee and Vici Gaming are fighting for who would be known as the best DotA 2 team for the next year.

This is esports.

While The International is considered the largest gaming tournament of the year - boasting a crowd-funded 10 million dollar prize pool, 20 million viewers, and over 2 million simultaneous viewers during the grand finals, not including ESPN, MTG Europe, or China TV - it is not nearly the only opportunity players have to exhibit their skills and win prize money. Throughout the year, hundreds of tournaments are hosted across many games such as DotA 2, League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Counter Strike, and SMITE.  In addition to tournaments, many players utilize online video streaming services such as Twitch, YouTube, and HitBox to broadcast their practices. For some, their income from gaming is enough to sustain a living without taking another traditional job. A few years ago, this was impossible except for perhaps a few dozen players.

Esports (or electronic sports) are becoming hugely popular on a global scale. According to a report for SuperData, esport viewership more than doubled in 2013 with over 71 million viewers worldwide. Looking at the data and consistent buzz in the news, it's undeniable that esports is here to stay in the foreseeable future. But what will it take for esports to grow further? What will bring it into the mainstream?

One great challenge facing esports, and what I think is the greatest challenge, is the idea that playing video games for a living isn't respectable. What is the root of this idea? It could be a number of issues; video game addiction, stereotypes of what a gamer looks and acts like, or that video games are a waste of time in general, among others. What even makes a profession respectable? Is it based on salary? Supporting yourself and your family? Contribution to society? Is a job as a garbage collector more or less respectable than a secretary? I am not sure of the answer to this question, but I will say that I don't believe a janitor is less respectable a professional athlete.

Watching an esport can be likened to watching other competition based entertainment. This includes football, Mixed Martial Arts, and chess. What is different about esports? Games are played on a computer and most viewers watch online - not through a television service. The mechanics of competitive games are different from traditional sports for sure, but they are still played in a set arena with a set of rules and bounds that are easy to understand but still offer depth. From this perspective, I can equate any esport to any other physical sport as well as mental competitions like chess. Some are offended by the idea that a video game is a sport. Traditionally, sports are an exhibition of physical ability by competition and professionals consist of the best of the best. Esports challenge the players mental abilities. Using the word "sport" to describe competitive gaming seems like it would alienate the idea from many people. I believe these are the same people who don't consider chess a sport. It certainly is fine to not consider any esport a sport, however that does not invalidate their existence.

Still, I wonder what is preventing society from seeing competitive gaming an acceptable profession. Other arguments I see express the thought, "I will not pay someone to play video games too much." This argument seems to water down esports quite a bit. Why would you pay an athlete to play soccer too much? Is it because we consider them hobbies? Physical sports can be fun hobbies, so can video games, so can watching films, and so can playing music. Yet, we pay athletes, progamers, film critics, and musical performers to keep doing their hobby for a living (Musical performance is certainly an outlier in this comparison as typically there is production of music involved, not only performance). How do people view video games differently? I think the answer or at least a large part of the answer is that people don't know what competitive gaming involves.

Becoming a great player takes thousands of hours. Progamers play for 7 to 12 hours a day to maintain and develop their skills just as professional athletes do. Some people would say that their kid does that already, why aren't they a progamer? Well, they might become one, but are they willing to change their perspective of games from sole entertainment to the more analytical and technical understanding that is required of any profession? Playing a pickup game of basketball can be great, but nobody makes it to the top without first the physical ability and then the mental ability to analyze the game. I would even argue that physical ability has immense diminishing returns compared to analytical skill and strategization.

When people water down what competitive gaming is, they are viewing it like one would view paying people to play tug of war all day. Tug of war is a simple game with one goal: pull the rope with more force than the opposition. It has some strategy such as putting the biggest person at the end of the rope and loop them in, but nothing terribly interesting as far as I am aware. From a top level, one might be unsure what they're looking at when they first see an esport. After a few minutes of observation, you will see characters fighting one another, and maybe it would take you a few more minutes to see who is on which team unless it's a one on one match. I imagine one viewing a traditional sport without any prior knowledge would have a similar experience. However, underneath what's immediately noticeable is a lot of detail, nuance, and strategy. There are mechanics that one may take hours or more to pick up on if they don't have some sort of guide. Here lies the disconnect between what people think they know and what actually is. The same happens to traditional sports when a person is disinterested: "This is just a game of get the ball in the goal," or "fight the opponent until they give up." These statements are true, but they severely underestimate the complexity of what is actually happening on the field.

In the end, I'm not sure it matters if esports overcomes these challenges. The esports scene is currently growing at an extreme rate and is almost to a point where thousands of people can sustain themselves solely off progaming. Either way, esports is here to stay and it's not going to mind anything the negative have to say.