Virtual Athletes of the Future

Garnet Smith
From the era of pinball games, to the franchise monoliths that continually
shape gaming, competition has always been involved. The beginnings of video
game competition emerged from grappling for the highest score in your chosen
arcade game. However, in recent years a devoted community of professionals and
viewers has developed. Generations of gaming platforms have sprouted hundreds
of thousands of titles of video games, all with their own unique play styles and
genres. Many of which have competitive adaptations and scenes for devoted
players to show their skills. In the following paragraphs, the history of eSports will
be outlined to establish reasoning and pose a question. Should eSports be
illegitimized as professional athletic sports? The first organized eSports event was
held by Atari for their game Space Invaders and drew a huge crowd of 10,000
gamers in 1980. From this point, eSports, would rapidly grow in popularity over the
years. From this largely growing and passionate audience, the first eSports worthy
First-Person Shooter (FPS) title was born. Quake, was released for PC, Nintendo 64
and Saturn in 1996 and was met with acclaimed ratings. The Quake tournament,
Red Annihilation, was born in 1997 and paved the standard for future FPS
tournaments. Quake sparked an era of FPS games which have found their way well
into 21st century with titles such as Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, Counter Strike:
Global Offensive, Halo, Battlefield, and Call of Duty.
Many popular video games today have direct or indirect predecessors that
paved their direction. A popular example is the real-time strategy (RTS) game
Starcraft and its expansion Brood War. Selling a combined total of 5.5 million
copies in South Korea alone, the game created a massive competitive RTS scene
that soon exploded in the country. Thus, the Korean eSports Association (KeSPA)
soon surfaced to manage eSports in Korea. Noticing the potential of StarCraft, the
game developer, Blizzard Entertainment, quickly began development of StarCraft 2:
Wings of Liberty. After twelve years of rigorous coding and polishing, the game was
released in North America on July 27, 2010. In just five months Blizzard sold 4.5
million copies of the game worldwide, receiving ratings of 90% or more. This critical
acclaim solidified their reputation followed by many awards from Metacritic,
Eurogamer, IGN, Game Informer, and more. The success of this franchise sparked a
flame for eSports that is burning brighter than ever. But more importantly, it set the
standards for an eSports worthy title.
Two huge tournaments were launched, creating a rise in prizepool money and
sparked interest from viewers globally. The World Cyber Games began in 2000 in
South Korea with a prizepool of $200,000 and 174 competitors from 17 different
countries. This tournament grew in popularity until the last event in 2013 and even
sprouted a TV show called WGC Ultimate Gamer. The closing of WGC was
announced by their CEO, Brad Lee, in 2014 ending the 13 year running annual

beloved event. Shortly following the birth of WGC, The Electronic Sports World Cup
was hosted in 2003 with a prizepool of $134,000 and 358 professionals from 37
countries. Each year, the ESWC has tournaments for several games, one of the most
popular is Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Unlike the WGC, the Electronic Sports
World Cup still occurs annually with the latest 2016 event. Through 103 different
tournaments, the ESWC has given out $2,571,624 in prize money from 2003 to
2016. Because of these large prize pools many professional gamers, earn their
living exclusively through eSport tournaments.
A recently introduced genre of video game called Multiplayer Online Battle
Arena (MOBA) has risen extremely fast to the very top of the eSports scene. Two
specific titles, League of Legends (LoL) and Dota 2, are the main focuses of most
MOBA tournaments. These MOBA events have massive prize pools and huge
viewership worldwide via Twitch.tv, streaming most eSport tournaments live, free
and online. The International is a yearly Dota 2 tournament that began in 2011 at
Gamescom. The 2016 event was hosted by Valve, the developer of Dota, and boasts
the largest prizepool in the history of eSports. 80 professional players belonging to
16 teams competed for a piece of a whopping $20,770,640 prizepool. Wings
Gaming took first place winning $9,139,002, followed by Digital Chaos who won
$3,427,126.
In 2014, Valve Corporation released a documentary called Free to Play,
which delves into the lives of professional Dota 2 players and the commitment they
show to their game. In the movie, the manager of the first all-female Dota team,
Tammy Tang, explains It gives you the ability to become someone else - someone
who is powerful, who can take down five opponents, express their creativity, break
the rules without actually getting arrested. ESport athletes show insane devotion in
their respective games, resulting in the International Olympics Committee declaring
League of Legends an official Olympic sport. Two days after the Olympics
Committee decision, the US government recognized League of Legends as a sport
as well. The US visa bureau mirrored the actions of the US government allowing
professional gamers to obtain sports immigration visas. These recognitions are a
massive step in the progress towards integrating eSports into the international
sports scene.
The absolute best professional gamers are well practiced and knowledgeable
of game mechanics, accuracy, timing, spacial awareness, and movement/aiming
prediction. These combined values shown by professionals make eSports very
entertaining spectator sports for viewers around the world. Major League Gaming
(MLG) was founded in 2002 and in 2006 with cooperation from USA Network,
televised the first eSports tournament in North America However, this event had
very small viewership on television unlike the alternate online streaming option
which boasted huge viewership. The 2012 NBA All Star game received 5.7 million or
roughly 17% less viewers than the 2012 MLG Spring Championships held in

Anaheim, California. Just three years later, the 2015 League of Legends world cup
aquired 36 million unique viewers worldwide. These examples of staggering growth
have all around shown the importance of eSports globally. In the near future, I
perceive these numbers to grow even more exponential support for this newly
beloved phenomenon.
Many individuals and longtime sport enthusiasts debate the validity of
eSports as actual sports. The relatively new nature of eSports has caused many to
disqualify its place as a legitimate sport. Most people define a sport as an activity
that requires physical dexterity and skill in which more than one team or individual
compete. Many people debate whether a sport requires a physical component or
not. I believe a sport should include some amount of physical activity. However, this
doesn't make professional gaming any less of a hardcore cutthroat competition. The
professional eSport athletes are well deserving of the sponsorships and prestige
they receive. However, just like in athletic sports, cheaters exist and are equally
frowned upon by the community. In 2010, a match fixing scandal was exposed in
which Korean pro players intentionally illegally fixed and bet on StarCraft matches.
The result was the banning of eleven players from professional gaming, some of
them facing criminal charges as well. The overall reaction from the community was
a deep sense of betrayal and disappointment towards the gamers.
Even if eSports aren't eventually validated as actual sports, the next large
tournament empire will most likely emerge from competitive gaming. I for one
strongly believe this because of the statistical viewership and prizepool data that
prove eSports are growing more rapidly than ever. However, the entire eSports
community still avidly awaits a change in mindset that will welcome professional
players into the international sports scene. Most professional eSports competitors
practice on par with professional athletes in their respective games. They hone their
skills down for eight or more hours a day while simultaneously learning the styles of
their competitors. Being pro is time-restrictive, says Diego Quas Ruiz from Team
Liquid. "To stay competitive with other pro teams, you cant stop playing. As a
professional eSports athlete practicing less means almost certain defeat in
tournaments. With this understanding, professionals use varying drills and practice
non-stop to remain at the top of the ladder. When you combine the tireless devotion
of gaming professionals with a growing passion for gaming from millions of fans,
you find a fresh look at the future of sports.