Electronic sports, also known as e-sports, are organized electronic game competitions. E-sports players compete in video game and computer game tournaments to win money and prizes. Players may participate individually or in teams, depending on the game. Professional e-sports players can spend hours each day honing their skills. Some receive sponsorships and enjoy celebrity status among gaming enthusiasts. E-sports fans, much like fans of traditional sports, enjoy watching tournaments and cheering for their favorite players and teams.
Some electronic games are based on traditional sports, such as football or tennis. But the games most popular in e-sports tend to be from other genres (categories). First-person shooters (FPS’s) were among the first popular e-sports games. In an FPS, the player engages in firefights from the perspective of a character in the game. Expert FPS players have quick reflexes and detailed knowledge of the virtual terrain in which battles take place. In real-time strategy (RTS) games, players wage virtual war against one another, building up and controlling entire armies while managing such resources as money and raw materials. The science fiction RTS game series Starcraft, first released in 1998, is especially popular in e-sports. A more recent e-sports genre focuses the RTS experience into smaller, more intense battles between small teams of players. The game League of Legends (2009) is perhaps the best-known example. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012), Dota 2 (2013), and Fortnite (2017) are other popular e-sports games.
Ever since their invention, electronic games have enabled players to compete with one another. But early competitive gaming usually took place among players in the same room, in front of the same screen. In the 2000’s, the development of faster internet connections enabled players across the globe to compete with one another without leaving their homes. Around the same time, e-sports exploded in popularity.
Today, spectators flock to stadiums dedicated to e-sports in Arlington, Texas; Chongqing, China; Las Vegas, Nevada; Seoul, South Korea; and other places around the world. E-sports prizes can be worth millions of dollars, and top players earn a living at gaming through a combination of prizes, sponsorships, and other deals. In 2022, the Commonwealth Games a traditional sports competition, included e-sports for the first time.
