A lot of people play video games these days, we live in a world in which celebrities are brought into advertise games because the company has heard that they play their game. Most likely, they don’t play it well or often, causing a large portion of the fanbase to lash out at the attempted pandering. However, I am not here to talk about that side of video games, I am here to talking about the gamers who motivate other games to play better.
The popularity of eSports has sky-rocketed over the past few years.
eSports is a growing phenomenon within gaming, pitting two or more people against each other, with a team backing each of those players. These players are generally considered the very best at the game they play, just like people recognize great athletes for their skills and accomplishments. However, the people who play these games in massive tournaments, aren’t as distant as their sports counterparts. The fan feedback is nearly instantaneous as the players most likely have social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and most likely read through Reddit to see what people are saying about them or the game that they are playing.
In essence, eSports is an organized competitive outlet for video games, with the major games that host worldwide tournaments being League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and up until recently, Starcraft 2. Video game tournaments have existed before the term eSports was coined to represent these events, and before organizations hiring these gamers to play for them, however, the major difference between them is the structure. For example, League of Legends now has two split-long tournaments in 4 major regions, North America, Europe, China, and Korea, both of which determine which teams get to face each other in bi-yearly bracket tournament to see which region houses the best team for League of Legends. The second split culminates in the massive League of Legends World Championship event, taking place near the end of the year, which started back in 2011.
This leads us to the question, why should you care about eSports? It is because the fans have major influence over these games. The rules of soccer, basketball, and other traditional sports are almost set in stone, while the rule sets and iterations of the games being played competitively are in a constant state of flux. Soccer does not get regular updates that would add a different type of ball to kick around, the players may change, but the game doesn’t. Meanwhile, the balance within video games changes, be it through a balance update or a creative individual figuring out a completely new set of tactics to overthrow the current state of the game, making it far more exciting to watch as the fans and the competitive players gain a deeper understanding of the game. Using League of Legends as an example again, the champions used in the tournament in 2011 may look similar to how they once did, but what was once a list of only 60 champions, which has now ballooned to a burgeoning 134.
So, if you play a game you know has a ranking system implemented, even if you don’t play the game competitively yourself, tune into a tournament stream, or watch one of the star players stream themselves practicing the game. The personalities vary from player to player, and once you find the ones you absolutely adore and want to support, you can do so easily. Send them a message that you enjoy their play and tell them that you will root for them during their next game. A few kind words go a long way with someone who is playing the game for a full 8 hours or more every single day. eSports wouldn’t exist without the fans, and that is why you should care.
