The Rise of e-Sports

Words by Brandon Goh

When one thinks about sports, we tend to gravitate towards the likes of physical activities such as football, basketball, and athletics. However, in the past decade, we witnessed previously unconventional sports such as eSports rise and even established themselves for the 2020s. Well, what is eSports? eSports or electronic sports is, in essence, competitive level video gaming. Needless to say, the upswing in this form of competition does challenge the notion of sports, namely physical exertion on the part of its participants.

To begin, let’s look at the history of eSports, with the first such event held in 1972 at Stamford University. Participants took part in the space combat game Spacewar in the hopes of winning a year-long subscription to the Rolling Stone magazine. With the rise of the Internet in the 1990s, personal computer (PC) gaming gained traction as multinational game companies like Nintendo sponsored video game championships worldwide. Over time, games such as the military science fiction strategy game Starcraft revolutionized gaming with its real-time gameplay. More was to follow, as the now-famous Defence of the Ancients (Dota) mod, an online fantasy-themed real-time strategy gaming platform, was launched in 2003.

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This heralded the start of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre of games that have a tremendous following till today. In 2017, the total eSports prize money awarded amounted to a whop- ping $110.6 million from 3765 tournaments. With eSports revenue projected to increase to $1.5 billion by 2020 and the ever-growing popularity of professional leagues such as Major League Gaming (MLG), eSports is definitely something for the future.

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Now that our brief overview of eSports is done, let’s explore some of the most popular genres and games played. First up is the aforementioned MOBA genre, a key cornerstone of the eSports industry. In general, MOBA games involve two teams competing to destroy each other’s bases on a gaming map. Individual players control champions with unique skill sets that are used to break down enemy defenses or kill enemy champions. Apart from the opposing teams, wild monsters known as creeps also exist on the map which players can kill to harvest points or abilities. The fun in MOBA lies in how it combines the intricacies of strategic thinking with teamwork among the competitors. The nature of MOBA games has made them among the most viewer-friendly genres. This has in turn allowed games such as Warcraft and League of Legends to become tremendous hits, with gaming subscriptions in the millions.

Another widely subscribed gaming genre worth mentioning is the firstperson shooter (FPS) genre. FPS games involve players using weapons from a first-person perspective in a simulated game map. Objectives can vary from capturing the opponent’s flag to deathmatches where one attempts to kill off all opposing players to win the game. Naturally, this makes for an adrenaline-pumping genre that attracts both viewers and participants. It is thus little wonder that FPS games such as Halo and the Call of Duty franchise became very popular. Such adulation even extends to many of us, who grew up playing multiplayer first-person shooter games like Counter-Strike or Halo 2 and continue to play FPS games such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) today.

“At their highest level, all competitive disciplines become vehicles for the expression of one’s human potential. - Duncan “Thorin” Shields

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In the words of renowned eSports historian Duncan “Thorin” Shields, the appeal of competitive gaming lies in how it is a means for people to push past their limits. It would be wrong to assume that the dynamics of a casual local area network (LAN) gaming session are the same as high stakes eSports matches. In eSports, the margin for error is low. A fraction of a second can make a difference in winning or losing millions of dollars worth of prize money. eSports clubs are in fact professional entities, where the work ethic is comparable to that of other professional athletes. Gamers are paid salaries for their positions and a system of transfer between professional clubs exists. Complexity Gaming, one of the biggest names in eSports, has its gamers attend regular gym sessions and follow a nutritionist-designed diet to ensure peak performance at gaming matches. Gamers take their craft very seriously and that is where we see how the whole concept of professional sports is being redefined. Equating sport with physical exertion is no longer sufficient to capture what it means.

Closer to home, eSports hasalso found a niche here in Asia. At the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines, eSports was featured for the first time, and awarded medals for games such as DOTA 2 and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, up for grabs. While this inclusion of professional gaming is controversial, it shows just how times are changing. Such activities are showing us how the fledgling eSports arena is gaining legitimacy as a bona fide endeavor worth respecting. We are witnessing the rise of another Megasport before our eyes and the coming years will attest to this.

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It is not just adults, but children who are getting in on the act as well. 7-year-old Simone Lim has even won the 2020 Pokemon Oceania International Championships — Video Game Junior Division in Melbourne this year, making her Singapore’s youngest eSports champion. Unlike many eSports pioneers who faced parental objections, her parents had even hired a competitive Pokemon player, Melvin Keh, to coach her in the sport. Thus, like any other budding sport, eSport is no longer being seen as a fringe activity but part and parcel of growing up. Indeed, this bodes well for the future of eSports.

Having spoken so much about the eSports revolution, the question is: How do we respond to such changes? The gamers among us will certainly rejoice while admittedly the rest of us may be more apathetic to this trend. We may not fully understand it completely but it does not hurt to know a thing or two about eSports. After all, with many conversations revolving around notable sports such as basketball and football, it is certainly interesting to see how the 2020s will bode for eSports after its meteoric rise.