Traditionally, professional gamers are those who would gather together to compete with each other in tournaments and competitions to win accolades or ranked positions. This is highly similar to that of any number of traditional sports, such as Chess or endurance running. In the past, we could look to dozens of different contests in the gaming sphere, from Tetris (Pajitnov, 1988) to Street Fighter. (Nishiyama & Matsumoto, 1987) The age of gaming in person on an international stage has changed as time has progressed. With the further development and advancement of both the internet and VOIP (Voice over internet protocol), players from all over the world are now able to compete with each other no matter the time or place of play. The origins of being a professional gamer stem from games like those above, with people coming together to prove who the best of the best was among their local gaming groups. The earliest known example of this was the Stanford University Spacewar competition. This later stemmed into regional and national contests, such as the Space Invaders Championship, hosted by Atari in 1980, with more than 10,000 participants competing. However, it was still considered by many an amateur sport at best, due to its lack of large-scale exposure. In the face of it being a real career, the feasibility of such a career was small, with the prize pool for such contests often being too small to justify long term commitment to a game.
This, however, has all changed thanks to the combined effect of dozens of different factors from improved computing power, to the internet and digital communications. Nowadays, you can play in competitive games of all kinds with people from all over the world. We’ve also seen a rise in the different types of game that have arrived In the competitive gaming space. New genres such as MOBA’s (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena’s) have become prevalent in the online gaming space as high intensity and complex competition that people turned to compete. Examples like Dota 2 (Dota 2, 2013)and LoL (League of Legends, 2009)are the most prevalent MOBA’s on the market, with their live tournament reach in 2019 being around 2 million concurrent viewers at peak. In addition to the high viewer count, the prize pool for the 2019 DOTA 2 international achieved a size of over $34 Million, making it the largest Esports prize pool in history. The role of a Professional E-Sports player has never been more realistic for those around the world. With there being dozens of professional teams for dozens of games across the competitive space, the ability for players and the support they need to exist is ever more realistic. With the ability for the wide-reaching accessibility of international contest that can simply be accessed through the use of a PC and an internet connection, players have been able to take their work everywhere they go. One issue, however, Is that the majority of players do need access to high powered devices to play their game of choice at a level of performance that allows them the fastest and smoothest playing experience in order not to disadvantage them against their competitors. This does provide some existent barriers to entry, as this type of equipment is often expensive and needs space and strong access to utilities such as high-speed internet to function at the level expected.
Curiously, the breakdown of gamers according to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (Jayanth, 2014) revealed that in 2014, 52% of gamers were female, up from 49% in 2011. This figure is likely to have grown in recent times. However, it is little surprise to see that both the breakdown of female E-Sports players and views are both proportionally lower compared to their male counterparts. In a study by Interpret in 2019 (Takahashi, 2019), their findings showed that the ratio of Female Esports viewers had grown from Q4 in 2016 from 23.9% to 30.4% in Q4 of 2018, demonstrating growth of nearly 6.5% in viewership. A trend showing the growing presence of female gamers in the viewing community of Esports overall. The future of Esports and gaming is one that is always divided, but the trend data doesn’t lie and we are seeing an ever-persistent shift towards a future where both male and female professional players are being given the chance to compete internationally no matter their background or gender. We are also likely to see even more development in the sector as the number of games and players continues to grow to new levels year on year. In the world of Esports, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it’s winning that matters the most, and the online stages of Twitch and Esports couldn’t agree more.
References
Jayanth, M. (2014). 52% of gamers are women – but the industry doesn’t know it | Meg Jayanth. Retrieved 4 February 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/18/52-percent-people-playing-games-women-industry-doesnt-know
Nishiyama, T., & Matsumoto, H. (1987). Street Fighter [Arcade]. Osaka, Japan: Capcom.
Pajitnov, A. (1988). Tetris (Version Release) [Arcade]. California U.S.: Atari.
Rainbow Six: Siege Invitational Winners. (2019). [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.gamereactor.eu/media/40/g2are6_2754033_650x.png
Riot Games. (2009). League of Legends (Version Release) [Windows/Mac]. Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Takahashi, D. (2019). Interpret: Women make up 30% of esports audience, up 6.5% from 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2020, from https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/21/interpret-female-esports-viewership-grew-6-5-percentage-points-over-two-years/
Valve. (2013). Dota 2 (Version release) [Windows/Mac/Linux]. Washington, U.S.
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