General Information on eSports: Everything about the Sport Played in front of the Computer

The term eSports is used to denote a team or individual competition that is based on video games. In some countries, it is said to be a separate kind of sport with its developed hierarchical system rather than a usual hobby for teenagers. The given article is going to present the most useful information on eSports and peculiarities involved.

All the eSports disciplines are divided into a few main categories that are distinguished according to the properties of their spaces, models, games tasks, and necessary skills and abilities. Thus, these disciplines include the following:

• first-person shooters;
• real-time strategies;
• auto and flight simulators;
• team role games with tactical and strategical elements.

The most prestigious tournaments include prize funds that can account for a few million dollars. For example, The International, the main Dota 2 tournament, has beaten records several times. For instance, they raffled 20.77 million dollars in 2016 and 24.79 in 2017. What is more, tournament events are broadcast online gathering millions of spectators from all over the world.

The history of eSports began with Doom 2 that made it possible for numerous players to fight with one another through a local area network. The popularity of the new domain led to the fact that the first eSports league appeared in the United States in 1997.

Disciplines

Since eSports is a generic term that is used to denote all video games competitions, it is necessary to present more detailed information on some of its popular disciplines.

League of Legends

About 40 million people from various world countries play League of Legends. However, it is difficult to include it in the number of eSports disciplines for sure because it is a casual game. At the same time, this condition does not prevent this game from having high salaries, decent tournament conditions, and strict regulations.

The information above is explained by the fact that the game developer, Riot Games, has the goal to organize tournaments of the highest quality. That is why they develop rules, regulate transfers, and make some players sign contracts. It results in many limitations, and if a team or individual player fails to meet some of them, they are deprived of the right to participate in a tournament.

Dota 2

Valve is the second largest developer of video games. The company comprises about 100 people, and they organize one tournament annually. It refers to The International that has already been mentioned. This event develops with every passing year because its first prize fund was only 1.5 million dollars, which is few in comparison with the modern state of affairs.

At this point, it is reasonable to state the sources of such great sums of money. Thus, eSports tournaments help the developers facilitate their games among usual gamers. That is why the greater part of the prize money comes from the developers because they consider these events as excellent marketing events. At the same time, there are also sponsors who invest their money in the advertisements. As a rule, these sponsors are represented by producers of mice, keyboards, and other computer devices. At present, there is an 8-to-1 ratio between the money that comes from the developers and that from the sponsors.

Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike tournaments are organized up to four times a year. Each of them is accompanied by a prize fund of 250 thousand dollars. In addition to that, there are many smaller events that happen from time to time. When it comes to this video game, people make money from streaming. In some cases, it can be the main source of revenue for people involved.

Equipment

There is a myth in eSports that it is impossible to achieve successful results in the given sphere without expensive equipment. The truth is that it is possible to be one of the best players using a cheap mouse. The most important thing is that this mouse should have a high DPI and the correct frequency to make it possible for the pointing device to travel smoothly across the screen.

However, there is no doubt that professional equipment can contribute to better performance. For example, if it is possible, it is recommended to buy a mechanical keyboard because it allows to make up to 800 keystrokes per minute, which is 300-400 times more in comparison with traditional membrane keyboards.

The information above makes the most professional players come to tournaments with their own equipment. At present, some of them tend to bring their own chairs. The reason for this is that tournament organizers can provide participants with uncomfortable seats. It results in the fact that a chair is a part of eSports equipment.

Career

It is evident that not all people who want to become professional eSports athletes manage to achieve their goals. It is a long path that begins when a person manages to be a much better player in comparison with his/her amateur friends. If it is true, it is necessary to move to another level. The most important skill is represented by a rate of response that can be tested by a special piece of equipment. Professional eSports athletes impress with this rate of 0.13-0.15 seconds. If it is 0.18-0.2 seconds initially, it is a good result that can be improved in the future.

It is necessary to state that becoming a professional athlete in eSports is not the same as that in traditional kinds of sport. Here, it is not necessary to attend sports classes to become a gamer. For this, it is necessary to play a video game for 10-12 hours per day. That is why eSports is suitable only for those people who really like playing video games.

Career Ending

On average, professional eSports athletes are 22-23 years old. As for Dota 2, people stop playing after they are 25-26 years old because it is this time when the rate of response starts decreasing and younger players tend to show better performance. However, in those games where it is not necessary to have a great rate of response people keep playing until they are 30-35 years old.

Once the career is over, gamers can become either commentators or streamers. As a rule, they tend to choose the latter variant. It is explained by the fact that professional players already have their own audience that will provide them with money. It will come from sponsorship money, advertising, and appropriate subscriptions. Many eSports athletes have ascertained that streaming is financially even more beneficial in comparison with participating in tournaments as a usual player. The fact is that decent money is given only to those players that manage to win these tournaments.

In addition to that, it is possible to become a coach, but it is not a very profitable activity. For example, there are few professional teams that have coaches in the modern eSports field. Here, the coach does not need to have the best rate of response, he should have some knowledge to help players and tell them what to do. However, almost all professional tournaments do not allow it.

Professional Injuries

Even though eSports cannot be considered an extremely dangerous activity, it still implies some professional injuries. Among them, repetitive stress injury is said to be the most popular among those athletes who neglect physical exercises. This health disorder is represented by the fact that athletes experience wrist pains because they keep making monotonous motions for a lot of time. When this problem has been identified, it is necessary to avoid playing video games for no less than half a year.

Eyes are the second most vulnerable organ. Some games state that it is not necessary to twinkle for at least three minutes. In this case, the tear gland suffers, and serious problems come to the eyes. As a result, it can happen that tears run down unstoppably. It is impossible to get rid of this disorder once it has been identified. Thus, it also marks the end of the eSports career.