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Asian Games
The age of eSports: The influence of the virtual world on real time sports
The origins of competitive gaming are not from today. Way back when there weren’t PCs or the internet, the chief form of competitive games which people could play in the comfort of their homes was one on one board games. Slowly, multiplayer games evolved from LAN parties, when online gaming wasn’t established. As we can witness today with the level of connectivity, people are competing with others across the world for hours together. From an age where video games were a waste of time, we have now reached a day where people are pursuing competitive gaming as a career. People call this the age of eSports and that is going to rule the entertainment industry. Is this true? With the level of the fan base, dedication, hard work and the compassion towards the game, esports are no less than real sports from the player’s perspective. In fact, many users in the USA are considering to watch eSports than many other games and the movies. The world had slowly started to accept e-sport players as athletes and the first instance of it shown when the news came out that e-sport shall be included in Asian Games 2022 as an official medal sport. Talks are going on to include it in Olympics as well and with the popularity soaring and acceptance increasing, the day is not far when e-sport will be a part of the Olympics as well. As of today, eSports are so much into people that when you search ‘Lol’ in google, you end up getting ‘League of Legends’ instead of ‘Laughing out Loud’. And with the increasing internet speed, online gaming caught up, and today e-sports has almost 370 million viewers worldwide. This is what eSports has achieved! 
The craze of esports is such that Twitch got more than 8 million unique users in its first month and this number has grown ever since. But what is Twitch? The answer is- It’s not just about how the game is played, it’s about strategies which are sure to dumbfound the opponent, it’s about the content which the game offers, it’s about the teamwork and the zeal to win. A lot of video games aren’t just games; they involve stories which complete only after the game is finished and a lot of gaming enthusiasts who aren’t able to play it till the end also form a part of this 370 million viewer base. This number is expected to grow at a rapid pace, and in a matter of just a couple of years, it may get close to 590 million. A huge contributor to the high popularity and the current viewer base is Twitch, a website where video game enthusiasts can view and participate in live streams of video games in real time. Twitch accounts for more than 43% of all live video streaming traffic by volume in the U.S. and falls right behind Netflix, Apple, and Google when it comes to peak internet traffic in the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal. The craze of esports is such that Twitch got more than 8 million unique users in its first month and this number has grown ever since. Today, Twitch has 55 million users who spend 106 minutes per day watching content on the site. 12 billion minutes of content being broadcasted by more than 900,000 broadcasters shows why Jeff Besos invested his $970 million to buy this platform; a platform expected to surge in popularity in the years to come. 
First dedicated esports arena opens in Sydney drawing huge crowds and investment towards eSports. (Image: ABC) With great viewership comes a great amount of money in the game and e-sports have shown the same. The number of tournaments keeps on increasing year by year, and approximately 1400 competitions have already been organized this year with their prize money ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. The prize money for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Asia Championship 2018 was $300,000, and a total of more than $57 million has already been awarded in its 3324 tournaments. Defense of the Ancients-2 stands atop this list with total prize money of more than $143 million awarded in 934 tournaments. In 2017, the total prize money awarded in e-sports was a little more than $93 million, dwarfing previous year’s $61 million. Players like KuroKy, Miracle- and MinD_ContRoL, all highest players of Dota-2 have earned more than $3 million individually and made a fortune out of esports. And it’s not just players who are earning such a considerable sum. Broadcasters, advertisers, franchise owners and game producers earn hefty amounts, all because of e-sports. The whooping no. of fans watching the game makes it a lucrative opportunity for companies to advertise their products, and with the mean age of fans being somewhere around 30, e-sports becomes an excellent place for advertisement of some commodities. 
The Indian Gaming League (IGL) was started in 2016, and it offers the country’s gamers a chance to earn a living out of their hobby. E-sports have given us what we always wanted, a chance to live a life we could just fantasise about. Leading an army, fighting the evil, saving the Earth from being a Norse God- it’s all e-sport has offered us. The scenario of e-sport shall surely get better with it being included in international events, for then the motivation to play shall also be to represent the nation on a global platform. And trust me when I say this- There is no greater joy than to stand at the podium with a medal on your chest seeing your national flag fluttering the highest at the tune of your national anthem!
Also read: ‘Is it football or cricket?’: Captain of India’s Leg Cricket team decodes the sport
But the question which is sure to pop up is- Why are so many people watching how people play video games?Way back when there weren’t PCs or the internet, the chief form of competitive games which people could play in the comfort of their homes were one on one board games
‘Twitching' to eSports
The craze of esports is such that Twitch got more than 8 million unique users in its first month and this number has grown ever since. But what is Twitch? The answer is- It’s not just about how the game is played, it’s about strategies which are sure to dumbfound the opponent, it’s about the content which the game offers, it’s about the teamwork and the zeal to win. A lot of video games aren’t just games; they involve stories which complete only after the game is finished and a lot of gaming enthusiasts who aren’t able to play it till the end also form a part of this 370 million viewer base. This number is expected to grow at a rapid pace, and in a matter of just a couple of years, it may get close to 590 million. A huge contributor to the high popularity and the current viewer base is Twitch, a website where video game enthusiasts can view and participate in live streams of video games in real time. Twitch accounts for more than 43% of all live video streaming traffic by volume in the U.S. and falls right behind Netflix, Apple, and Google when it comes to peak internet traffic in the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal. The craze of esports is such that Twitch got more than 8 million unique users in its first month and this number has grown ever since. Today, Twitch has 55 million users who spend 106 minutes per day watching content on the site. 12 billion minutes of content being broadcasted by more than 900,000 broadcasters shows why Jeff Besos invested his $970 million to buy this platform; a platform expected to surge in popularity in the years to come. Twitch accounts for more than 43% of all live video streaming traffic by volume in the U.S. and falls right behind Netflix, Apple, and Google when it comes to peak internet traffic in the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal.
Headshots to Hotshots
First dedicated esports arena opens in Sydney drawing huge crowds and investment towards eSports. (Image: ABC) With great viewership comes a great amount of money in the game and e-sports have shown the same. The number of tournaments keeps on increasing year by year, and approximately 1400 competitions have already been organized this year with their prize money ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. The prize money for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Asia Championship 2018 was $300,000, and a total of more than $57 million has already been awarded in its 3324 tournaments. Defense of the Ancients-2 stands atop this list with total prize money of more than $143 million awarded in 934 tournaments. In 2017, the total prize money awarded in e-sports was a little more than $93 million, dwarfing previous year’s $61 million. Players like KuroKy, Miracle- and MinD_ContRoL, all highest players of Dota-2 have earned more than $3 million individually and made a fortune out of esports. And it’s not just players who are earning such a considerable sum. Broadcasters, advertisers, franchise owners and game producers earn hefty amounts, all because of e-sports. The whooping no. of fans watching the game makes it a lucrative opportunity for companies to advertise their products, and with the mean age of fans being somewhere around 30, e-sports becomes an excellent place for advertisement of some commodities. Famous brands like McDonald’s, Adidas, Monster Energy, Vodafone, Intel, Gillette, Logitech and Mountain Dew have either partnered with, or sponsored teams in significant e-sport leagues and McDonald’s Germany even partnered with Germany’s biggest e-sport league, the ESL in 2018. Media companies like Fox and ESPN are already deep in e-sports and people turning up in large numbers to view e-sport live has increased the event revenue.It’s not just players who are earning such a huge sum. Broadcasters, advertisers, franchise owners and game producers earn hefty amounts, all because of e-sports.
Celebs all the way
The potential of e-sport has been identified by a lot of sportsmen. Fernando Alonso, Shaquelle o Neal and Ronaldo are also some of them who have either invested in e-sport or are owners of e-sport teams. The franchise pays salary to the players and a percentage of the prize money, thus creating a win-win situation for both the players and the franchise. The average base salary of esport players is around $57,000 to $65,000 minus the bonuses offered. Thus, the players make a fortune in a short span of time.Sweat and Blood
The magnitude to which e-sports have grown today makes it more than video games. Esports has grown to a level where even universities have started giving scholarships based on the performance in e-sports. Earlier, this used to happen only with people who play professional sports and had represented their team at some level of repute. The reasons behind considering esport players as athletes are simple- the amount of effort they put in, the time they devote to practising and their comparatively shorter careers. E-sport athletes on an average dedicate 12 hours a day to practice, and the best players do the same for 14-15 hours. Such dedication and harsh schedule burn out the e-sport athlete sooner than other sports, and that’s the reason their careers stretch to a maximum of 5 years, after which some other player surpasses their level. With time, reflexes get slow, and concentration power decreases, and with such a hectic schedule, the e-sport athletes are bound to retire at an early age.For the love of the nation and the game
E-sports deserve all the attention it’s getting and even much more, given the amount of effort and emotions associated with it. The hours of practice, the efficient teamwork and groundbreaking strategies must get recognition in the international arena. The Indian Gaming League (IGL) was started in 2016, and it offers the country’s gamers a chance to earn a living out of their hobby. E-sports have given us what we always wanted, a chance to live a life we could just fantasise about. Leading an army, fighting the evil, saving the Earth from being a Norse God- it’s all e-sport has offered us. The scenario of e-sport shall surely get better with it being included in international events, for then the motivation to play shall also be to represent the nation on a global platform. And trust me when I say this- There is no greater joy than to stand at the podium with a medal on your chest seeing your national flag fluttering the highest at the tune of your national anthem! Also read: ‘Is it football or cricket?’: Captain of India’s Leg Cricket team decodes the sport
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