Benavides 1

Carlos Benavides
Prof. Jackie Hymes
English 113A
As the world progressives, new forms of entertainment are created that the older
generation do not understand and the new generation adore. In the recent years, electronic sports
(eSports) has been excelling its foundation to the mainstream. Investors from around the world
have been waving their cash to professionals who do not have a strong physical physique, but
toward those who sit down on a chair all day and play videogames.. Although eSports is played
on a virtual world, it is a sport because the integrity of the game is identical traditional sports.
Opposers of eSports propose many arguments why eSports is nothing more than a
videogame and why investors should stop throwing away their money. On a statistic based on
Debate.org, the general public claim that eSports is a sport; clenching the vote 61% yes, 39% no.
The general consensus of the opposers believe that sports requires physical activity, which is
common misconception. Physical activity does not define sport, it is more about competition. In
the case of eSports, it requires a lot of strategy (macro play) akin to chess which is considered a
sport. Thus, eSports is a sport of strategy. In League of Legends (LoL), amateur players around
the world allocate all their resources into a attempt to become a professional. In his article,
Owning esports: Proprietary Rights in Computer Gaming by DL Burt exemplifies players who
want to reach to the top tend to be at risk of cyber bullying or cause more harm to their future by
not going to college. Burt conveys most amateurs do not have a backup plan. For example,

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Nicholas Haddad, a once pro player in LoL, is currently suffering with Type 1 Bipolar Disorder
as a result from attaining a significant amount of stress from playing. Haddad gives an overall
statement from his damaged station, LCS (League Championship Series) puts a ton of pressure
on teenagers who mainly come right out of school and are not always prepared to deal with such
a drastic lifestyle change. (Haddad, 07/29/14). Being a professional in the eSport industry is a
risk. In the recent years however, a player union has been created for these upcoming athletes to
feel more secure to pursue their dreams. Stephen Ellis, a former pro player, has been
incorporating his title to attain help from other sources to form this player union (mcvuk.com).
This will ensure benefits for players to not be afraid of any mess they might have to fear when
being a professional. Another inimical driving force is Cyber Bullying that may alter the lives of
young individuals playing their favorite game. The answer to cyber bullying is the company
granting many punishments and attempts to reform the offenders. In the case of popular video
games, like LoL or counterstrike, the game companies offer chances for an offender to change
their act, or suffer a loss of entire progress in their game. Threatening isn't the primary solution,
League of Legends advocates people to be a proper teammate, rewarding them in virtual goods.
For the victim, they can permanently mute an offender or ask support to help them in their
situation of their respective game. In his article, The social side of gaming by Sabrine Trepte,
video games in general aid the introvert community, or unsocial people. Trepte illustrates video
games is a way of escaping to some. With that, video games in general is the common interest for
most individuals around the world.

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The interest of e-sports is ultimately because it's new, and a potential gold rush. As of
right now, no one can predict how far the video game sport can progress ; it already is
progressing twelve times faster than American football (Casselman, espn). In Korea, e-sports
is already established as a sort high regarded by the government .The Korean e-sports Agency
has many tournaments daily in Korea, even mobile games. Korean TV broadcasts reruns of old
tournaments and current tournaments. Highly regarded companies, like SamSung or Jin Air
sponsor these athletes to represent their industry in international tournaments. The domestic
success for e-sports is established in South Korea as a whole, it's time for the rest of the world.
Even here in CSUN, students founded a e-sports club to participate in tournaments that offer
scholarships. The overall reason why e-sports attracts the interest of watching other people play
the game they like is because of competition. Akin to traditional sports, in the station of e-sports,
Americans have pride and love to watch their domestic team fight against international
powerhouses. Gordon Hayward and Rick fox from the NBA believe esports is a sport with less
physical training. It is a competitive team game, and requires not only one player but all to win
says Rick Fox. It requires a lot more strategy and not so much of psychical energy, illustrates
Gordon Hayward. The sport is evolving, requiring integrity and diligent players, management
and contracts to maintain its title as a sport.
E-sports have many leagues for their respective game, which calls for mandatory
contracts and integrity players. The average salary varies from game to the club/team. These
athletes, in the minimum at least make enough for some leisure (ONeil). Alike traditional sports,

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no athletes share the same salary, but they are all offered some security (DL Burk). The security
they attain is to ensure they do not fall to a overhauling event. For example, A club Meet Your
Makers (League of Legends) or MYM,attempted to control their player, Marcin Wolski, to play
for them when he wasn't able to. If Wolski didn't, the club will take over his mother's house
(Richard Lewis). Obviously a event like this isn't acceptable, so in order to maintain integrity, the
club was heavily fined by Riot, the developers of LoL, and release the player from MYM jail.
Another concern is that videogames have the chance of bugs in programming (DL Burk). To
compensate with the potential corrupt program, games can either remake a scenario, the whole
game even, or have a system like football (soccer) card system.There will always be bugs in
some professional events, but they can definitely be fixed. The only cost of a bug is a few
minutes of wasted time. E-sports is very much similar to traditional sports, the main difference
is that the professionals play behind a monitor and a computer.
The life of a cyber athlete is less tiring physically, but it is more tiring mentally than a
traditional sport. In her article, Where Playing Video Games Is a Life by Jennifer Veale
interviews Choi Yeun Sung. Sung practices for eleven hours a day, I just practice as much as I
can, so I improve explains Sung. All cyber athletes are expected to be ready to practice an
exaggerated amount to reach the top.You need absolute mind control, says Ju Hoon, the coach
of Sung (sports psychology grad). Not to mention the potential isolation, the life of a sport
athlete is a lot more strenuous and strict than a boy playing video games for fun.

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All and all, eSports foundation has excelled to one of the most statically concurrent
viewership in the world. These Cyber Athletes, although less sweaty trains as hard as a
professional in the NBA. ESports is in its early stages of a sport, it will grow indefinitely.

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Work Cited
Casselman, Ben, Resistance is futile: eSports is massive...and growing. Espn.com. Web.
06/10/2015
Cerrudo, Aileen, Should eSports be Considered as a Sport? Inquirer.net .Web. 05/26/2015
Veale, Jennifer, Where Playing Video Game Is a Life. Time.com. Web. 05/14/2015
Lewis, Richard, MYM threatened Kori with taking his mothers house Dailydot.com. Web.
Feb 8, 2015.
Howell ONeil, Patrick, The 10 greatest players in eSports History. Dailydot.com. Web. Aug
6, 2013.
Nicholas Haddad. Facebook, July 29,2014
Trepte, Sabine The Social side of Gaming: How playing online computer games creates online
and offline social support. Year 2011, vol:28 iss:3 pg:832 -839
DL Burt, Owning eSports : proprietary rights in computer gaming. University of Pennsylvania
Law Review Volume 61 (issue 30 april 2013) pages 1535-1578