What is the Appeal of Esports?
Competitive gaming continues to expand in its reach by satisfying the basic human desire to compete
Not long ago, one of my older colleagues came to me with an anecdote that ended in an interesting question. This colleague had been out to dinner with a friend of his who had expressed his fascination with the popular online game League of Legends. My colleague was perplexed. Why was this man who is in his mid-to-late forties spending hours at a time playing a dumb video game that surely must be designed for children? He could not begin to comprehend what would lead a man of a similar age, professional status, and mentality to take a liking to an activity commonly believed to be a time-waster for the juvenile. As a fan of titles similar to League of Legends, I attempted to explain how and why the player demographics of competitive gaming continue to change.
If there is one constant that exists throughout the history of video gaming, it is that people play games to challenge themselves. Historically, video games have provided difficult gameplay through preset obstacles that must be overcome within a set story or narrative structure. Though local multiplayer games have existed since video gaming’s infancy, for much of the medium’s history challenge was presented exclusively by computer-controlled obstacles and not by peers of varying skill levels. If you wished to test your wits against a fellow player, your options were to compare high scores or get your friends together in the same room. Even if you managed to satisfy either of the aforementioned conditions, the competitive multiplayer modes of past games were not designed with the intention of being truly balanced or competitively viable.
The introduction of online play to video games completely changed the way games were played by fans and designed by developers. Now, many popular game developers create games that must be played online, are exclusively player versus player, and provide challenge only through competitions of skill against mathematically selected opponents. Such titles are deliberately and intensively crafted to give players equal opportunities to test the skills they’ve honed over hundreds of hours to influence the outcome of the game. If it sounds like I’m describing the concepts that form the basis of competition in traditional sports, you’re beginning to understand what I’m getting at. Esports are games of skill through and through, from conception to finished product, and games of skill appeal to those who seek competition. Game developers have taken notice of the growing interest towards competitive gaming and have placed a greater emphasis on developing titles that are competitively viable. As prospective players have more competitive games from which to choose, they become more likely to find a particular game in which to dedicate their time.
One aspect that those unfamiliar with esports take issue with is the verbiage which unavoidably compares competitive computer games with real-life sports. Certain media loudmouths believe that referring to esports in this term is meant as a pejorative to traditional competitive disciplines such as football, baseball, or basketball. You should rest assured that very few esports fans, if any, view these games as being comparable to sports in the traditional sense. The term “esports” is meant to evoke the spirit of competition present in the games being played. Nearly every popular esports title is a five versus five, team-based endeavor where each side must work to have better teamwork and chemistry within the confines of the game in order to win. In these games, players fill different roles and positions. Certain players are stronger at certain elements of the game, such as strategizing or coordinating, while others may have better awareness or faster reflexes. The term “esports” does not imply that these games are physically taxing in the same way that regular sports are. Nobody in their right mind would argue this point. The way that these games are designed and the skills tested of players are why esports are labeled as such. Though there are elements of physical action and reaction in nearly every esports title, it should go without saying that no paid professional gamer needs to worry about tearing his or her ACL while competing. Esports instead emphasize the mental game by testing one’s in-game knowledge and forcing players to make snap decisions that will allow their team to achieve victory.
So why do people play esports titles? The answer is fairly simple; these games provide convenient competitive outlets for people who wish to experience an analogue of the pattern of practice and improvement found in traditional competitive disciplines. A fundamental feature of any esports title is the ability of its players to invest time and practice into a given game and notice a significant improvement in their own play. Playing and practicing reinforces knowledge of the design aspects and nuances of the game, in addition to developing muscle memory relevant to the twitch-based elements of mechanical skill required of the player. Esports are purpose-built to be fun and fair, and the hook that keeps players coming back is the players’ ability to witness and experience constant, visible improvement over their fellow competitors. These games nail the elements of gameplay that satisfy the player. Whether it’s neutralizing an enemy with a single bullet in Counter-Strike or landing an impactful ultimate ability in Dota, these specific in-game actions feel right and make players truly believe that they are improving their in-game skills. Perhaps the most important incentive of all is the feeling of knowing that you’ve outplayed another living competitor in order to win the game. These competitive elements serve to assure players of their improvement relative to the game’s global population of players and keep those players coming back for more.
If you’re skeptical of or otherwise unfamiliar with competitive gaming, you may wonder why one would dedicate hundreds of hours to a game when they could instead dedicate those hours towards pursuing a real sport. There are numerous reasons why games provide a convenient and potentially more interesting outlet for those who seek to satisfy their competitive drives. First and foremost, given that you have the requisite hardware, these games can be played anywhere, anytime, regardless of whether or not you’re feeling under the weather. After a long day of work, anybody can sit down and play a match for an hour to satisfy a nagging urge for competition. You don’t need to rearrange your schedule or worry about being late, as you can simply log in and briefly wait for a match at any time. Though I agree that physical exercise is an important aspect of traditional sports that is missing from competitive gaming, it is plainly obvious that finding a game of Counter-Strike is infinitely quicker and easier than trying to get a pick-up game going at the gym.
Many competitive games in which you can sink hundreds, or even thousands of hours are incredibly cheap or totally free to play. For a one-time admission fee of $15, you can play Counter-Strike for the rest of your life. League of Legends can be played free of charge and Dota is even free-er as the only aspects of the game that are locked behind a paywall are purely cosmetic and do not impact the gameplay in any way. Joining intramural sports leagues can be expensive. Rounds of golf, gym memberships, and costs of equipment all add up. For cash-strapped millennials, playing an analogue of an existing competitive discipline with the financial barriers entirely removed further incentivizes those who may be on the fence to give these games a shot.
Perhaps the most compelling factor that draws eyes to screens and hands to keyboards is the ability to compete with and against your friends at any time. Any esports title worth the hard drive space it occupies provides players with the option to queue for a game with friends in order to earn points towards their in-game ranks. The social factor of this genre of games is often integral to the overall enjoyment of the experience. These games reward communication and teamwork, so what better way to avoid the issues that may be presented by a random teammate than to bring your friends along for the cause? The ability to easily play with friends separates these titles from the stigma of antisocial behavior that is often associated with video gaming. Playing an esport is comparable to playing a pick-up game at the gym with friends, except one friend can be in Los Angeles, another can be in Astoria, and a third can be in Columbus. Playing competitive games is a great way to bond with friends by communicating and working towards the common goals presented in esports titles.
As social media continues to dominate the public consciousness while ceaselessly and detrimentally impacting our standard of discourse, esports provide an alternate form of social networking that is often more constructive than its more popular alternatives. Esports have brought people together since the mid to late nineties, as evidenced by then-popular online competitive game services such as Quakeworld. Before Facebook or even MySpace were inklings in the minds of their creators, like-minded individuals were able to connect with other players and even make friends by playing games. The guaranteed shared interest in a given game among its players grants an easy route to friendly conversation, a simple interaction that can and has sparked lifelong friendships. Even as esports grew to the scale at which it currently exists, the ethos that drove social interaction in the esports titles of twenty years ago still persists to this day. Though the “angry gamer” stereotype is common, you would be surprised how often you’d be able to find a game with random players who simply want to work together in pursuit of victory while cracking a few jokes along the way. If you have the right mindset, there is a very real possibility that you will make a random friend through esports, or become acquainted with a friend of a friend who may be willing to queue for a game with you. This feature of gaming and esports that provides friends and random teammates with challenges that require structured communication stands in stark contrast to the harassment, bombardment, and low-level discourse that occurs routinely on more socially acceptable social networking mediums such as Twitter or Facebook. For many individuals, esports allow players to connect with old friends and meet new ones apart from the ominous specter of social media that constantly shoves cultural and political strife in your face. As human beings, we need to have a safe outlet through which we can take our minds off of these stressors. I’d argue that you could do a lot worse than choosing an outlet such as esports that encourages a more goal oriented and fun alternative form of social interaction than the torrent of negativity propagated by Silicon Valley’s social media giants.
Esports capture the addictive, alluring elements of competition, self-improvement, and communication present in traditional sports while making them accessible to anybody who has a computer and an internet connection. These games are significantly cheaper than industry standard $60 single player console games. In contrast to single player games, esports allows you and your friends to improve together and have fun while doing so. If you don’t have friends to play with, you are readily presented with the potential to make new friends in-game. If you wonder why your son or daughter, niece or nephew, friend, acquaintance, or coworker opts to dedicate a few hours every couple of days to playing online games, it’s because what these games have to offer is drastically different than what a game like Super Mario Bros. sought to provide to players in 1985. These games track your statistics, rank you in relation to fellow competitors, and give you visceral, satisfying feedback upon a job-well-done or a play-well-made. This is why people keep returning to these games. Of course, like anything else, games can be addicting and more traditionally healthy alternatives exist. If you’re not going to become a salaried professional gamer (which is a career that indeed exists; some professional players make monthly salaries in excess of $20,000, not including tournament winnings split among team members), you probably shouldn’t be playing games five nights a week for several hours per night. I understand the aversion to this sort of compulsive behavior. However, if you’re not planning on making the PGA Tour, I would argue that you shouldn’t spend money playing a round of twilight hour golf each and every day, either. Compulsive behavior is not exclusive to competitive gaming and being averse to the medium on this basis is disingenuous.
As with any other competitive discipline, you are by no means required to like these games. You may not be a fan of baseball, but baseball isn’t going anywhere. Neither are esports. Established professional sports franchises are dumping money into competitive gaming despite the reservations of those opposed. These games are exceptionally popular and it’s not just because they provide players with a fun time-waster. Esports challenge players, require players to be social, and push players to do things they’ve never been expected to do when playing the games of the past. In a few short years, gaming tournaments have gone from being held in hotel conference rooms to packed arenas such as the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Games are now broadcast live on massive cable networks like TBS and not just the niche streaming sites that host content exclusive to gaming. If esports is good enough for Magic Johnson, or Neymar, or Jerry Jones, it’s worth taking time to consider the universal appeal that has drawn players to esports in the first place.
