Why Esports Needs a Photo
The rise of an entertainment phenomenon and capturing the history of a new digital age with traditional sports behavior.
Every generation has escaped the struggles of life while watching sports. Today, you can draw much inspiration from history where sports built a bridge between our differences. There are so many inspiring examples, from Jesse Owens 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin to Ping-Pong Diplomacy to the infamous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’.
Our personal favorite is New Zealand Rugby Initiates the Haka in 1888. Our team agrees that it’s a total freedom of self expression with many similarities between esports content creators.
Personally, I like this longstanding ritual because it stands for something—community. Simultaneously, it’s a battle cry that has impact beyond the rugby pitch. If you look at this as an 1888 event only, you are missing the essence of what is possible within esports. In March 15, 2019, in a sign of solidarity, students performed haka to pay tribute to classmates killed during the Christchurch shooting, sharing a collective voice and making their ancestors proud.
Below are some of ESPAT staff pics from our live coverage (pre-COVID)
What’s Esports Human Legacy
The above headline is a constant exploration around our (remote) offices. We don’t know the answer to this and will not pretend to speak on an industry’s behalf. The one exciting point that we do know, is that the esports community is in good hands with photographers front and center. Photographers and videographers make shutter speed choices every second that result in capturing moments in history.
Today, merely framing the energy of an esports event is not enough. We must look beyond the pixel and see how we can contribute post-COVID to health and equality while forging economic opportunities for everyone. It’s amazing to witness young fans from Korea emailing us for 2019 LCK Spring Finals photos to be used for their blogs. It may seem small, but what if that blog post gained a loyal audience, was monetized for the betterment of that creator. Furthermore, what if we sparked that young writer into attracting their dream job towards happiness, driving change and times that gig by millions.
The Abundance of Esports
Traditional content license models were based around major editorial outlets that needed photos, videos and sports highlights in real-time to sell advertising against. These models are still standing, but they find themselves navigating a use case and unintentionally locking partner value out. In the early 2000, with the growth of blogging, social media and even ecommerce, content became more relevant. When the term “content marketing” ran through every major ad agency in 2012 it became evident that the market needed new models, new price points for esports creators craving boundless access.
Taking all the above learning into account, we have a serendipitous moment within esports licensed digital assets. ESPAT is committed to promoting the democratization of all content for all people participating in the pixel supply chain. I often think if technology was a human it would come from an abundant mindset, seeing what is possible within white space and taken daily action to shift the norms. Let’s create!
