eSports is a mystery to many, as the only fact that most people know about it is that it deals with video games. In reality, eSports consists of multiplayer competitions that can be massive or small in which both professional gamers and amateur gamers can play. Competitions take place annually, and to many, it is considered to be an exciting and riveting way to enjoy sports.

eSports, or Electronic Sports, is an industry that is growing rapidly throughout the world. eSports is a massive multiplayer competition that unites professional gamers to compete against each other at the prospect of winning the

grand prize or simply due to the thrill of competing against another professional gamer. All professional gamers begin as amateurs, so there are many tournaments held solely for amateur players in which they are able to gain experience and skill. The most popular games played in eSport tournaments are Dota 2, League of Legends, StarCraft II, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, and many more.

In an eSports tournament, there are professional players who practice for several hours a day and some even have sponsors. eSports and regular sports both have teams that compete against each other or have individual players that compete against other players. The difference between eSports and regular sports though is that in eSports, players have to play up to eight hours a day to become professionals, which is a large contrast to regular sports because those athletes practice less. Players can also win thousands of dollars by playing. Junior Stella Huh is an avid fan of eSports who enjoys watching others play as well as playing eSports as a recreational activity herself. Huh feels strongly about eSports and considers it a mental sport.

“eSports are not as easy as people say it is because there are professionals who have to play for hours a day,” Huh said.

Another fellow eSports fan and devoted gamer is junior Ben Tran who primarily plays League of Legends. As an eSports player and fan, Tran has watched many professional gamers play, such as Faker, and has gaming experience himself. He states that eSports requires a fast reaction time and skill. Each player and or team competes against a different player or team each time, which makes the game unpredictable and difficult, just like regular sports only with much more training.

ESPN is finally giving eSports the recognition it deserves. ESPN has recently been looking for potential candidates for an eSports editor who can manage a staff for an eSports section. Since eSports has continued to flourish, CHS teacher Jaime Oberbeck enjoys watching eSports and playing eSports as more of a recreational activity.

“eSports has been getting more recognition, such as from ESPN, and as they recognize it more it should become more

‘mainstream,’ and I think just that alone will help gain support. It all just depends on how you define a sport,” CHS

teacher Jamie Oberbeck said. “I don’t think it will be too far off in the future in which they officially consider it as one.”

eSports is available to everybody who has a game console, a controller, and time to play the game. As the debate goes on as to whether eSports is an actual sport or not, it continues to receive more and more recognition. eSports continues to grow massively in size and will soon have an abundance of new tournaments and games for people to compete. eSports is not so different from regular sports; they both have teams and individual players, and they all strive to win. As eSports continues to thrive and attract more fans, the world may have to change its definition of a sport.