Identifying the Difference Between Traditional and ESport Games
The term ” Esports” (anagram for “Sport) refers to a competitive game that involves the use of computers and game consoles. Esport refers to a type of competitive gaming. In the past decade, there has been an explosion in the growth of computer and console gaming, with the majority of these being played online. Most esport events are played between international teams, with the exception of some major international tournaments. As such, there are several different types of esport around the world today.
Many believe that there are three main forms of esport. These include PC gaming, Console gaming and the World of Warcraft (WoW) and then there are other minor forms of esport that occur within each of these main genres. The most popular and current esport is League of Legends (LoL). Other popular but lesser known forms of esport are Dota 2, Smite and Counter Strike.
Some may argue that LoL is the only true esport out there, while others may say that there are plenty of other genres that can be considered as part of the overall “esports” category. It all comes down to what you feel represents the true definition of what an esport is. Some would argue that any type of competitive game, especially one as competitive as LoL, would fall under the realm of esport. However, this isn’t necessarily true. For example, in regards to WoW, there are several genres which are considered by many to be esport, but not by LoL itself.
So when discussing whether or not LoL is in fact esport, what we’re basically doing is looking at each genre and then making a generalization based on those genres. If there’s five different genres and all of them have their own sub-genres, then no, LoL isn’t in that list. On the other hand, if there are five different genres and each of them has its own sub-genres, then perhaps LoL would be considered as one of those genres. That being said, it should be noted that there are many LoL players who do play both dota 2 and conventional sports. In fact, some LoLers play both sports and traditional games. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that LoL and esport are synonymous, yet the answer to the question above probably lies somewhere in between.
Having established the fact that both traditional sports and esport can coexist, the next logical step would be to define the term “esport” itself. Many would probably want to define it first, since it would make sense to only include one term and not two if the two genres would overlap significantly. Therefore, I would say that the best way to categorize it is by saying that it’s a sub-genre of traditional sports. While it may not have as much of a mainstream presence as say, Counter Strike or WoW, it’s certainly no less popular among enthusiasts.
Lastly, we’d like to briefly discuss the question of whether or not Esports can actually succeed. Well, it’s definitely a very interesting topic, and one that deserves a good amount of attention. The short answer to this question would be yes, Esports has already proven that it can indeed be successful. With years of successful development behind it, I’m not too surprised to see it growing into one of the biggest online communities around today.
