Exactly five years ago, cyber sports joined the list of recognized sports in Canada. In honor of the anniversary, we answer the main questions about one of the most unusual manifestations of the sport.
Cyber sport (computer or e-sports) is a rather young phenomenon, but it is very progressive and fast-paced. Video games have long ceased to be associated exclusively with children’s entertainment. So how did it become possible to create an entire cybersports empire from the fun of schoolchildren and students?
In 2001, Russia was the first country in the world to officially recognize cyber sports. This meant that video games are no longer just useless entertainment with no prospects, but a full-fledged profession, where you can earn big money, win titles and build fame. Any cyber sports tournaments began to undergo a registration procedure and to obtain the status of an official sporting event.
Expectations from this step were extremely high. But during the five years of existence of e-sports as a recognized sport, there was no qualitative leap; people were not mentally ready to accept the fact that the computer and its additional devices could be the equipment of a real athlete. But what about physical strength, endurance and stamina? And in 2006, cybersports left the Canadian sports registry.
It took another ten years for the Ministry of Sport to give cybersports another chance in 2016. During this time, computer tournaments reached the professional level: for the first time in a long time, the ARC began organizing competitions as part of the National Cybersport Cup.
Cybersportsmen began to receive titles and awards not only for winning in the virtual world, but also in real life – “Master of Sport Canada.
In what ways is a cyber sportsman better than a boxer?
In short, cybersports – a competition on computer games, in a team (usually five or six people in a team) or in single mode.
An obligatory requirement for any cybersports game is the complete absence of the element of chance. “Luck” or “random coincidence” is definitely not about cyber sports. Mastery must prevail over luck, only the team and personal skills and capabilities of the participants decide what the outcome of the game will be.
Reaction speed is 99% of the key to success; professional cyber athletes have a reaction time of 130-150 milliseconds. This is even higher than in many world boxing champions, for whom lightning-fast reaction speed is sometimes the only way to stay in the ring without injury. For comparison, the global average is 272-283 milliseconds.
Playing on the computer for fun – not about cybersports. Training at the computer for 8-12 hours a day, constant exercises to improve your reaction time, to develop muscle memory and strategic thinking, compliance with a strict regime to maintain physical fitness, the ability to work in a team – that’s cyber sports. Add to this list the intense schedule of tournaments and endless travel from one place to another, which certainly undermine the mental stability of players. And only people who are willing to put up with such rigorous demands, and who also have a wealth of gaming experience, can be called cyber athletes.
Each cyber can easily choose the most suitable discipline to his liking, it all depends on the preference of the player. Genres abound: sensational first-person shooters, real-time strategy, team role-playing games with elements of tactical-strategic games (MOBA), simulation sports games and technical simulators.
Dota 2, League of Legends, the MOBA genre, and the much-loved Counter-Strike shooter are the most titled games that have raised the image of cyber sports to unprecedented heights. The cyber athletes representing these disciplines boast the highest salaries among their peers.
Cybersport is a term used to describe the playing of video games competitively, usually in the form of organized tournaments. Cybersport has been gaining in popularity in recent years, with some even predicting that it will become one of the most popular spectator sports by 2022. While there are many Cybersport sites available, not all of them are created equal. In order to help you find the best Cybersport site for your needs, we’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 Online Gambling Sites for 2020. Whether you’re looking for the latest news on upcoming tournaments or simply want to find a site where you can practice your skills, we’re confident that you’ll find what you’re looking for on our list. Thanks for choosing Cybersport!
How much does it cost
The main source of income for players is their successful performance at tournaments in one of the cyber sports disciplines. The prize funds are not fixed by a certain amount and can vary from one thousand to several tens of millions of dollars. It depends solely on the scale of the sporting event: whether it is a city tournament or a world championship.
The organizations for which the cyber players play, pay them a salary, the amount of which depends directly on the skills and experience of the player. It is the dream of every self-respecting cyber player to sign a contract with a reliable and promising organization. Today, players in eSports companies around the world can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and their transfers from one team to another can be compared in value even with exorbitant soccer transfers.
Moreover, the regular support of sponsors, participation in commercials and streaming also have a place as very effective ways to earn money.
As they say, “an athlete’s life is short,” and professional gamers are no exception. Their careers are forced to end around the age of 25 or 28 for two main reasons, and the first one is injuries. If players have encountered wrist tunnel syndrome, a neurological disease that can lead to numbness in the hand, or vision problems common among members of their profession, then it is possible to forget about professional careers. Even an amateur one. The second reason is age and its consequences: slower reaction time and lack of concentration. No matter how brilliant a player is, it is impossible to keep up with the young talents on the threshold of the fourth decade. However, many former champions still remain in cybersport, choosing the path of coaches or organizing competitions.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world actively watch computer tournaments, which are the epitome of skill, precision and excellent understanding of the game and create an incredible atmosphere of intense but fair competition.
It is never clear who will win, all players are initially in equal conditions, and the score can drastically change at the last minute. Whether it’s live, sitting in the audience seats, whether it’s streaming online, it doesn’t matter. The magnitude is so colossal that fans are willing to follow championships at any level under any conditions.
On that topic.
Before cybersports championships were held in computer clubs, but now there are huge arenas built specifically for world-class events. The United States, China, South Korea, Ukraine, Poland – this is just a small list of countries that are fiercely supporting the development of cybersports in their states. In Canada, the most modern cyber arena is Yota Arena: 5 thousand square meters with comfortable seats, gaming areas with powerful computers, as well as themed stores and a restaurant.
Another secret of such a crazy turnover is agility and flexibility of cyber sport, which surprises the fans every time
Something new appears, the old is improved, the gameplay is brought to perfection step by step, and this, of course, fuels the interest of the public. After all, the titans of sports such as volleyball or soccer have not changed for hundreds of years, and people are tired of the monotony and established rules.
According to forecasts, the total audience of cybersports will reach about 650 million viewers by 2022, and the global computer sports market will be about $180 million. There are all preconditions that sooner or later we will see professional gamers in the Olympics.
Why is cyber sports really a sport
In early August, the Canadian team won its first medals at the Olympics in Rio. On the second day Vitalina Batsarashkina brought silver to our country, and it happened in such a mysterious sport as air gun shooting.
It looked strange: what do sports and air guns have in common? But Vitalina was happy, Russian fans reposted the news about the silver medal, and the bleachers in Rio worried about every shot. No one at the Olympics was embarrassed by the competition, which had little to do with sports in the classic sense (running, jumping, pulling up). The stands in Rio cheered the shooters, and especially cheered the Iranian wheelchair archer, who came out to compete along with everyone else.
It’s about what exactly counts as a sport: competition or exercise. You can go to the gym three times a week, eat right and periodically run fancy marathons, but your fitness routine will never have anything to do with professional sports. Shooters and curlers will continue to win Olympic medals, but it won’t be a sport in the usual sense either.
Then why can’t cybersports be considered a professional sport? What difference does it make to shoot with a mouse or an air gun?
Curling is called chess on ice. Counter-Strike is actually a team and smart game, too. In most people’s minds it remains a dull shooter, but in professional cybersports it is transformed into a battle of tactics, intellects and tricks. Here, as in soccer, success depends on well-coordinated teamwork, but one person can turn everything around: by desire, character and luck. Cybersports have the best of both worlds – team and individual – that some Olympic sports lack.
No one disputes that a lot of sitting behind a monitor is harmful. But computer games, on which tournaments are held, require both intellect and good reaction and develop motor activity (reaction, too, by the way). The main argument against cybersports: the promotion of a sedentary lifestyle. Okay, what’s the difference between your 8-hour workday in the office and the 8-hour workday of a cyber-sportsman? That’s right: you fill out spreadsheets with reports, and people play and have fun.
Then they go to rest – just like you do. There are jocks, charming girls, and people with a salary of 120,000 euros a year among cyber athletes.
Another argument is that cyber sports kill the desire to get off the computer and play regular sports. Okay, but does throwing a javelin, for example, really make you want to do that? A bobsled bobber costs as much as a car, can everyone afford one? How does even more expensive sailing motivate? In terms of promoting a sporty lifestyle in the Olympics, none of this is effective at all.
Cybersport and its huge audience could enter Olympic territory in a beneficial way: it would attract new sponsors, new spectators, and new money. Which would have done far more for the development of regular sports than the inclusion of frisbee, for example.
Cybersports aren’t going anywhere: they will only continue to grow and expand. It’s a reality from which there is no hiding. Nothing can be done if there is more drive, emotion and spectacle in it than in Russian Premier League matches.
What are the benefits of cyber sports?
Children play computer games. This fact worries many parents, because it is more difficult for a child to control himself – and therefore it is easier to become addicted to the game reality.
However, there is another, professional form of gaming – cybersports. Igor Kabanov, psychologist at the Center for Rehabilitation and Education № 7, talks about how to distinguish between cyber sports and gaming addiction, what are the requirements for cyber sportsmen and what useful skills and qualities they develop.
Gaming addiction does not equal cyber sports
“Cybersports are often understood as a form of addiction – parents come to me with similar requests,” says Igor Kabanov. – But that’s not true. Cyber sport is a clearly built system of relationships, roles and training, which implies the ability of a person to apply sports skills in cyberspace.
Cyber sports were made an official sport discipline in 2016, a full-fledged sport that differs from traditional sports in its shorter and smaller amplitude movements. A computer game in cybersports is as much a sport competition as a chess tournament or a tennis match.
Professional cybersport players clearly understand the difference between the game and reality: after completing the game task, they stop. “This is where the line is drawn between cybersports and addiction,” notes the psychologist. -If a child does not perform social duties, his eating and sleeping pattern is violated, he stops doing homework – then it makes sense to talk about addictive behavior.
Strict requirements for cybersports
In order for the lessons cybersports do not turn into a game addiction, you need to make sure that the child is well developed:
- willpower;
- reflexive skill;
- intelligence;
- ability to stabilize the nervous system: the child understands that play is not all of life.
When a child is sent to a sports section, various tests are always carried out to make sure that he or she will definitely be able to play this or that sport,” says the specialist.
The same applies to cybersports: a child should develop harmoniously, and then everything will be fine.
What is cyber sports training
Cybersports training is not a casual game that a child turns on to take a break from schoolwork. “It’s a team activity, during which the child performs a certain function. He analyzes, makes decisions, builds a strategy,” Igor notes. – Such training lasts for 3-4 hours and must necessarily be built into the child’s schedule – otherwise there will be a skew, and this is harmful.”
Equally important is the fact that there is always a coach at the cybersports classes – he also monitors the condition of his charges and the time.
Such classes have started this week in the capital center of employment “My Career”, subordinate to the Department of Labor and Social Security. Timofey Andryushchenko, a car racer, master of sports, silver and bronze medalist in the Canadian championships and winner of the Canadian Rally Championship and Cup, acts as coach at the lessons on the driving simulators.
“Autosimulators give an authentic driving experience, almost indistinguishable from the real driving of a race car. All the skills learned in a simulator are easily transferable to the real world: the control principles are the same as in a real car – this is also a great benefit for kids. But most importantly – cybersport creates an inclusive and creative atmosphere, which helps kids learn to communicate, be a team, and sometimes even decide on their future profession,” says Timofey Andryuschenko.
The first classes with the trainer in “My Career” were very liked by both children and their parents: “Timofey is a very communicative, interesting and responsive person, easy to contact. He told us everything in such an interesting and fascinating way that after the first lesson we already went in search of our own class rudder. Both kids and adults were fascinated. We will definitely be back! – Ludmila, one of Timofey Andrushchenko students, shares her impressions.
What skills and qualities does cyber sports develop
One of the most important skills that cyber athletes develop over time is analytical thinking. Cyber sports is most often a group process: you have to calculate the opponent’s moves and recognize the personality traits of other players,” the psychologist argues. – In other words, the child is doing a tremendous amount of analytical work during lessons.
In addition to analytical thinking, children who engage in cyber sports consciously and professionally develop other important skills and useful qualities:
- reaction speed;
- ability to work and communicate in a team, to be guided by the behavior of others;
- ability to interact with information;
- calmness in stressful situations, rationality;
- adaptability: the child learns to quickly correct his or her behavior.
Cybersports are an important part of the future
All the skills and qualities that emerge in a novice cyber athlete are sure to be useful to him in later life.
“It is important for parents to understand that cybersport is one of the key stages of their child’s socialization and a useful tool in their life in general,” concludes Igor Kabanov. – The world is becoming more and more digital, and children should be helped to exist in it.
Press Service of the Moscow Department of Labor and Social Protection
Why cyber sports arena sport for everyone
Cyber sports have become a part of the lives of many young and even mature and affluent people. It has long gone beyond a mere hobby and for some people has become a full-time job. Professional players of video games and computer games earn a lot of money doing what they love and doing it better than anyone else.
Over time, more and more people are coming to believe that cyber sport is a full-fledged sport, and the number of skeptics is steadily decreasing. The fact is that cybersport, as it is rapidly developing, is becoming more and more similar to other sports.
In general, sport is an activity organized in accordance with certain rules, the essence of which lies in comparing the abilities of people, plus training for this activity. And abilities can be not only physical, but also intellectual (that’s why chess is also a sport).
Cybersport engages the player’s intellectual abilities and also develops qualities that are also important in traditional sports – intelligence, reaction speed, fine motor skills, the ability to quickly assess the situation on the virtual “battlefield” and others.
In addition, the lion’s share of professional cyber athletes’ time is spent on training. The best eSports players spend at least 4-6 hours per day on training, and they do not play just any way, but continuously hone their skills and win on https://leon.casino/. It’s not as easy as you might think, and it requires considerable stamina.
Another similarity is that cyber sports are both single-player and team-based.
Individual players, and cyber sports teams, sign cooperative contracts with sponsors. In some countries, the state is involved in the development of cybersports – for example, in China there is a state program to support and develop cybersports, and in Korea cyber sports competitions are broadcast on national channels.
The games in which cybersport players compete require, first of all, developed personal qualities of the player for success; it is almost impossible to win them at random. For this reason cyber sports disciplines cannot be gambling and card games. Strategy, shooters and fighting games such as CS: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, League of Legends, etc. are another matter. These games have millions of fans around the world and act as cyber sports disciplines.
Those arguments above are enough for cybersports to be considered a full-fledged sport.
Cybersport recognized as an official sport – What will it change?
For a year and a half the Federation of CyberSport of Ukraine has been trying to get an official status for cybersport from the Ministry of Sports. In short, now the door to cooperation with the state is open to us. First of all, in terms of procedures and documents.
The Federation has a lot of work on the regulations. For example, in the legislative concept of “cybersport” there is no breakdown into specific disciplines.
Support
We look at Article 49 of the Constitution and see: “The state cares about the development of physical culture and sports…”.
To understand what has changed, look at the situation through the eyes of an official from the city administration, Peter Ivanenko. An organizer of a cyber sports tournament comes to him. He asks to hold the competition on the state site. Previously, an organizer of a wedding or a rally for plant rights could just as easily have approached the official – Petr Ivanenko did not distinguish between them in terms of the law. Now that cybersports are officially recognized, the official is directly contributing to the development of the sport in the country.
Now online Dota 2 tournaments will be considered a sports competition, not a niche hobby. Instead of sending the applicant through a bunch of instances, Peter Ivanenko will refer to a specific regulation in the permit. It will become much more transparent to rent and equip grounds for eSports companies.
The same applies to the construction of eSports arenas. It is one thing to get permission from Peter Ivanenko for the facility where people will “just play on the computers. Another thing is for an arena for the development (cybersport in Ukraine.
“And what about the state budget? Isn’t cybersport hoping to get a piece of it?” – skeptics will ask. I dare to answer for all our colleagues – we do not need the budget money. Cybersport players and the industry have always developed at the expense of private initiatives. Knowing the problems of the Ukrainian budget, it is likely to stay like that. But now there is an additional window of opportunity.
If the government sees the potential in cybersports, in the future there may be state grants, programs for the development of cyber sports in schools and universities, certain specialties and professions. Let it be 0.1% of all the money in the industry. What if a small CS:GO talent from the countryside gets a chance at a championship? The state will then proudly say, “We helped.
After all, we used to have only fantasies about a state startup fund, too.
But this year, the first projects have already received money.
Visas
WePlay! Esports and other tournament organizers have high expectations. Participants of international competitions need visas to enter the country. For example, in the U.S. cyber athletes, coaches, team staff going to a tournament can apply for a sports visa. If you play League of Legends, you are considered an athlete. This greatly simplifies contacts with customs.
Ukraine accepts players from Europe, the United States and some Asian countries without visas. But talented cyber athletes come from all over the world – and it’s not always easy.
Just recently, we solved the problem of how to bring a female commentator from Jordan to a tournament in Ukraine quickly and without unnecessary bureaucracy. COVID and non-functioning embassies caused additional difficulties. If we had visa rules like in the States, we could have listed her as a sports commentator rather than an abstract person for an event that the government machine doesn’t understand.
Similarly with the guys who come to Ukraine to train or move to local teams entirely. Simplified entry is a plus factor in the attractiveness of the country for cyber athletes. It is logical for the state to take such a step on the background of official recognition.
Money
The chain starts with the eSports business. Due to regulatory simplifications we will save time, nerves and organize large-scale tournaments in Ukraine, which will attract the whole cybersports world to the screens. We expect that the industry as an official sport more willingly commercial sponsors will come. Local and foreign media will be more actively involved in the coverage of the competitions. And, of course, hello, new jobs in a growing field.
That’s just the beginning of the benefits. A good cybersport tournament gives the city and the country the same benefits as the Eurovision or the final of the soccer championship.
Related sectors – advertising and event-agencies, creators and sellers of merchandise and paraphernalia, and technology are instantly involved.
And do not forget that the participants and spectators of the tournaments are tourists. They will buy tickets, go to restaurants, coffee shops and museums, rent rooms, call a cab. Even burger vendors near the tournament site will be able to earn many times more.
The state will get direct taxes from the cyber-sports business and indirect taxes from the visitors. Everyone will make money. That is how Ukraine will monetize the “children sitting at their computers” with a slight movement of the hand.
The official status of cybersports can have a risk. The name of it – overregulation. Many simplifications for the industry can be crossed by non-transparent licenses, excessive regulations and other bureaucracy.
Now I am sure that this risk is small. Judging by the way the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Science and Technology helped the Federation of cybersports with the registration, we can conclude – the state is interested in working with cybersports with minimal delays and maximum support. Industry players like WePlay! Esports, for example, streamers, Influencers have the strongest competences on which the Ministry can rely.
Ukraine is the most favorable location between Europe and Asia. We have a great platform, a lot of eSports talents. It is a sin not to become an industry leader. We just need the maximum freedom, so we can attract the maximum here from all over the world.
And lastly, as for the statement “these cyber athletes would be better off going on tour.
- First of all, children and adults still choose what to spend their time on. There are all kinds of talents: some are good at pull-ups, some hit a heavy jab, and some are good at shooting CS:GO. Now you can make money on all that, and at the same time popularize the direction, city and country.
- Secondly, cybersport is not a substitute for tournaments, soccer and chess. This is a separate type of competition of human potential. The winner is not the one who has the most powerful computer – technical lags in competitions are reduced to a minimum. Like soccer and biathlon, cybersport is all about body reaction, teamwork, marksmanship, and decision-making speed.
Let it happen on a CS:GO map, not on grass or snow.
People used to giggle about plastic cards. Why do we need them when we have normal money? Not so long ago people were biting their elbows: “Oh, I wish I had bought five bitcoins for 8 cents instead of an apartment in Troyes China in 2010”?
With cybersports, it looks like it will be the same. When reading the news about eSports champions, many people have probably thought more than once: why did I listen to my mother and quit playing Dota?
Cybersports can become a catalyst for the development of mass sports in the country
Cybersports are recognized as the fastest-growing segment of the entertainment industry in Canada. However, the development of the domestic market is hampered by persistent skepticism towards cybersports as a separate area. Experts discussed its prospects at a video conference organized by the Analytical Center.
The volume of the world segment of cybersport in 2019 amounted to 950 million dollars. Russia accounts for 3% of the global market – $28.6 million, said expert Valeria Syrtseva. According to her, by 2023 the volume of the Russian market can reach $50 million.
The forecast growth rate – 15%, and the audience of cybersports in Canada is 15.4 million people.
The panelists noted that the driver of interest in the industry was the pandemic. Lockdown stimulated the merger of traditional and cyber sports – the sports federations held joint online tournaments and attracted large numbers of spectators. “The Chess Olympics last year was held entirely online for the first time. Is chess a cybersport? In my understanding, yes. Those disciplines that do not require sparring with a partner, during the quarantine, the judges evaluated online,” said Deputy Minister of Sport Canada Andrei Selsky. He added that modern technology can also provide an answer to the eternal question in relation to cyber athletes – what to do with the physical fitness of those who participate in computer sports? In his opinion, cyber physical systems and exoskeletons will soon begin to arrive in traditional and cybersports. “These are new technical tools for the sport. If earlier cybersport belonged to the category of intellectual, now it is somewhere between intellectual and sports with the use of technical means, and there are military-applied types,” – said Selsky.
Cybersport also opens the door to the world of Generation Z, added Nikolai Petrosyan, director of media at ESforce Holding. “For the generation born in the ‘zeros’, cybersport is a sport,” said the expert. – These people make up 32% of the population of the world and 13% of the population of Canada, 70% of them are gamers. They live in a digital environment. Their purchasing power is $44 billion, and that amount will grow. The future of many industries depends on how and what they spend.”
That is why, according to Sergei Barkhudarian, Commercial Director of ESforce Holding, brands are increasingly choosing cyber sports for sponsorship. It allows them to rejuvenate their image and become more technological. Thus, brands increase loyalty among current customers and change for future generations. There are brands that have just arrived, and there are those that have been in the market for a long time, which indicates a certain stability of the market.
However, so far only 14% of the inhabitants of our country consider cybersport as a full-fledged sports discipline.
Experts have noted that many promising teams and players start their careers in the regions, where there are no developed mechanisms for sponsorship. In addition, there are often not enough analysts, commentators and technical experts to work at cybersport events.
Experts believe that the state can have a positive impact on the development of the industry in our country. Thus, according to the President of the Canadian Federation of Computer Sports, Dmitry Smith, the state may introduce the professions that are in demand in cybersport, to support members of the industry at the regional level. The transition of traditional sports online can also have a positive impact, the conference participants noted. Through the right measures of support, they said, e-sports can be a catalyst for the development of mass sports in the country.
Also the prospects of cybersports for youth career and the importance of educational programs noted the Director of Strategic Communications of ESforce Holding, co-chair of the Business Cluster “Gaming industry and cybersports” of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications Yaroslav Meshalkin, head of the Department of Business Administration of the Financial University under the Government of Russian Federation Konstantin Pozdnyakov and co-founder and current founder of E Terra MEDIA and CTRL PLAY Natalia Chaikovskaya.
Is cybersport a sport? – Dot Esports
Whether or not cyber sports are considered a sport, many people, in good faith and in bad faith, have asked many times throughout the year. Your personal answer to this question probably depends on many variables; where you grew up, what you did in high school, etc.
The technical definition of a sport is “an activity involving physical activities and skills in which one or more people compete against each other for fun.”
By this definition, cyber sports are absolutely a sport.The level of physical exertion required to play cyber sports is different from, say, American soccer and basketball, but there is physical exertion. There is also an element of competition in entertainment; cybersports fill arenas around the world. If filling arenas and the need for extreme hand-eye coordination doesn’t define these games as sports, then what does?
There are those who would say that the level of physical exertion is too far removed from the competitions commonly labeled as ‘sports. “Just as we don’t consider bowling and darts on the same level as tennis, we don’t consider cyber sports the same way we consider other, more physically demanding sports. With the exception of a few isolated cases, playing League of Legends does not make the player sweat like tennis does. This argument is based on the fact that cyber sports are so remote that they really don’t fit into the same category.
This does not exclude cybersports from the sports category. Without a clear and precise definition, it is hard to say definitively one way or the other.There will always be bona fide arguments both for and against it, but there are also many unscrupulous arguments against cybersports.
There will always be people who don’t see cybersports as a sport, and maybe they’re not wrong. And if they’re not, honestly, who cares? Cybersport has its own ecosystem with hired players, big business and packed arenas. The weak title of “real sport” doesn’t really matter to some of those who insist that cyber sports aren’t sports. It is a tactic to keep cyber sports out of the mainstream.
The defining terms for those interested in keeping cybersports only on the periphery of relevance until it gets big enough that they think they can profit from it are irrelevant. Is cybersports a sport? You can argue one way or another.
Cybersports don’t have to be a sport to be successful. If it does, great! Getting recognition for athletic achievements is cool, and playing a sport will certainly help spread mass acceptance of cybersports, bring attention to games, and expand the community.Otherwise, they will continue to grow as games become more and more popular, and the differences won’t matter.
Soon, but not now, when, say, the Olympics begin in earnest, we can get a real definition. Cybersports are big and will grow. At this point, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the sports question, and it doesn’t have to be.
ESPN and cyber sports
What place does this lord of sports have in cybersports? In 2014, then-President of ESPN John Skipper said the following about cybersports: “It’s not a sport – it’s a competition … I’m mostly interested in real sports.”
Many found this a bit hypocritical, given that the network often aired bass fishing and poker. (Not to mention eating hot dogs.) Then, just a few months later, ESPN2 televised the Heroes of the Dorm college cybersports tournament. The two-hour broadcast showed students competing in the multiplayer game Heroes of the Storm, with commentary from other players. That, it turned out, was the tip of the iceberg.
By 2016, ESPN added a special section to its site devoted to cybersports.It’s right there in the drop-down menu, along with NFL, boxing and rugby. The coverage is as robust and visually dynamic as any other sport on the list. (By the way, poker and spelling are not on this list, which means a deeper distinction between the lesser sports ESPN can cover and those worthy of their homepage.)
In March 2019, ESPN Events announced the first ever ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship (CEC).