What is esports? Why is esports growing more popular? These are the questions on the lips of many who are not familiar with this ever-growing industry.
Many of these people, that are unfamiliar with the term “esports” and have no idea what it implies, yet are intrigued to learn more about it and what it has to offer.
The following is a brief but comprehensive guide to what esports is and which are the most popular esports games and tournaments.
What Does Esports Stand For?
Essentially the term “esports” stands for “electronic sports”. These are basically video games that are played at a competitive level by professional teams and players.
Is Esports a Sport?
Most sporting activities require that participating athletes show physical strength and prowess. One might think that there won’t be any physical exertion during an esports match, but in reality, esports pro-players train as much as and as hard as any other athlete from other sports disciplines.
High-level pro-players can train up to 12 hours a day, and their schedule will also include physical training, meditation as well as healthy eating to keep both body and mind in shape.
The Most Popular Esports Titles
Flagship games, like League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Valorant generate tremendous interest from the online community.
How Does a Game Become an Esport?
What type of game is elevated to esports status?
Any type of video gaming tournament which is played for a prize pool is essentially an esport. However, some games are more successful than others at becoming esports. FPS titles like CSGO and Call of Duty, and MOBA titles such as Dota 2 and League of Legends are amongst the most popular esports. These games have an engaged community, an active player base, and recognisable talent within each scene.
Battle Royal games, like Fortnite as PUBG, on the other hand, are having a harder time in being established as esports as their tournaments appear to be less engaging and harder to follow.
The Biggest Esports Tournaments
Some of the biggest and best-paying tournaments include The Worlds and MSI for League of Legends, The International for Dota 2, Majors, and yearly competitions such as the ESL are watched by CSGO and Call of Duty fans.
College Esports
Armed with all this information, you have no problem figuring out what is esports in college. Just like professional leagues have college teams competing in inferior divisions, there are competitions reserved for students.
The same games are played, with tournaments and matches having similar formats. This means that if you have a thorough understanding of what is esports you will also have a firm grasp of what esports is in college. You’d be able to make a swift transition from one game to the other.
How to Watch Esports Games?
The surging popularity of esports took bookmakers by surprise and they were quick to add them to their online portfolios. There are few people who still wonder what is esports and why do people watch it. The games are dynamic, reward players and teams who display perfect synergy and individual skill. Luck is a factor, but it doesn’t weigh heavily in the balance, which also makes betting more exciting.
Bookies have live streams on the sites, but esports can also be one on dedicated platforms like YouTube and Twitch.
Esports Betting Explained
Once you understand how esports competitions work, it will be far easier to understand esports betting. If you are even remotely familiar with traditional sports betting you will almost instinctively figure out the basics of esports betting.
What differs is the number and type of betting markets, as well as the gameplay of individual esports. However, you can always bet on the outright winners of tournaments, wager on individual games or place live bets on matches that are underway.
The Future of Esports
When video games first made an appearance on the sports betting stage, punters were rather surprised. Some didn’t take them seriously and dismissed esports betting as a fad that will soon die out. Instead, the games got so popular and appeal to so many punters from the younger generation that they have now become a mainstay at most online bookmakers.
As mobile devices become more powerful the next popular games could be played and the highest competitive level on handheld devices.