Did you ever think gaming could turn out to be a profession? Well, it is. Esports is professional platform where video games that most of us play are being played by professional gamers. It’s a mini world with its own fan bases, celebrities, and events. In any event of esport, arenas are swarmed with people and a huge number of people stream the gaming competition.

Cash prizes, endorsements, and team salaries are given to the players. Esports is becoming a huge industry both in popularity and money. Back in 2017 Esports generated a worldwide revenue of around 565 million pounds. It is estimated that by the end of this year, the revenue will cross a billion pounds. Esports has an audience of estimated 600 million from all over the world.

Types of Esports tournaments

  • First-person shooter (FPS) events like Call of Duty, and Halo.
  • Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) events like League of Legends and Dota 2.
  • Fighter game events like Mortal Kombat and Super Smash Bros.
  • Sports game events like Madden and NBA2K.
  • Other events like card games and real-time strategies.

Esports is no more a term which is frowned upon when discussed among a group of people. All the sectors have accepted it and some states are even sponsoring the training programs for people as an encouragement to watch esport. Consideration of esports for Olympics is under discussion and most probably it will become a part of Olympics. The reason being, it is a very economical sport and it won’t matter whether it gets views or not because the economy won’t be in a big trouble even if it fails.

Esports is a category that belongs to the age group lying between 14-25 mostly. A big part of this category is free and has a lot of time. This is where the e-sports industry gets an edge over the other sports. This means more engaging fans and an increased watch time for the matches.

The fact that a major chunk of our teenagers and kids are addicted to their phones is alarming. They spend all day playing games and their lives are all about video game characters and their super powers. They are so emotionally attached to the game that they actually feel the fictional plot twists in games and react as if something in real life has happened. This level of attachment can be really dangerous. Such young age and this situation, not less than a nightmare. However, this concentrated energy can be channeled into a positive way. Esports professionals are earning really well and are settled at ripe ages. The youngsters these days look up-to them and try to be like them. Now they are on a path that can take them to somewhere worthwhile. Gaming is not just gaming anymore.

Whatever esports you pick to watch, don’t just stop watching after 10 minutes because you don’t understand what’s going on. Get an understanding of it first, and then decide whether or not it’s for you. Eventually you’ll start learning whether you prefer more defence-minded teams or aggressive ones, and you’ll get some feel for the personalities behind the teams, which will naturally draw you to start supporting some over others.

As with many sports, your engagement is tied into having teams and people to root for. It’s hard to get a feel for players when they’re transfixed to their screens with full gaming pokerfaces on, but head over to a team’s YouTube or Twitch channel, and you’ll see what the esports world looks like away from the big stage.

Even if you don’t support a given team, these channels give more personal insights into the world of esports, which you rarely get to see during actual games. All these teams also have Twitch channels, where you get to see them in action more casually with running commentary.

Various channels and websites show live scores and updates about ongoing matches. They are sorted in categories of games, time, area and server. Developers and publishers are noting the interest in viewing esports content by putting on large invitational events streamed to the public and sometimes even broadcast on television. However, to close the loop, developers also need to support competition at the amateur level so viewers can put into practice what they’ve seen the professionals do.

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