The World of Esports (Competitive Video Gaming)

[JonQuinnHubble]

Hello, I wanted to bring up a topic that maybe not everyone has heard about yet, Esports. Esports are essentially competitive video games. This has recently boomed to a massive industry in the last 10-20 years. If you haven't heard of it yet, I am sure you will soon. The basic structure of an Esports competition is two teams face-off against each other in the video game. These players are professional video gamers. They practice obscene hours in order to maintain top condition. Most of the video games that fall under the Esports realm are a mix between strategy and physical capabilities. In order to be at the top of their respective game, some of which have tens of millions of worldwide players, these professionals practice between 12 hours or more per day.

Obviously, there are some negative impacts about such a rigorous practice routine, especially when most of the games lack a certain amount of variety to avoid monotony. Many players suffer from health issues because of it, and recently the organization that house the players have taken a big step back to ensure that the player's mental safety is a priority. I wanted to ask for your opinions on this, especially people that are just hearing about it for the first time. How do you feel about Esports?

 

[Zeitgeist]

I'm a bit biased since I participate in esports, but I love esports. I'm not in any major leagues, but since I follow it I've seen a lot of the health and mental issues that you've brought up. It seems like a lot of it comes down to ensuring that players have a good support system in place by their coaches and the other officials on the team (especially the younger players). Looking at players like xQc for example, I wonder how they would have done if they'd had proper support from the start or at least, had someone clearly lay out the rules and expectations of their role as a pro player representing a brand like Blizzard: would he have streamed less so he wouldn't suffer from mental fatigue? Would he have been more careful with his words on said streams? Further, looking at the Shanghai Dragons (a team within the Overwatch League), there were a lot of alleged issues with their team behind the scenes, a lot of which stem from having too rigorous of a practice regime that exhausted the players.

 

[TroySoldier]

In order to be at the top of their respective game, some of which have tens of millions of worldwide players, these professionals practice between 12 hours or more per day.

I am curious about the negative side effects when it comes to sitting and practicing to be the best at a video game. Long hours of staring at a screen and being sedentary do not seem to be good for your health...

I would not recommend my child participate in eSports nor football. Same reasoning for each sport: overall health and quality of life.

 

[Zeitgeist]

I am curious about the negative side effects when it comes to sitting and practicing to be the best at a video game. Long hours of staring at a screen and being sedentary do not seem to be good for your health...

I would not recommend my child participate in eSports nor football. Same reasoning for each sport: overall health and quality of life.

The good thing is, they're trying to address a lot of these issues now, or at least the leagues I follow are. Some pro-teams/leagues supply the players with physical trainers to help combat the sedentary lifestyle that comes from esports (or any desk job really--it would be nice to see more jobs have this). However, this is really only available to players who have been signed to major teams to my understanding. Based on some reading, it seems like prior to signing with big teams, most players live more like the average young professional on a budget.

I sort of hope that the more popular esports becomes, the more care that can be given to the players because at the end of the day they are incredibly skilled individuals who are honing a skill the same way as a traditional athlete. It's got to be hard to find balance between honing that skill and maintaining an ideally healthy life.