History of Electronic Sports - Essay Example

History of Electronic Sports In the history of electronic sports, three main periods can be distinguished. The first one covers the early history of electronic games (the 1950s – 1980s), the second one cover the decade of the rise of PC (1990s), and the last period is 2000 up to now. Unlike many people think, electronic sports have quite a long history. In fact, competitive gaming is of the same age as video games themselves. The first game created specifically as a means of entertainment but not as tools for research, like the first known games Nim and OXO created in 1951 and 1952 correspondingly, was Tennis for Two developed by American physicist William Higinbotham in 1958. It was the game that allowed direct competition between two people. In the 1960s, computers were growing more powerful, which means they became able to store more information, process it more efficiently and display it clearly. As a result of it, different types of computer games burst into existence, being Spacewar, the first shooter, one of them. Spacewar was not only the first shooter ever created, it was the game played at first video game competition, which took place in 1972 in a range of labs across the United States, with Standfords Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The championship was called The Spacewar Olympics and was sponsored and chronicled by Rolling Stone. The grand prize of the championship was a years subscription for the above-mentioned magazine. Spacewar is regarded as a monumentally significant video game of all time because of its “gameplay, visuals, innovative conceptualization, a multiplayer experience with depth and replayability, open culture” (“A History of Esports”). In 1980, Atari Inc. held the first large scale video game competition, the Space Invaders Tournament, in which more than ten thousand people participated. In history of video games, the Space Invaders Tournament is believed to be the ancestor of modern electronic sports (Edwards). Further development and popularization of new video game types, such as arcades, text simulations, first-person shooters, and fighting, as well as introduction of innovative technical devices, for example, consoles, changed the nature of a video game. In 1978, one more video game genre was introduced; it was a MUD game, or a Multi User Dungeon. It was a game played in real time primarily in text. The game was created in Essex University in England, and in 1980 it was to APRAnet. In fact, it was the first step towards massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). With the release of the personal computer, the popularity of both game playing and game creation gained steam. In 1981, Twin Galaxies was found. It was the organization that “became the de facto scorekeeper, rule setter and enforcer for American competitive area” of the 1980s (“A History of Esports”). The organization created and held video game tournaments, such as the Video Game Masters Tournament, and promoted video games in the media. In other words, Twin Galaxies was a sort of a trend setter in the sphere of video game playing. Many video games, especially PC games, benefited a lot from the increasing Internet connectivity in 1990s. One of them was Netrek, an Internet game created for up to sixteen players. Today, it is regarded as the first Internet team game, the third Internet game, and the first online sports game at the same time (“GameSpotting 20XX”; Kelly). The 1990s was also the glory time of Nintendo. Nintendo games as well as characters such as Donkey Pong, Super Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt, Punch Out and a range of others are remembered, well-known and loved even today. Nintendo World Championships, which took place in the United States with their finals in California, were among the largest electronic sports tournaments held in the 1990s (“A History of Esports”). Also, during these period, such video game genres as a real time strategy (RTS) and sports games were developed. What is more, the 1990s was the decade during which first true eSports competitions took place. More specifically, in 1997 Red Annihilation tournament for “Quake”, a first-person shooter, gathered about 2,000 people. In accordance with Edwards, it is this tournament that is regarded the first real instance of eSports. Finally, this decade is important for the industry due to the fact that in 1997 the Cyberathlete Professional League was found in the United States (“A History of Esports”). The same year the Electronic Sports League (ESL) was found in Europe. The main aim of these leagues was and is today the promotion of video games playing and conducting competitions and championships for gamers. Electronic Sports Today Electronic sports started flourishing after the turn of the millennium alongside with the rise of popular games and tournaments that today are regarded as the key ones in the eSports world. 2000 was the year when the two major international tournaments, the Electronic Sports World Cup and the World Cyber Games, were launched. These days the tournaments also take place. In fact, they are held every year and gather thousands of participants. In 2002, the largest of the sports leagues, Major League Gaming (MLG) was founded. Today, it is the most successful of the eSports leagues and it features video games in a wide range of genres and offers huge prize pools for participants. Alongside with Major League Gaming, there is a number of other popular tournaments. Among them a Swedish computer festival Dreamhack and a South Korean league called the Global StarCraft II League. Apart from well-known games that are played during a relatively long period of time, there are also newcomers in the industry, for example, MOBA. MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena is a kind of video games that now dominates in eSports. One of such MOBAs is “League of Legends” (Edwards). This game was released in only in 2009, and today it is regarded as the most played video game in the world. For instance, as of the beginning of the last year, more than 67 million people played it at least once in a month and 27 million people played daily. For this game, huge tournaments are organized both regionally (Taiwan, China, South Korea) and on a global scale (LOL Championship Series). Among the video games that are played all over the world and comprise the backbone of the eSports world are also Dota 2, Starcraft, Counter Strike, Warcraft III, and Smite. These games do not only gather thousands and even millions of participants and viewers all over the world, their prize pools constitute thousands and millions of dollars. For example, in 2014, the prize pool of the first Smite World Championship heal in January 2015 in Atlanta was a total of more than $2.5 million (Beckett). Read More