The controversy of recent years or eSports as a new phenomenon in the entertainment industry

For many active users of the network is not news that in the past 10-15 years, the most powerful development has received such a phenomenon as eSports. Many associate the beginning of an era with the release of Quake, but e-sports received a more meaningful appearance in the zero years, when, under the auspices of the organization WCG (World Cyber ​​Games) , selection rounds were organized on the most popular then cyber disciplines in many countries around the world prizes Warcraft 3 TFT, Starcraft: Brood War, CS 1.6, Quake III Arena, FIFA; The games listed earlier were the main competitive disciplines present in the WCG program for the largest proportion of time. Since 2000, the WCG project was sponsored by Samsung, which even then had farsightedly invested in this area. After that, Microsoft was connected to this process. At the moment, the largest sponsors of eSports are Asus, Intel, HyperX, Monster Energy and others, but first things first.

What is e-sports?

Wikipedia gives the following definition:

Cybersport (outside the CIS is better known as English e-Sports) is a gaming competition using computer technology, where a computer simulates a virtual space within which a competition takes place.

All computer games, and competitions on them, are divided into several main classes, distinguished by the properties of spaces, models, game task and developed game skills of athletes

Until recent years, although the trend continued, but began to decline, eSports was exclusively in the minds of enthusiasts. Just 10 years ago, computer games, and indeed, the whole field of Game Development was for some people not quite serious. Although the “big uncles” understood that this was a huge market, not mastered by anyone. Wild and unexplored. The development of technology and data transmission systems, the emergence of the majority of broadband and mobile access to the Internet have said their weighty word in the development of this industry - the boundaries between players around the world have been completely erased. There are still questions about ping to another part of the globe, which is 2-3 seconds, but this is only the technical side of the issue, which will be solved one way or another in the coming decades.
')
Although Samsung sponsored competitions for the last 15 years, the prizes were not very large, from a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of dollars for discipline. And it was a general prize fund, not a prize for first place. Even more often, the players became victims of their own managers, who appropriated the lion's share of the prize money for their “organization” and their other gestures. It was impossible to earn a living in this area, only a handful of decent money was received.

An even bigger problem was the lack of spectacular competitive games that were popular enough for professional-level players to appear on their expanses, as well as the impossibility of broadcasting competitions for a wide audience. The author attended the qualifying games of his country in the framework of the WCG in 2005 (or 2006?), I would say that it was a sad sight, but the scope was already felt.

Some memories:

I remember as if it was just recently. Qualifying events were held in an indoor football arena, there was hot weather, it was May-month outside. The organizers pulled a huge canvas and hung a rather powerful projector, however, the clarity of the picture left much to be desired, and the room was too light. For spectators a tribune was built, 150-200 seats, no more, there all the game lovers settled down. The scenes, as such, were not there, the players were sitting in separate zones, hidden from view. There were also commentators, because of which the visit to this event was deposited in my memory. I was driving to look at Counter-Strike 1.6, as well as WC3. True, the games did not particularly remember me, I was impressed, however, as I remember, -5 from one of the players, Train map, street. He was left alone, with AWP and USP, if memory serves. He laid down the entire enemy team during reloading between shots. The fire led in different directions. It was strong and then incomprehensible to me. But when the Starcraft games started, the hall was blown up. Comment on the game should have been two, of course, these people understood in the subject, which covered. But one of the commentators fell ill, so they invited a guy who helped us cover this CS for co-casting to help. As it turned out, he was far from Starcraft, but he was fine with his fantasy. I will never forget these comments.
Scene: they play Terran against Zerg. Terran goes to marinas, zerg - to rush "dogs". Understandably, during the meeting begins a bloody mess. Caster CS comments:

“Here some dogs run on these men in space suits. Wow! what a carnage begins. Lord, the whole screen is covered in blood! I do not understand what is going on! Just look at it! How much blood! And they say that CS is a cruel game! This is a cruel game, my God, it traumatizes the psyche of children, it must be forbidden! ”

The second caster could only quietly laugh and cover his face with his hands, because he could not stop his “colleague”. This guy made that day, definitely.

Jerk

Everything has changed in the last few years, when the justin.tv team launched the Twitch.tv service. In parallel with this, Leage Of Legends from Riot games began to gain momentum in discipline, Valve began developing Dota 2 - a full-fledged custom card project for Warcraft 3 TFT. A new CS-Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was also released. But still, the main role in all this, I still give the service Twitch.tv. Thanks to him, big money finally came to eSports. When the manufacturers of accessories and equipment saw that 10-15 thousand people of the same language group were watching the broadcasts, they began to actively advertise their products, as well as sponsor all sorts of leagues and tournaments. Receiving advertising time and placing their logos during the broadcast, the company gave dozens, and now hundreds of thousands of dollars for the formation of prize and organization of tournaments. At the moment, game broadcasts are watched by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The industry is growing, keyboards are being sold.
The last major event was the Asus ROG, held in Sweden. By the way, some games, in particular, the games of the Swedish team Alliance on the Dota 2 discipline, were broadcast on the local popular TV channel, which gives hope for the withdrawal of eSports to a new level of production.

The closest landmark event for the industry is the annual tournament organized by Valve in Dota 2 discipline. The company has provided $ 1,600,000 in prize money and has launched the sale of a special in-game item dedicated to the tournament. 25% of sales related to this item Valve is transferred to the prize pool. At the moment, thanks to this system, similar in principle to the crowningfounding, the community has increased the prize pool to more than $ 10,000,000 and it continues to grow:



It's no secret that Asians look much further than the rest of the world, and know how to work for the future. So, in South Korea, eSports activity is very prestigious, and in China there is a whole state. eSports development and player support program. In the USA, professional players were equated to ordinary athletes, which makes it easier for them to enter the US and get visas. This industry has already gone beyond the "game in computer clubs" and moved to a new, qualitatively new level. Campgrounds are organized for teams, where they live, train and communicate with each other for months. Many admit that eSports doesn’t, in fact, differ from classic sports: the same grueling day-to-day training, finding new solutions, hard work and even professional hand injuries and health problems due to many hours of play (professional players train, often 10-14 hours a day for months).

Also in the people there is a perception that a professional player is some kind of small spectacle-pimply plant that does not live a real life. Far from it. A well-known example is Artem “slivko” Garavtsov from virtus.pro, a discipline of Starcraft 2.



It does not look like a pimply juvenile vegetable.

Problems

However, the industry has a number of problems.

• Closeness of the community.
• Lack of infrastructure training new players.
• Public rejection.

If eSports actively fights with the latter, then the first two points are a serious problem.

To get into the ranks of professionals is almost impossible. At the moment there is no decent infrastructure for training players and their subsequent entry into the world of eSports. Rumor has it that Asians have already opened their own schools for training young players, which may lead to another total domination of Asia on the game scene. Now, for the most part, the players are left to themselves. You can assemble a team and go through the grid of Amatorskaya, semi-pro and pro leagues, however, there is no support for the teams. In the same Dota 2 discipline, it is easier to be a top player in the ranking and get an invitation to play as a stand-in (as a substitute player), as was the case with the current Admiral Bulldog player from Alliance (the player from Natus Vincere team, Daniel Dendi Ishutin, noticed during games in the "pub"), or Excalibur, which is now serving as a replacement in the Fnatic EU team, rather than pushing through the "filter" of amateur tournaments. Professional players are a closed club of old friends and acquaintances who have been playing for many years and will not often see new faces here.
The opening of vocational training schools is also not foreseen, because this requires funding, which simply does not exist. Technological giants still have enough sponsorship of already existing teams and players, and this segment is not interesting for the state (except for Korea and China).

However, eSports is still young and causes a negative reaction in the majority of the population. Breaking this trend is very, very difficult. For players, people keen on a certain discipline, cybersport broadcasts have become something of a relative to football, however, many people still are very skeptical about their professional activities in this field.
A very big problem is also created by frankly aggressive mood of a separate category of citizens. As they say, there would be a reason, and we will arrange a fire. Everything is used: from zombies and inconclusive arguments in terms of “they earn money for you!” (As if we didn’t know ourselves), up to the collusion of masons and reptilians, in the best traditions of REN-TV, against the younger generation. A huge number of people perceive e-sports as a waste of time, not just aimless, but extremely destructive. Such people consider it their duty to express their opinions and prove to those around them that it is more productive to even hunch seeds at the entrance than to try to achieve at least a semi-pro level in any discipline. The problem is that such an attitude of individuals very much honors the reputation of the industry as a whole. There were precedents when parents, following public opinion, did not allow promising young children to play professionally, considering their passion to be harmful. Not so long ago, in a similar situation, one of the American players, who is 17 years old, secretly went to the LAN-finals, where, playing on the substitution, took the 1st place. It seems to still play.

You can’t feed yourself with computer games.
Everyone who played heard this phrase.
For most, this is a harsh reality at the moment. Without visible support from the state, this segment will remain in a semi-artisanal state, although eSports is the most promising phenomenon in the entertainment industry at the moment. Spectacular, dynamic and constantly evolving, due to its revolutionism is not recognized by a huge part of the world's population. For the time being, the lion's share of the collectives is kept on private financing. Players are paid salaries, organized for them camping. How prizes are divided remains a secret, however, most organizations insist that they earn money on affiliate programs with technology giants, read advertising, and are also supported by private investors. Incidentally, the fraud on the part of player organizations is quite possibly still ongoing. First of all it concerns young teams. An example of such a drama is here .
By the way, after the completion of their career, many professional players find themselves in related areas: tournament casting, game design, and become coaches and team managers. Players have a future, but it is still vague and undefined.

Perhaps in a dozen or two years, children will hear this phrase:

“Son, why are you going to go for a walk, or are you watching a movie? I would have sat down and played at the computer. ”

Well, for dessert, a documentary from Valve about professional players. For LoL'a fans, I’ll say that such a film would have been made about players in LoL - would it have been. But what is not, is not. Sort of.