{"id":4776,"date":"2025-04-03T09:58:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T09:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/?p=4776"},"modified":"2025-07-04T08:24:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T08:24:01","slug":"what-is-e-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/?p=4776","title":{"rendered":"What is E-Sports?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Esports, which is the short form for Electronic Sports<\/strong>, is a form of competition<\/strong> using video games<\/strong> which can be watched live, or live streamed across the world. Esports can be played individually, or as a team. It first became popular in East Asia<\/strong>, but recently has gained popularity in Europe, America and even at our school. Esport athletes play many different games such as League of Legends<\/strong>, which is a multiplayer online battle arena\u00a0 and Dota 2,<\/strong> which is a fantasy, multiplayer online battle arena.<\/p>\n

\"british-esports-championships-1-696x442\"<\/p>\n

British Esport Federation<\/h1>\n

Even though its popularity has risen in England, the sport is still relatively new<\/strong>. Therefore, how do players receive training? The British Esports Federation<\/strong> is the national<\/strong> body<\/strong> for Esports in the UK<\/strong>. It was set up in March 2016<\/strong> to develop the UK\u2019s grassroots Esports scene and provide infrastructure<\/strong> for the future teaching<\/strong> of Esport. The training involves learning different types of movements, what different characters are good at, and strategies.<\/p>\n

Classification as a Sport<\/h1>\n

Why is Esports classed as a sport? After all, surely, it is just people playing video games? It depends on the country<\/strong>. Different countries classify Esports differently. In Poland<\/strong>, it is classified as a sport<\/strong>, however in England<\/strong> it is not yet classified as a sport<\/strong>. Some people consider it a sport since it involves humans competing against each other, and there are some elements in Esports that are remarkably like traditional<\/strong> sports e.g. chess. This topic is known to be a controversial<\/strong> topic since many people have different opinions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEsports can be considered as a sporting activity, but it must not be infringed on the Olympic values”, <\/em>this was said by the international Olympic committee<\/strong> on the 1st<\/sup> September 2021.<\/p>\n

Legal Problems<\/h1>\n

Even though Esports may seem like an exciting<\/strong> and modern<\/strong> career, there are (like every other job) legal<\/strong> aspects<\/strong>. The most common one, that also happens in traditional<\/strong> sports, is gambling<\/strong> and drugs<\/strong>. Imagine you are watching an Esport game, and it is exciting or thrilling, and you might think it would be more fun if you bet<\/strong> on who will win. This is called gambling<\/strong>. This could pressurise<\/strong> the Esport athletes, and force them to cheat<\/strong> to ensure that they will, therefore ruining the fairness<\/strong> of the game. Just like traditional sport, Esport athletes might take drugs so that they can be their best during the game. These are called performance-enhancing drugs<\/strong>. If most Esport athletes use the drugs, it creates an unfair<\/strong> advantage for players who are competing fairly<\/strong>. The only thing we can do about that is set rules and give out sanctions<\/strong> to the rule breakers. For example, regular health checks<\/strong> to see if athletes are taking drugs. If they are, this results in a suspension<\/strong> from a game (or two), or other reasonable sanctions.<\/p>\n

Esports also lacks an International governing body<\/strong>, which could be a reason these situations occur. Most organisations like the Global Esports Federation<\/strong> aim to centralize<\/strong> governance, but they lack recognition, and they do not focus on competitions. This fragmented<\/strong> way leads to inconsistencies<\/strong>, as some game developers regulate their own games, which can lead to perceived conflicts of interest.<\/strong> There are also problems to do with an athlete\u2019s health, physically<\/strong> and mentally<\/strong>. This may be because Esports is a new industry<\/strong>, and is still developing, and the lack of recognition of the mental health challenges<\/strong> Esport athletes face, since people do not understand the stress<\/strong> and pressure<\/strong> that comes with competitive gaming.<\/p>\n

Is Esports just \u201cplaying games\u201d?<\/h1>\n

You may<\/strong> find Esports cool and futuristic, but there have been many worries as to whether it is an actual<\/strong> profession<\/strong>. Of course, most people\u00a0 born in the 21st<\/sup> century<\/strong> think of Esports as a job<\/strong>, however, those born in the 20th<\/sup> century<\/strong> might not think of it as an actual job since they have been brought up to think that way, and Esports did not exist until 1972.<\/strong> It was also still very new, and it would have taken some time for people to accept.<\/p>\n

Many people think that Esports athletes are just ‘playing games’, <\/em>but Esports is not just ‘playing games’,<\/em> it is more<\/strong> than that; it is a mastery<\/strong> and competition<\/strong>. That is the difference between gaming and Esports. Many other sports have had a similar problem, like underwater rugby, which (like its name) is playing rugby underwater. Esport games are definitely for people who love suspense<\/strong> and pressure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Esport athletes stare at a monitor<\/strong> while quickly moving their hands and quickly reacting. These games can be played individually or as team. It mostly depends on the type<\/strong> of game.<\/p>\n

Esports at Home<\/h1>\n

While Esports is a very new sport, it has still managed to reach our school. Last term, Girls’ Division<\/strong> took part in the Esport Pilot Competition<\/strong>, which was supported by the British Esport Federation<\/strong>. The pupils that participated had a lovely time learning and competing.<\/p>\n

Esports is an amazing profession<\/strong> if you love<\/strong> video games and competition. I do have hope<\/strong> that this profession will be normalised <\/b>in the decades<\/strong> to come, and that we will venture<\/strong> in and normalise<\/strong>\u00a0other professions as-well.<\/p>\n

By Avni Shah<\/p>\n

\"Esports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Esports, which is the short form for Electronic Sports, is a form of competition using video games which can be watched live, or live streamed across the world. Esports can be played individually, or as a team. It first became popular in East Asia, but recently has gained popularity in Europe, America and even at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":4800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-10","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4776"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5204,"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4776\/revisions\/5204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theview.boltonschool.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}