In my past few posts I have often mention that esports, the competitive play of video games, are relatively underground and out of public view. If esports only revolved around a single game then it would easy be look into on your own. Unfortunately, for those new to esports, it is made up of numerous different games and played on all sorts of different devices. I can only imagine how daunting it must feel to someone first looking into esports on their own for the first time. Simply trying to figure out where to start would be the biggest challenge. According to the article Moth, J. (2014) Top 5 Most Popular Esports Games Right Now, the some of the most popular games in esports are, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and League of Legends, all of which are good places to start learning more about esports.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is a RTS (Real Time Strategy) game played on PC and Mac. It is produced by Blizzard Entertainment and a sequel to one of the earliest games played in esports, StarCraft. In the game, two players each start with a base and some resources, throughout the game they build buildings, manage resources, and create armies to try and destroy the other player’s base and win the game. StarCraft used to be the most prominent games in esports, but currently it is probably the least popular of the games on this list, and it is currently the only RTS game still played constantly in esports.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a FPS (First Person Shooter) game played on PC, Mac, Xbox360, and PlayStation 3. It is developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve Corporation and a sequel to the massively popular Counter Strike. In the game, two teams of five that must complete a given objective or kill the members of the opposing team to win a round. The best team out of 30 rounds wins. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is, in my opinion, the easiest to understand since the concepts are much more grounded in reality compared to other games.
League of Legends is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game played on PC and Mac developed by Riot Games. Currently League of Legends is the most played game in the world and the popular game played in esports. in the game, two team of five players, each using “champion” with a unique role and set of abilities, face off, grow stronger, destroy enemy structures, and eventual try and to destroy the enemies base. Last year the New York Times published the article Giratikanon, T. Huang, J & White, J. (2014) Watch 10,000 League Of Legends Games Played In 30 Seconds which provides some more information on how the game is played as well some fascinating graphics.
You’re going to want to go to Twitch.tv if you ever decide that maybe you want to watch one of these games played. Twitch.tv is going to be the best place to watch gameplay from the aforementioned games, along with any other game the people deem worth watching. It allows anyone to host a stream and is used by amateurs and pros alike. Most tournaments will also use Twitch to broadcast matches as well. It’s extremely easy to find things to watch with Twitch, but if you are new you might feel a bit lost, so I would suggest reading up some background information before you start watching.
References:
Giratikanon, T., Huang, J., & White, J. (2014, October 9). Watch 10,000 League of Legends Games in 30 Seconds. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Moth, J. (2014, November 11). Top 5 most popular eSports games right now. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Esports and English 