It's time to think outside the box
Actually, that time has long past but it's never too late I guess?
Before I dive into the nitty gritty, this is my first ever post on Substack and it will take some time to get the hang of it. I’ve never really written a newsletter or blog before and I’m glad I’m starting now because there’s no better time than the present. Quick thank you to everyone that reads through this whole thing, please feel free to leave comments and feedback! Now… on with it.
I have to admit, I’ve spent way too much time thinking about the term “esports” and how we (collective we, industry and beyond) use it. My first thought is always “it’s esports not eSports or e-sports or any of the alternatives” but my second thought is always about how weird of a term esports actually is. We quite literally coined the term in a similar fashion to email: “e” for “electronic” (duh) and “sports” to represent the competitive aspect of gaming. If you ask me, I think it’s super lazy and we can easily do better because the most important part of esports is the community. I have to admit that Dr. Disrespect’s tweet from earlier last year stuck out to me, it speaks volumes because not only does it touch on how the term has been used as a buzzword but it also takes a different approach to playing video games for a living:
The toughest part about labeling gamers and the sport of competing in video games is that the lines are super blurred between creating gaming content for a living and competing in tournaments. Content creators can be considered “professional” because they fit the definition, making playing video games into a profession and making a living from it. However, these two “careers” aren’t mutually exclusive, we often see top professional players create content when they’re not practicing or competing and top content creators competing in tournaments with the best of the best. How exactly do we distinguish between these two paths especially when it comes to legitimizing competing in video games as a parallel to traditional athletic sports?
I want to take this idea a whole step forward, even beyond what the majority consensus is on what esports is today. Esports is always thrown around as a buzzword, something that is trendy and cool and it’s a bit exhausting at this point. Those of us who have been around know that esports goes beyond just competing for prize money in a video game. Esports is just the tip of a really, really, really big iceberg and it’s about time we acknowledge that there’s so much more we can do to expand on it. The question I want to impose is “what more do we need to do to break esports out of this box and unlock/further the true potential?”
Esports is great, but it can always be better and I want to see everything that can be done to make this industry lucrative for all. This idea basically lives in my head rent-free and I had to find an outlet for these types of ideas, so here we are.