Esports

Playing computer games is fun. It’s also a serious business with competitions, champions, fans and big money prizes. Read all about esports!

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises to check your understanding.

Last summer over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online. But this wasn’t a football, basketball or tennis match. It was esports, or competitive computer gaming. The prize money for the winners: £3 million.

Millions of people in the UK play games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time job. Did you know that football teams such as West Ham and Manchester City employ esports players? They send them around the world to compete in football video game competitions. It’s not easy being a professional gamer, though. They practise for ten or more hours a day, five or six days a week. They do exercises like typing something and trying to type it faster and faster. They also study videos of other players and plan ways to beat them.

As well as playing games, many people like watching them too. You can watch games on video sites like Twitch and YouTube and in the UK there’s a TV channel showing esports 24 hours a day. They can be exciting to watch: just like other sports, there are close games, last-minute victories and amazing performances. Sometimes online viewers can interact with the game. For example, some games rename characters in the game with the names of online viewers!  

But are esports really sports? Are players athletes? Some say no. Esports players don’t need to run, jump, throw or do big physical actions. At the moment, the UK government classifies esports as kinds of games, not as sports.

But others say yes: esports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially handeye coordination, reflexes, accuracy and timing. If darts, snooker and shooting are classified as sports, then perhaps esports should be too. In fact, the governments of China and South Korea do classify esports as sports, and they will be an official medal sport in the Asian Games starting from 2022. Next step: the Olympics?

For many esports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that esports are growing in popularity and importance. If esports are not as important as sports at the moment, they definitely will be in the near future.

Discussion

What games do you play? Do you think esports are games or sports?

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Comments

Submitted by UtkuKublay35 on Tue, 06/07/2022 - 09:45

It is the dream of all young people, including me, to be an e-athlete. We try to improve ourselves and be better. I play CSGO , GTA 5 and War thunder.

Submitted by pieniazeko on Mon, 03/28/2022 - 19:16

I play hockey, football, and tennis. I play computer games or tournaments with my friends for fun so I can easily disagree with qualifying esports as a sport. For "real" sports you have to work hard and exercise to achieve something. Normal sports are also good for our body and health - playing computer games you usually sit.

Submitted by Didik on Thu, 06/10/2021 - 15:00

I play Braw Stars, Clash of Clans, Minecraft and I like watching nice stuff on YT. I think eSports are not sports.

Submitted by Arivelde on Mon, 05/10/2021 - 15:35

I play a game called Clash of Clans, and in some places it is a esports game. When you play it professionally, there are events that you must attend too, competing matches, with money and all. Although I don't think that esports can be considered as a sport.
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Submitted by Cfvdv on Thu, 04/15/2021 - 00:14

I play Minecraft, which is a game of building houses and villages, much like architecture. I also play Clash of Clans, which is a strategic game, like chess, but you need to calculate the moviments of the troops. I think esports are just games, because for sports you need to do exercises. And I think esports are ''competition games'', and not a sport.

Submitted by peachygirl on Thu, 04/30/2020 - 10:59

Hey everybody. I like computer games, but I do not think that is sport. I think that sport are running, jumping and something like that. I play in CS GO, Sims and Star Stable Online.
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Submitted by Andrii on Fri, 02/14/2020 - 19:05

I mostly play the shooter called "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. By the way, there are competitions in this game. I think esport IS a kind of sport because for example in "CS: GO" you train your reaction and imagination of where the opponent is.
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Submitted by empty on Tue, 06/18/2019 - 03:43

I play ( choices ) , ( zombie tsunami ) and etc .
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Submitted by Armengati on Sat, 02/23/2019 - 20:17

I play CSGO and I think eSports is a professional activity but not a physical sport
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Submitted by Youjiro on Fri, 02/15/2019 - 00:52

Last year I played some game like "Dragon Quest","battle filed","The show".It was excited for me and I had have been play 3 hour per day.I spend a lot of time playing game.I thought It was waste of time when I play game. but I couldn't quit game.I think playing e-sports is just hobby as well as game.We can easily play e-sports in my house ,It don't need large area and It is not affect bad weather.advantage of playing e-sports is don't pay attention injury in play time. another advantage of e-sports is We can play with women and men every time at same place or online .to sum up, In my opinion e-sports is not sports .Sports is need a lot of training.e-sport just game.sport was affect physical environment and weather condition.It makes difference and make much fun.
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