The eSports industry has seen incredible growth in the past few years, especially during the pandemic. eSports can provide a great place to start for those interested in exploring professional gaming opportunities.
However, explaining the industry and how it works can be a challenge for some parents.
Here, we’ll provide some guidance on how to explain eSports to other parents when you’re asking, “How do I explain eSports to others?”
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Helping Explain the Difference Between Online Gaming and eSports
Online gaming is common, and most parents understand that it exists. However, how it relates to eSports can sometimes be a bit confusing. eSports is organized competitive online gaming of multiplayer titles. But what exactly does that mean?
Gaming and eSports can frequently be confused because gaming is streamed on places like Twitch. It makes it look like everything that’s played live is eSports.
However, eSports is officially sanctioned, whereas streamed games can still be broadcast from game fans. eSports athletes are also typically part of a team and are getting paid winnings in eSports tournaments. They could even win up to $25 million.
Helping Explain eSports as a Collegiate Activity with Scholarships
Sometimes parents get asked, “So your kid goes to college and plays video games?” or “There’s actually a college scholarship for playing video games?”
While it may seem surprising to some, the answer is yes. In fact, eSports is one of the fastest-growing sports globally, and many colleges take part in the NACE, National Association of Collegiate Esports.
Varsity programs can grant scholarships to gamers who excel in eSports for various titles, including Rocket League, FIFA, Maden, Fortnite, Overwatch, and more.
Being a collegiate eSports athlete is about teamwork, devotion to mastering the skill, practice, and requires a significant time investment just like football, basketball, and baseball do.
Getting recruited for a college eSports team can be as big of a deal as getting recruited for a traditional sports team.
In fact, one of the largest tournaments is the Heroes of the Dorm competition. One of eSports’ well-known players, Nick “SteelReign” Shively, plays for Dream Team at Arizona State University and has remarked that competitive gaming is likely to see more and more kids using it to pay for college.
Helping Explain Esports as an Industry
The eSports industry is also more than the actual games and gameplay. Streaming services, hardware and software developers, and teams or leagues all need management. Supplementary services and staffing are required when you want events to run smoothly.
As a result, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of employees working in the eSports industry developing games, building equipment, hosting events, and maintaining the streaming services online.
Competitions and live streams have made the industry popular and lucrative.
In fact, as of March 2022, there were roughly 29.6 million monthly viewers in America alone, and it’s only expected to go up. Part of that popularity can be attributed to the social aspect of live streaming.
On platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming, fans can interact with each other and the gamers to create a community based on a shared interest.
Venture capitalists are even investing in eSports. In 2018, $4.5 billion was invested into the industry, a large increase over the previous year’s $490 million.
One of the most significant ways money is spent on eSports is advertising, like traditional sporting events. eSports teams have coaches, owners, franchises, endorsements, and cash prizes.
Once the pandemic calms a bit more, eSports teams will likely go back to pushing for live gameplay for regional events. These events will mimic the feel of traditional sports leagues.
Another amazing potential feat is surpassing the $1 billion mark in revenue for the first time. Newzoo thinks it will hit $1.8 billion by this year. eSports’ future will probably be driven by mobile gaming.
Mobile makes it even easier for beginners to enter the industry and allows even more fans to flood in. This year, mobile gaming is predicted to account for about 45% of the global market.
That popularity is currently branching into a handful of competitive spaces, with China showing a booming mobile eSports scene.
Explaining Your Child’s Role In eSports
So, how do you communicate your child’s role in the eSports industry? First, it might be helpful to think about what their goals are.
Does your child want to make a career playing games? Do they want to become a coach? Are they more into the marketing aspect of the industry? Or are they looking to create titles and learn game development?
When you can clearly understand what your child wants to accomplish, you’ll be able to explain your kid’s role in eSports much more effectively to others.
For example, if your child participates in tournaments and plays live, they’ll be streamers.
These individuals play the games competitively and broadcast themselves on platforms like Twitch.
Your child might also want to become a Referee for eSports tournaments. Like with traditional sports referees, these individuals help ensure all the tournament rules are being followed.
These positions can be great when someone is passionate about the game and industry but hasn’t mastered the skills to compete themselves.
These people have great management skills and can step in as admins and hosts of the games.
And like typical sports, these events and teams all rely on marketing for promotion and growing their audience.
A marketing career in eSports can allow your child to pursue a more traditional job path while still participating in the growing world of competitive gaming.
Social media experts, website designers, event managers, and even production crews are all needed for eSports tournaments and can provide lucrative career options.
I hope this blog has helped you to better define eSports. Add your thoughts or ideas about explaining eSports to others in the comments section.
