Art Education in eSports

Compared to marketers in traditional sports settings, eSports marketing professionals are expected to be better equipped with visual aesthetic sensitivity and creativity. Therefore, aesthetics and creativity should be included in eSports marketing curricula. When developing courses and instructing students, contemporary theories and practices for enhancing visual aesthetic sensitivity and creativity should be taken into consideration along with the different curricular and professional needs of individual students who are interested at working in the eSports industry. This chapter explains and demonstrates how to best integrate some pedagogical techniques in art education into teaching practices in eSports marketing courses.

What Competitive Chess Can Learn From eSports

The purpose of this chapter is to explore what competitive chess can learn from eSport. The chapter begins with an examination of eSport based on a highly informative article on eSport in Sports Illustrated. Following that examination are a review of relevant scholarly articles on eSport and its relationship to chess and a brief introduction to standard chess. After that examination is a review of the PRO Chess League, which is an example of how eSport can influence competitive chess. The chapter ends with a commentary on future prospects of what competitive chess can learn from eSport. The chapter presents an optimistic perspective of competitive chess influenced by eSport, with certain cautions. However, the future of competitive chess influenced by eSport will depend on the capacity to obtain sponsors and on the capacity of fans to comprehend and appreciate the fast-paced moves in the games.

Pwning Noobs for Fun and Profit

The last decade has seen tremendous growth in the use of social media, and online gaming has embraced streaming, allowing for more and more spectators each year. Streaming can generate viewership and ultimately revenue for more accomplished gamers. Individuals can stream live and record their exploits across a variety of gaming experiences, and this provides an opportunity for eSports athletes to turn their hobby into a growing source of income. In addition, elite players can find national or global sponsorships and contribute to charities on the basis of gaming tournaments and worldwide events. The landscape for creating entrepreneurship opportunities is developing over time. This chapter discusses the practical considerations for building a business around game streaming, sponsorship, and competition. The chapter should be beneficial for both beginning and accomplished gamers.

Game Changers

This chapter examines the literature and business opportunities surrounding K-12 eSports, competitive events where athletes play video games against each other. Topics include an overview of existing scholastic eSports offerings and organizations that facilitate competition, the effects on student athletes' physical and mental health, the growth of eSports venues, and the identification of research gaps and business opportunities related to increasing eSports access for younger student athletes and their communities.

eSports as a News Specialty Gold Rush

The news coverage of eSports presents an attractive avenue to a new audience for business, sports, and gaming journalists. The audience's interest is understandable given the financial vibrancy of the hobby. This chapter reflects an analysis of news articles (n=406) published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, and Business Insider from January 2018 to December 2020. Researchers analyzed these articles for specific marketing and public relations messages and identified how various entertainment businesses were reflected in the news coverage of eSports. This chapter argues that eSports represents a topic typically covered through lifestyle journalism that has instead been dominated by traditional business reporting. Both gaming and sports are predominantly lifestyle specialties—hence, the dominant role of business journalism in reporting the specialty means that the emphasis on the niche has primarily been on awards and financing.

Hotel Amenities and Hidden Costs Associated With eSports Tourism in the Ukraine

eSports as viewed through sports tourism is a viable business within the hospitality industry. Understandings around the creation of hotels that cater to eSports gamers and eSports competitions offer the opportunity towards enhanced venue operation and attractiveness at the global scale. This discussion is focused upon the Ukraine, specifically focusing upon the Black Sea and Azov Sea costs, in particular the Kherson region. A discussion around the understanding of eSports as viewed through the hospitality industry interest, as well as the potentials towards embracing hotels that cater to eSports gamers and events within the Kherson region, is offered through the view of knowledgeable hospitality professionals. Included in the discussion are the eSports-focused desirable amenities and potentials associated with hidden costs within eSports hotels.

ESportsU Digital Warrior Camp

The authors share two case studies that provide preliminary data for a National Science Foundation Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers award at the intersection of interactive media for STEM career development. The chapter explores the potential of culturally relevant Esports gaming activities to enhance students' motivation, attitudes, and awareness towards careers in the digital media aspects of traditional video gaming and Esports. Towards designing authentic learning environments, the findings from the two case studies revealed that play ecosystems help identify social, cultural, and historical attributes of gaming communities; students need opportunities to take on leadership roles in the design and development of the environment by trusting that they are capable of technological innovations; and that social and cultural nuance of tools, rules, and language define gaming communities.

Burgeoning Growth of eCycling as an eSport

The intriguing maneuvering and distinguished styles of traditional cycling combined with the growth of eCycling as an eSport share an intriguing array of similarities as well as new ways of looking at cycling through competitive sports environments. It is an important discussion, associated with distinguishing the pathways and opportunities available to cycling stakeholders as they experience and engage in their sport, including the virtual participation in eCycling and inclusive competitive options, ever increase and evolve. Virtual cycling is a subset of the eSports genre and offers cycling stakeholders an alternative and a complement to traditional competitive cycling. In 2019, the international federation responsible for cycling globally, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), who acts as the steward and regulator for global cycling activities recognized eCycling as a legitimate discipline and authorized a recognized virtual eSports World Championships. The origins of video game eSports, marketing tactics, and health outcomes are also discussed in the chapter.

Incorporating Key Human “High-Touch” Needs Into eSports

This chapter introduces a conceptual framework titled Effective Game Zone (EGZ) that consists of the following three broad human need categories: organizational needs, proficiency needs, and personal needs that individuals and teams possess as they become involved in eSports activities. Also, the 15 high-touch needs which comprise the three broad categories are comprehensively identified and specifically analyzed in terms of the significance of addressing them in developing and implementing eSports products, events, and activities in the high-tech industry of eSports. This information and related recommendations, based on positive socio-psychological research, is valuable to the eSports industry—entrepreneurs, product developers, marketers, event organizers, and gaming officials—and those involved in the growth of existing and creation of new collegiate and high school eSport activities, as they continue to meet the interests and needs of their consumers and expand their market.

The Role of Esports Events in the Tourism Industry

In the field of tourism, many destinations are familiar with receiving visitors motivated to travel for traditional sport events. But working in esports is another world entirely, since it combines the competitiveness of sport with entertainment. It is from these particularities that tourism destinations that want to host this type of event must learn the basics of how to navigate the esports ecosystem and where to start when their city seeks to organize esports events. Although esports have roots based on digital consumption, their transfer from virtual space to physical space occurs more frequently through the celebration of increasingly crowded competitive events with greater international repercussion. This chapter aims to analyze the benefits of hosting esports events for the tourism ecosystem of a destination, taking Argentina and Spain as study cases. In particular, the chapter focuses on how destinations looking to diversify their offer can interact with those events, and the opportunities and challenges that they bring.