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The global electronic sports (eSports) market is predicted to reach 1.79 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. For comparison, the 2018 League of Legends World Championship match attracted 99.6 million unique viewers (Gough, 2019) while Super Bowl LIII drew in 98.2 million. Additionally, in 2022, eSports will become an Olympic game (Graham, 2017). Not only are there millions of viewers and eSports players globally, there are hundreds of colleges and universities who are members of the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE, 2020) in the United States. In fact, eSports are one of the fastest growing sports on college campuses as students are both spectators as well as players. According to McGrath (2019), eSports has been a burgeoning “phenomenon over the past decade with about 1600 eSports clubs across 600 universities, and experts predict these numbers will continue to rise…[and expand] into elementary, middle, and high schools across the nation” (p. 201).
It is essential for universities to remain competitive in the higher education market space. As the popularity of eSports continues to grow, having a thriving eSports presence will also be advantageous for student learning. At the October 2019 Educause conference, McKenzie (2019) remarked that “this is not just about gaming...engaging students in esports can help them build critical thinking skills, encourage teamwork and innovation, and promote self-direct learning” (para. 3). Also, educators are reviewing eSports as a way of recruiting students through competitive video gaming and has become a high priority for higher education administrators leveraging eSports in recruiting efforts (Zalaznick, 2019).
To this end, this article provides insights from college-aged students regarding their eSports habits. Specifically, the research team considered student demographics, types of games watched or played, the amount of time played, grade point averages, risks, and the personal and academic benefits to playing such games.
Background
Historically, before the 1960s, electronic games were primarily used for demonstration as computers were large and too expensive for the common household (Monnens & Goldberg, 2015). By the late seventies and eighties, arcade games utilizing an electronic board, included such popular games as Space Invaders (released in 1979), Pac-Man (in 1980) and Defender (in 1981). These arcade games helped create a culture that defined a generation “where kids and teenagers could hang out, and, with a reasonable amount of money, spend hours without their parents” (June, 2013, para. 18). And, one of the first-generation gaming consoles was Atari, which allowed individuals to play games like Pong (1975), a type of virtual “ping-pong” on their home television sets (June, 2013).
The combination of eSports and gaming competitions within higher education is not new. However, it was not until the early 1970’s that video game competitions started to grow. For example, the Space Invaders’ Championship, cited as the first “Intergalactic spacewar Olympics” (Brand, 1972, para. 1), was held in 1972 at Stanford University. Twenty-four players participated for the prize of a subscription to the Rolling Stones’ magazine. Brand declared that the computer engineers involved in creating the game were “magnificent men with their flying machines, scouting a leading edge of technology” (para. 49). Other companies followed suit. For example, Nintendo hosted the first World Championships, a large eSports tournament, played on a Nintendo Entertainment System using a special gaming cartridge (Cifaldi, 2015).
ESports progressed with the establishment of the internet as competitive gaming became increasingly accessible in households and across college campuses (Marsh, 2020). In fact, Bickman et al. (2021) noted that eSports “represents a growing market while a large number of people invest considerable time playing video games” (p. 1). And, the option of multiplayer video games played over the internet has boosted such competitive gaming (Scholz, 2019). Some of the more recent competitive eSports games include Overwatch and Call of Duty, first-person shooter (FPS) games (Farrell, 2021); League of Legends and Dota II, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games; Fortnite, a free-to-play battle royale game; sporting games such as Madden, FIFA, and Rocket League; card games like Hearthstone, and real-time strategy (RTS) games like Starcraft II (Petrullo, n.d.). Additionally, the ability to live-stream games across internet platforms such as YouTube and Twitch have heightened the popularity of eSports events (Popper, 2013) with companies now distributing millions in prize money and attracting large numbers of both players and spectators.