Senior Honors Project Spring 2022

Esports: the future of competition,

The positive effects of gaming through Esports

Demetrius Billey

Navajo

The importance of community over one's self through Jeannette Armstrong's "Sharing One Skin".

In this reading the author explains the importance of community in her tribe and culture while sharing some of her tribe's beliefs and practices. The author first explains her background as an Okanagan and introduces her family while explaining some Okanagan words in English and what they mean. The main idea of this reading is that community is very important to her and her tribe hence the name “Sharing One Skin”. The author shares her views of people who lack a sense of unity or selflessness as “not human”. This is evident when she expresses her opinion by saying “How can a person be human while continuously living in isolation, fear, and adversity?”. According to the author the Okanagan way is that community always comes first and yourself last when making decisions in your life.

I personally thought the reading was interesting and at times seemed to be unlikely since I don’t have a strong sense of community. The Okanagan ways seems very closely knit and, at times, ideal but this may not work for everybody since most people in this society are not necessarily selfish but not always considering everybody else in a community. Although we may be a part of many communities, directly or indirectly, it doesn’t mean we have a strong sense of community within those communities. To me being isolated or indifferent is not a bad thing, as long as you’re not hurting someone, but some people especially in today’s society don’t have a strong sense of community or selflessness. The Okanagan ways are certainly interesting and could work in theory but it is not for everyone, another thing I thought of is this is sorta like communism but since the communities are small it is easier for this kind of government to work.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Community ‘Sharing One Skin’” Paradigm Wars Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Globalization. Sierra Club Books. 2006. Print. Pp. 35-39.

Facts on how Native Americans identify themselves with Parry G. Horse's "Native American Identity"

In this reading the main focus is how Native Americans see themselves in today’s society compared to the past. “No culture or language remains static” this quote shows that as time goes on things change and native americans are no exception to this since we have adapted to this new American culture among other things like education and government. Since we live in a mostly white dominated society we are prone to being oppressed and an overall minority like many other races in this country. The thing that makes us different from other minorities is that we govern ourselves and can have authority on the federal level. Because of this we are a part of two governments and thus are “dual citizens”.

I thought this reading was very interesting and informative since the information provided has to do with things I am currently learning in my other classes. This reading seemed very unbiased and just told facts while citing sources to find a conclusion to Native American identities. While reading this article I have learned many things about Native American governments and what kind of power they have. The article also talked about how race has affected the identity of Native Americans since we live in a mostly white dominated society. Overall this article was very informative and seemed unbiased while telling facts and explaining how it relates to Native American identities.

Horse, Perry G. “Native American Identity” New Directions For Student Services. WIley Periodicals. Inc. 2005. Print. Pp. 61-67.

The History of eSports

In the article “Virtual(ly) Athletes: Where eSports Fit Within the Definition of ‘Sport’.” by Seth E, Jenny, the authors talk of the history of eSports and whether it should be considered a sport using various definitions and philosophies. The idea of “eSports” or more specifically competitive gaming dates back to 1999 and the term “eSports” has been born with the popularity of major gaming tournaments. This popularity has caused eSports to find its way in the collegiate athletics scene here in the United States with many colleges offering scholarships for eSport athletes. The majority of this article tries to justify whether or not eSports should be considered a sport. The article tackles this question using topics of Play, Organization, Competition, Skill, and Physicality. By the end of this article it is concluded that eSports has all the characteristics of sports except the main part of sports, physical activity. Therefore it cannot really be considered a sport.

Jenny, Seth E, et al. “Virtual(ly) Athletes: Where eSports Fit Within the Definition of ‘Sport’.” Quest -Illinois- National Association for Physical Education in Higher Education. National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE). 2016. Web. October, 5, 2021

In an article titled “Esports Betting and Skin Gambling: A Brief History” by Nancy Greer the authors talk mostly about eSports and gambling with a brief history of eSports along with many statistics done by various studies. The rise of eSports, as a market, can be found in 2011 with the release of Twitch. From there the eSports market has been growing at an exponential rate with many other sites offering seemingless streaming and video watching for viewers. As a result of this huge rise in popularity of eSports, gambling among the gaming community has seen a spike in popularity as well. Gambling within gaming communities comes in many forms such as in-game “loot boxes”, eSports betting, and in-game cosmetic trading based on chance. This gambling is a problem especially within the youth that can easily access websites that promote gambling in competitive games. During the time of this article there was no evidence of the effects but it is very apparent that young gamers are being exposed to gambling in the form of cosmetics and real money in eSports or in games in general.

Greer, Nancy, et al. “Esports Betting and Skin Gambling: A Brief History.” Journal of Gambling Issues. PKP Publishing Service Network. 2019. Web. October, 5, 2021.

In the video “History of Esports” by Ray Pastor, Pastor talks of the overall history of eSports using a timeline that dates back to the 1970s to the present day. Pastor first talks about the first ever gaming competition to be played in 1972 over the game Spacewar. It was played at Stanford University and was the starting point of competitive gaming. From there we get into the 1980’s which saw the booming of arcade games, like Pacman, and we really see gaming competitions held locally within communities. This is where we start to see video games get attention through, at the time, huge media outlets like local television and magazines. In the late 1980’s and 1990’s we started to see home consoles and the rise of fighting games. It was also during this time Nintendo held their World Championship; but it didn’t really get much attention. In the 2000's the internet was getting faster and more of a necessity. With this, and the release of consoles like the XBox and Playstation, video games have evolved to be played online in real time with other people. But still video games were not getting enough attention as it would nowadays. The thing that really made video games become mainstream was the introduction of Twitch in 2011. This platform, along with others like Youtube, caused a surge in popularity within the gaming community along with eSports. From there we see the impacts today as gaming has become a staple within our daily lives.

Pastor, Ray. “History of Esports.” Youtube. 2020. Web. October, 6, 2021.

eSports nowadays

In the article “Learning through Esports in Innovation Practice on Electrical Technology” by Minoru Komatsu et al, the authors talk about incorporating esports in education. In the beginning of the article it talks about ways esports can be incorporated into a high school or college curriculum and the initial goals of the course along with statistics of the growth and expected growth of the global esports market. The initial goal of the program was for students to “The basic ability of working adults”(Komatsu 2021). The way the course is set up is that students will practice, set up, manage, and run a tournament to play against other schools. There is an actual course like that set up as an experiment at Anan College where the students engaged in the activities that were listed then asked to fill out a survey of their experiences and what they learnt. The students were expected to run and broadcast an esport event many times throughout the year. They also learn stuff like game literacy, game industry, planning, management, esports business and the use of esports in fields (such as medical and welfare).

Komatsu, Minoru and Matsumoto, Takashi and Prowant, Christopher. “Learning through Esports in Innovation Practice on Electrical Technology.” 25th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems. Elsevier B.V.. 2021. Web. November 1, 2021.

The newspaper article titled “NMAA expanding esport games” by Will Webber, is about the growth of esports in New Mexico during the pandemic. Because of the pandemic, many sport events were canceled and practices put on hold but esports still remains prevalent. The article mentions that the NMAA has partnered with PlayVS and National Federation of State High School Associations as a way to push esports. The esports scene has been growing rapidly here in NM since the early stages of the program that was started 3 years ago with the release of more games to play for the season. At the time of this article the esport season is set to begin in February 2021 with Class 1A-4A along with 5A divisions in which schools will be divided into.

Webber, Will. “NMAA expanding esport games.” The Santa Fe New Mexican. 2021. Web. November 11, 2021.

In the interview titled “INTERVIEW: High School ESports League President/COO Jason Kirby” Jason Kirby talks about the plans, growth and goals of the High School Esports League program.The High School Esports League program was founded in 2012 with the goal of giving students a way to participate in extracurricular activities that they will enjoy. A program in which students of all types can join and participate in. Esports has been growing to the point where it has the same impacts and attention as traditional sports. Some of the most popular games in the program include mostly First Person Shooters (like Overwatch, Rainbow 6 Siege, Fortnite etc…) and other games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Rocket League are very popular as well. The esports program isn’t all about playing games but can help with learning management and computer skills that can lead to career opportunities. Many schools are investing in esports facilities to have better equipment and have enough for all students. The High School Esports League hosts national competitions for various games 4 times a year for prizes in scholarships or better equipment for the school.

Unknown. “INTERVIEW: High School ESports League President/COO Jason Kirby” Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. 2020. Web. November 11, 2021.

Commercialization and impacts of eSports around the world

The article “Deciphering the World of eSports” by Tobias M. Scholz, talks about the Esports industry and how it has changed the media industry. In the early days of esports, the industry was not good at showing its potential which turned off any stakeholders or sponsors to invest in it. But now Esports is a huge and complex industry that is always evolving. In terms of primary stakeholders it starts with game developers, professional teams and players, and tournament organizers. Secondary stakeholders are sponsors, media, providers also have a role to play in the overall ecosystem of esports. The esports industry is very different from other media industries in ways that it is very local and global at the same time, also that it requires businesses to work together so everyone can profit.

Scholz, Tobias M. “Deciphering the World of eSports”. International Journal on Media Management. Routledge. 2020. Web. Accessed on February 14, 2022.

The article titled “eSports Venues: A New Sport Business Opportunity.” by Seth E. Jenny et al., The authors talk about eSport events that take place in stadiums and how venues adapt to eSports tournaments using open systems theory. In the last decade eSports has grown from just local tournaments to global tournaments where venues host about 20,000 to 100,000 people who want to watch their favorite players perform in real life. In retrospect it doesn’t seem as special as watching traditional sports but it is a huge deal for many gamers and people who want to attend these events. There was a survey done on these people who attend these events or watch them online that found that there is a significant increase in people who watch a particular game but don’t play it like traditional sports where the people who watch it don’t play it. Hosting eSports tournaments are different from traditional in ways of technology and place. Major tournaments are held usually in facilities that are meant for basketball with huge screens for the audience to watch the game in real time. Many businesses are seeing eSports as a huge investment opportunity as they invest in stadiums, tournaments, and even teams. Venues are also starting to see this trend and are engaging in open system theory by making stadiums that are made solely for eSports events that include high speed internet through fiber optic and copper infrastructure to increase bandwidth.

Jenny, Seth E. et al “eSports Venues: A New Sport Business Opportunity.” Journal of Applied Sport Management. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 2018. Web. Accessed on February, 14, 2022.

In a video titled “Esports is growing into a $1 billion industry.” by NBC. News reporter Uptin Saiidi, who works for CNBC Sports, goes to Hong Kong and attends a major international eSports tournament as a spectator. Saiidi interviews players and people who are attending the event. He also gets behind the scenes look at the players and commentators. The tournament he is attending is an annual international college tournament with teams from all around the world. The place the tournament is taking place is an eSports arena in Hong Kong that is primarily used to host tournaments and provide a place for the public to engage in gaming and get better. A statistic shows that Pacific Asia has the highest number of eSports enthusiasts compared to other countries topping at 57% and of the population of eSports enthusiasts, North America is second with 16%. It is important to note that at the time of this video in 2019, China started an eSports curriculum for college that you can major in and nowadays I think more countries are starting to do the same.

Saiidi, Uptin. “Esports is growing into a $1 billion industry.” CNBC Sports. CNBC International. 2019. Web. Accessed on February 17, 2022.