{"id":1391,"date":"2011-11-16T11:57:36","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T19:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2011-11-16T11:57:36","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T19:57:36","slug":"north-america-accepts-esports-with-open-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2011\/11\/16\/north-america-accepts-esports-with-open-arms\/","title":{"rendered":"North America accepts eSports with open arms"},"content":{"rendered":"

While eSports may not be taking the world by storm just yet, the phenomenon is taking root in North America. With the advent of online streaming and the release of new gaming titles, the popularity of eSports is growing at an incredible rate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Riley Blott, UVic student and ace Starcraft 2 player.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The term \u201ceSports\u201d refers to the competitive play of video games and the broadcasting of these competitions. The idea of playing video games professionally originated in South Korea, where the best pro gamers are seen as celebrities, and tournaments are broadcast on television.<\/p>\n

One of the main reasons why eSports is finding a home in North America is the release of the game Starcraft 2,<\/em> which has become the most popular eSport in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarcraft<\/em> is a good example of a catalyst for this whole movement,\u201d says Riley Blott, a University of Victoria student who has been playing the game for 14 years and is currently in the top two percent of North American players.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause eSports are so competitive, and because the social media is getting more of these videos out there, people are starting to realize that not only is it fun to play, but it\u2019s actually really fun to watch,\u201d says Blott.<\/p>\n

Like lots of other sports, professionals make big bucks at the top tournaments, but the underlying theme of eSports is entertaining the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201ceSports are just like any other sport,\u201d says UVic student Geoff Sinclair. \u201cIt\u2019s about getting together with your friends, watching your heroes duke it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the heart of the eSports movement is the community, who are constantly recruiting friends and spontaneously organizing eSports events at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to the audience to get the word out and to grow the community,\u201d says Sinclair.<\/p>\n

One example of this is BarCraft, where Starcraft 2<\/em> tournaments are streamed live to televisions in bars. Catering to eSports\u2019 young male demographic, the BarCraft events are a mixture of drinking, socializing, and watching video-game tournaments.<\/p>\n

Streaming has had a huge impact on the movement as well, bringing financial feasibility to what was once only a hobby.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people, if they can produce enough good content,\u201d explains Blott, \u201cand they can get a large enough fan base, they can make a profit off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While eSports may not be taking the world by storm just yet, the phenomenon is taking root in North America. With the advent of online streaming and the release of new gaming titles, the popularity of eSports is growing at an incredible rate. The term \u201ceSports\u201d refers to the competitive play of video games and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-november-16-2011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1391"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1394,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions\/1394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}