Sociology of E-sports: Media, Culture, and Disciplinary Perspectives

This essay provides a sociological analysis of e-sports, examining its intersection with media, culture, and various disciplinary perspectives. It explores the social practices within e-sports, the influence of media, and the evolution of the field. The essay discusses the relationship between e-sports and media, referencing articles that critique and analyze the industry. It also delves into the question of whether e-sports are played for fun or to satisfy life goals, drawing on research to examine the motivations of players. Furthermore, it explores e-sports from a disciplinary perspective, highlighting the concept of 'sportification' and how it defines e-sports through a polymorphic view on sport. The essay incorporates different articles and authors’ perspectives to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY
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E-sports
6/18/2019

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
E-sports.................................................................................................................................................2
E-sports from a sociological perspective...............................................................................................2
The social practices of e Sports.........................................................................................................2
Q1. Intersection of e-sports and media.................................................................................................3
Q2. Media source critique on the topic i.e. E sports:.............................................................................4
E-Sports: Playing just for fun or playing to satisfy life goals?...........................................................5
E-sports from a disciplinary perspective................................................................................................7
Embracing the Sportification of society: Defining e-sports through a polymorphic view on sport....7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................8
Anekal, M. (2018). The Challenge of Sports Games As e Sports | THE NEXT LEVEL 007. Retrieved
from: https://medium.com/@mannyanekal/esports-weekly-7-may-24-43177d5b3297 [Accessed
19/06/19]...............................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The assignment brings about the discussion on the topic, ‘E-sports’ in context to the
field of sociology. It is an annotated assessment of the given topic, mentioning the
perspectives of sociologists. In addition, the assignment will describe or analyse the different
perspectives of dimensions of the topic, i.e. E-sports from cultural, social, and structural
aspects and other social institutions. Under this, the major role or contribution of the aspects
such as school, family, government, health care organisations, media, will be demonstrated.
Besides, this the assignment in the later part will also describe the way e-sports is studied
from the perspective of different disciplines. Thus, the annotated discussion will include three
or four articles and review of the author’s perception on E-sports.
E-sports
The term e-sports refer to the competition through making use of video games, and
generally e-sports take the form of organised, multiplayer video game competition. The
game or e-sports are generally undertaken between the teams, individuals, or professional
players. The authors stated numerous games or e sport giants has been established such as
Starcraft, Counter-strike, Dota, and League of legends. A difference has been observed
between the professional gaming and conventional sports, and therefore the e-sports culture
in the society has been yet not fully grown or developed. E-sports represents a merge
between electronic sports, sports, business and media.
E-sports from a sociological perspective
The social practices of e Sports
Seo, Y. & Jung, S. U. (2016). Beyond solitary play in computer games: The social practices
of e Sports. Journal of Consumer Culture, 16(3), 635-655.
The authors in their research stated that in context of e-sports, it is explained in the
field of psychology, considering the individuals born in the 1960s onward. These people are
considered due to the reason they both experience the start and development of the gaming
culture and conventional sports. From the sociological perspective, the videogames are
considered a leisure activity at best, without giving any monetary value to the players. In the

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scenario of the tennis match, football game and other Olympic events, the social perspective
of the sports has been mainly considered physical accomplishments. Now, after certain years,
the importance and popularity of the video games has been certainly increased. The culture
or people now call the professional players as sportsmen, in their sports field.
Besides, this the view of sociologists has defined about the industrial age segregation,
where children enter the educational institutions, and parents work. This is one of the major
factor that demonstrated about the involvement of younger generation into the main culture,
harnessing their sports capability. The young people are constantly involved in watching e-
sports, perceiving it as a part of their cultural norm.
Q1. Intersection of e-sports and media.
Media and e sports have been interrelated and intersect with each other, to a large
extent. For an example, music and e sports has been found related, and it is similar to the
context of the social media and digital media. The business or collaboration of the music
industry to the e sports has been considered to be the biggest business ever. It is a two way
exchange, as one hand e sports league, and game developers are becoming fully-fledged
along with the sports brands. These are looking forwards to collaborate or work with the
music industry to become culturally strong, and gaining financial and cultural capital
(Redbull, 2018).
According to the gaming market research, it has been found that the firm ‘Newzoo’
has attained 40% of their revenues from the sponsorships, and 18% from the media rights and
others. In-gaming experience tends to be one major factor that determines the aspect that e-
sports can invest in the media or music effectively.
League of legends, consist of three songs i.e. Viranda Tantula, Creative Lead at Riot Games,
told me. This is found from the perspective of the music companies, also as now, many of
the music companies are interested or collaborating with the e sports organisations. For an
example, Spotify reported 83 million subscribers, has their integrations with the Xbox, Play
station 4 and other gaming consoles.
Therefore, like traditional sports, e sports have been also changed now, and the players or
organisations now develop symbiotic relationship with the media. As media plays the role of

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creating content, it benefits the e sports organisations, as it is used by the viewers or fans,
generating revenue for both the parties (Forbes, 2018).
Q2. Media source critique on the topic i.e. E sports:
From one of the article, as stated in the Forbes, mentioned the statement of critique
for the companies involved in e sports. The statement mentioned in the news was:
“Global e sports popularly give the gamer companies reason to be bullish”
The article news stated that from the last few years, e sports have joined the big
leagues. Moreover, keeping China aside, the e-sports industry has larger audience than the
Major league baseball team. As estimated by the Goldman, the monthly size of the
competitive E sports gamers has been 167 million, i.e. it was the number at the end of year
2018.
In China , the active gamers determine their capacity, stating the ways to get to the
next level in a shooting game. For the live streaming games in the U.S. , Amazon’s seven
year old twich T.V. is considered to be no.1.
Besides, this news article has stated that the consumption of the content in respect to e
sports is going to increase with the passage of time, and advent of new technologies. It not
only includes the streaming of the games themselves, but also the popularity of gamers and
influencers, has been enhanced largely. E-sports constitute for 9% of the revenue of the
gaming companies, along with the 14% media rights. Other sources of revenues from
corporate sponsors of the events and online advertising. Thus, it has been found that e sports
generate growth of sports, and enlarge revenues and profitability of the gaming companies.
China considered as a ‘top-secret location’ is now understood to be the factor determining
the future of gaming industry, wherein gamers are playing computer games, video games in
large. This has demonstrated about the growing or rising importance and popularity k of the
computer gaming or e sports, across many countries (Forbes, 2018).

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E-Sports: Playing just for fun or playing to satisfy life goals?
Martončik, M. (2015). E-Sports: Playing just for fun or playing to satisfy life goals?
Computers in Human Behaviour, 48, 208-211.
According to the researchers, the concept of e-sport refers to the area of sport
activities through which people develop and train their mind, mental or physical activities to
utilise the information technologies. The authors mentioned that e-sports acts as the factor
promoting the social interaction amongst individuals. Here, players communicate with each
other during the game, and constitute game teams. This does not only serve the aim of
entertaining the player, rather it aims to cater to the personal needs of the player. E sports are
considered to serve the basic human needs, and considered to be motivating the individuals
or players to attain their life goals. Here, the researchers describe the life goals in the context
of particular playing styles in sports. The study here demonstrated the rationale, like a
person wants to exert control or direct people, it will be highlighted through their playing
styles in sports. Therefore, authors describes the meaning of e-sports clearly, that it just not
means computer game playing, rather it is a space. The space to interact with the players
during the game, and enhancing the level of their motivation to attain their life goals. The
other studies has also demonstrated the aspects such as social inclusion, obesity and other
consequences on an individual’s life.
Historic discipline includes the analysis of the history of the e-sports, or the perception of the
sociologists in the earlier years. The early days of competitive computer games have been
different and the role of humans was considered greater. An example of the game, i.e.
‘Tennis for two’ has allowed the people to play against each other. Moreover, the historic
discipline of e sports gave much importance to the conventional sports, and there were less
e sports tournament.

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Q4.
The aspect of e sports and the discussion helps challenging the idea, i.e. sports are unworthy
of academic enquiry. Now, the discussion will explain the idea or concept of e-sports, and
the way it challenges the perception or idea of sports in the earlier times. E-sports has now
become popular, and reached almost 370 million viewers worldwide, with the increase in the
speed of internet (Anekal, 2018). It has been found through the research that according to
the level of fans, dedication, and hard work, and the passion towards the e sports or computer
gaming, it is considered equal to the real-time sports. Moreover, e sports have been
considered a better place most suited for the advertisements of some commodities. Now, it
gives challenge to the idea of sports, as it has become a part of international events. An
example, e sport has now acquired or understood as a commercial opportunity for ‘League of
legends’. Thus, it gives challenge i.e. sports are considered as sports, and competitive gamers
are now known as ‘athletes’ in the sports industry (Müller & Liu, 2018).
This is one of the misconceptions, because the sports industry has now become an important
course, and is one major business industry. Besides, this the idea or topic of e sports intersect
with the other topics, taught in the semester, such as media, music, and other course material.
The professors and tutors emphasized the learning of e-sports and their implementation in the
use of communication technology.

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E-sports from a disciplinary perspective
Embracing the Sportification of society: Defining e-sports through a
polymorphic view on sport
Heere, B. (2018). Embracing the sportification of society: defining e-sports through a
polymorphic view on sport. Sport Management Review, 21(1), 21-24.
The concept of e-sports has been demonstrated from a number of disciplines, considering
the impact on the performance through the perspective of team dynamics. The authors
through their study have identified the elements of resources, cohesion, and function of
communication and importance of social support to lead high performance of a team.
However, the research on the e-sports or sport science discipline is still limited. Now, the
discipline or study of e sports has widened with the advent of technologies, along with the
use of internet (Fadde & Zaichkowsky, 2018).
The sport industry across different countries is now focused on the discipline or study
of sport management and other associated programmes. According to the opinion of various
sports person along with the sociologist, e sports are one of the rapidly growing media around
the world. In this discipline, the scholars and other sociologists stated that it requires
something crucial to be classified as sport. The number of disciplines that are associated with
the e sports, include leisure management, recreation management, hospitality and tourism
management.
Under the study of sports through a number of disciplines, a term ‘sportification’ has
been identified relevant in the industry. Sportification means to organise, view and control a
non-sport activity, in the manner to represent it like a sport, allowing a fair and pleasure
environment for the individuals for playing. Thus, it has been analysed that sport is a
polymorphic domain, and embracing the aspect of sportification, as major part of domain
facilitates in effective tie or relation to other disciplines. Therefore, the sports or games are
viewed from a number of different disciplines to provide knowledge to the players or other
individuals and serving different purposes.

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Conclusion
To conclude the above discussion it has been analysed that e sports has gained a wide
significance in the sport industry. The topic is considered to be important in the field of
sociology, as it covers the analysis of the culture, structural and views of different people
towards the computer gaming. The understanding of the theme of e sports has describes
about the western culture. This also represented a sport of skill and the development in
different stages of life. The annotated discussion has mentioned the concept of e sports and
the analysis through sociological and disciplinary perspective with the use of scholarly based
literature.
References
Anekal, M. (2018). The Challenge of Sports Games As e Sports | THE NEXT LEVEL 007.
Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@mannyanekal/esports-weekly-7-may-24-
43177d5b3297 [Accessed 19/06/19].
Fadde, P. J. & Zaichkowsky, L. (2018). Training perceptual-cognitive skills in sports using
technology. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 9(4), 239-248.
Forbes. (2018). Why the intersection of e sports and music is bigger business than ever.
Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cheriehu/2018/10/25/why-the-intersection-of-
music-and-esports-is-bigger-business-than-ever/#35db9d89757d
Forbes. (2018). Global E sports Popularity Give Gamer Companies Reason To Be Bullish.
Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/05/29/global-esports-
popularity-give-gamer-companies-reason-to-be-bullish/#13ae92f1bde6

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Müller, E. & Liu, Y. (2018). Performance and safety in elite skiing sports: A big challenge on
specificity, individuality, and complexity. Journal of sport and health science, 7(4),
379.
Redbull. (2018). E sports and Media: How should the two interact. Retrieved from:
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/post-game-player-interviews-esports