by Mitch Powers

Gaming? Gaming isn’t a sport. Gaming is for nerds. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the era of eSports. Sure, they don’t bring in the same kind of viewership as the NFL or NBA, but their growing popularity is one to be noticed.  To put it into perspective, at a recent Pro Circuit event in Columbus, there were 16,000 fans in attendance and 22.5 million online viewers.

Major League Gamers (MLG) may not be as athletic as other activities, but the time they put in rivals any other pro athlete. According to a PC World interview with professional StarCraft player Greg Fields, the practice time is usually 10 to 12 hours a day. Practice includes playing matches against other teams in scrimmages to planning strategies as a team. If a professional gamer isn’t practicing, he is most likely doing things to promote the team, earn sponsors, or work a day job which doesn’t leave room for much of anything else. Online gaming is more than just a hobby for many. People who play games like Halo, League of Legends, Dota, and Call of Duty can make up to $20,000 for winning just one tournament. This doesn’t include profits from sponsorships and advertisements.

Nick Kress, a BHS junior and Gold-ranked League of Legends player, discussed the growth of professional gaming: “Major league gaming is growing very very quickly. In South Korea, the big games on TV aren’t football or baseball but games like StarCraft and League of Legends.” He also spoke on the appeal of gaming saying “gaming has always been competitive, but the advancements of technology have taken gaming from a local thing to a worldwide deal with companies and organizations that plan the events and get the people together.” So gaming and competitive gaming has been around forever, lurking in the shadows, but now that the facilities are there for the competitive stage, it lends to the famous Field of Dreams saying, “Build it, and they will come.”