(courtesy of Gonzaga University)
Walk around campus at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington for a day and you will hear students chatting about Elite 8 runs past, NCAA basketball stars present, and NBA superstars of the future. You'll see them sprinting to a tweet-revealed location to sign up for a spot at our famous Tent City.
You may even see a student or two posted up by the statue of Bing Crosby, one of Gonzaga's most famous attendees.
You'll see runners, skateboarders, and squirrels abound.
And once in awhile, you'll see a Team SoloMid letterman jacket.
I learned about League of Legends in 2012 through my freshman roommate Matthew and his brother Michael. Both Challengers at their peak, the two taught me the basics of the game, and introduced me to professional League of Legends, a phenomenon that I could only describe at that point in my life as laughable. While my friends all huddled around the TV in our dorm room watching Moscow 5 wallop some other team, I sat at my desk making the occasional trollish remark about the grandiosity of this video game broadcast.
Out of the corner of my eye, though, I was watching.
Today, I sit here writing this article with a Cloud 9 wristband cushioning my hands from the desk. I serve as the Vice President of Gonzaga's Super Smash Bros. Club (pictured above), and manage the League of Legends section of this website.
I couldn't tell you what it was specifically about eSports that gripped me. The excitement of the streams, the drive to learn the craft, the thrill of competition, it's all there. It's also an industry rife with business opportunity and systemic cultural practices that beg to be studied, just as such instances in traditonal sports and sporting media have been studied for decades. This year, I decided to do just that.
My senior thesis, Changing the Game: The Role of Culture and Communication in ESports, explores some of the cultural, business, and public trends regarding eSports.
Among the methods used to construct this paper was the circulation of a survey around campus here at Gonzaga that asked participants for their perspectives on the industry. Such perceptions were mixed. When asked if eSports could be considered a "sport," and if pro gamers could be considered "athletes," 12.1% believed that both are true, 24.2% believed that neither were true, 57.6% fell somewhere in the middle, and the remaining 6.1% were unsure.
Most compelling, though, was the idea that 78.8% of respondents, regardless of their attitudes towards pro gaming itself, believed that the industry was primed to be "part of our entertainment's future." While many did not identify themselves as gamers (only 33.3% of respondents claimed to be active gamers), and many were not fond of the product, they did realize the potential. Though 66.7% of respondents did not identify as active gamers, 81.8% of respondents had heard of or were familiar with eSports.
(courtesy of sahsnews.com)
Perhaps such an awareness is a good sign. The people creating, participating in, and consuming this industry fall heavily into the college-aged demographic. For there to be a steady awareness and a strong level of confidence about eSports' future is encouraging for eSports enthusiasts who hope to see the industry grow.
There is massive room for study, adaptation, and innovation in eSports. Pro gamers often fall into very youthful age groups. These are groups that are often not educated in responsible contract negotiation, finances, law, and legal literature. So many industries have the ability and opportunity to adapt to the eSports phenomenon. ESports-centric lawyers, eSports economists, eSports agents, and many other possibilities are opened up by the explosive growth of this industry.
Find your niche. Do it soon. Be open, volunteer somewhere in the industry, and try something new. The opportunities are there, ripe for the taking.
You won't regret it. I certainly don't.
