You may have heard of eSports. Sweaty teens pounding away at keyboards playing computer games for next week’s lunch money. Or at least, that’s what eSports used to be in its infancy.
The literal definition of eSports is simply “a multiplayer video game played competitively for spectators.” The first organized eSports event was in 1972 at Stanford University. Students competed playing the Star Wars-inspired game “Spacewar.”
It was eight years later that Atari organized over 10,000 players to participate in their Space Invaders Championship. The eSports scene has only grown since then. Companies in charge of titles like “Overwatch” and “League of Legends” started up franchised leagues this year with players earning salaries rumored to be up to one million dollars.