With traditional sports being set aside the internet has taken priority in the peoples’ entertainment; with this comes a boost to sports entertainment’s “little” brother, esports. 

What’s an Esport?

For starters it’s “what’s esports,” but that’s not the point. Esports are video games played between rival parties to a professional level typically with an audience of people watching in real life, but in this case, with Covid-19 that’s not quite possible so we’ll have to settle with watching from our bedrooms. The games played are games that casual gamers tend to play: Rocket League, Fortnite, Street Fighters, Super Smash Brothers, Overwatch, and other similar games. 

Why should schools have esports teams?

“It really just helps with social interaction, you can find people that play the same game, find people that have the same interest, same passion,” Cole Collins, a Centralia College sophomore said. Esports can serve others as a second option if they aren’t necessarily interested in the common work paths or in normal physical sports. No one should feel trapped in a world created by others; everyone should have freedom with what they wish to pursue in life. 

“Any program at a college will have the goal of getting more students passing classes and esports target a demographic that often does not pursue degrees and/or struggles to finish their degree,” Jacob Beach, Centralia College esports coach said. Esports can serve as motivation for students to work harder at school to represent their school’s esports team, no grade cuts here, or it can serve as a way out. There’s no need to do boring work, there’s always something else.

How has Covid-19 impacted the world of esports?

From a shallow point of view, one would say it’s helped the industry because it’s provided a fair amount of new viewers since a good deal of people are looking for stuff to do, but that couldn’t be more wrong. Well… it could be, considering esports have been given the opportunity to appear on live television but it doesn’t make up for all the recession the industry has had. Just like the rest of the global economy, esports has suffered due to the consequences of Covid-19 policies.

 Events have been canceled, marketing difficulty with partnerships and sponsors have begun to increase, marketing difficulty with competitors has begun to increase, investments have been decreased due to brands and sponsors having to think twice about where they place their money, esports organizations have been forced to drop their players. Was that too much? Imagine having to deal with all of that being an esports organization. Tobias Seck has an article that goes more in-depth on the current situation.