This book provides important new insights into social issues in the rapidly growing field of esports, filling a gap in the literature that has, until now, been dominated by business and management perspectives. Bringing together leading esports experts from Europe, North America, and Australia, the book provides new sociological analyses that define and locate esports in social studies. It explores key issues in esports and in the wider sociology of sport, including gender equity, diversity, cheating and doping, physical and mental health, and issues related to the governance of esports. Presenting new empirical research alongside critical, theoretical perspectives, the book addresses themes such as digitalisation, technology, equality, innovation, and welfare, suggesting directions for future research and highlighting implications for practice and development in the esports industry. This is essential reading for advanced students, researchers, and practitioners working in esports, the sociology of sport, gaming studies, media studies, sociology, or the interaction of ICT and wider society.

This book offers new, multidisciplinary perspectives on esports, one of the most rapidly growing sectors in the sports and leisure industries. Drawing on sociology, philosophy, education, business, economics, and sports science, this book considers the rise of esports, its impact on sports and society more widely, and the direction of travel for esports in the future. Featuring cutting-edge work from researchers in Europe, North America, and Asia, this book explores definitions of “esport” and “virtual sport,” and the philosophical basis by which we understand movement and embodiment in the context of digital gaming. It considers the health and well-being needs of esports athletes, across physical, mental, and social dimensions, as well as how nutrition and training relate to performance and injury prevention. This book also considers the economics of the esports industry and how the concept of sportification can be used to describe esports’ development, as well as the challenges and debates surrounding gender and representation in esports. A final section of this book looks at esports in education, in schools and universities, and considers the future of esports for a generation of digital natives. This book makes a useful contribution to the growing body of knowledge on esports and should be a thought-provoking read for anybody with an interest in sports studies, gaming, or the impact of technology on wider society.

Esports Insights outlines the fundamental characteristics, features, and structures of the rapidly growing esports industry and acts as the perfect primer for readers without any prior knowledge of esports. Featuring international case studies in every chapter, this book showcases the contemporary nature of esports through illustrative, industry examples. By offering a concise and easy to understand introduction, it discusses the key components, stakeholders, and features of this commercially driven sector, which by its very nature is dynamic and highly complex. Exploring current regulatory and governance structures within esports, it unpacks the industry’s essential features by outlining the various genres, formats and stakeholders who are instrumental to the functioning of the esports industry. Adopting a critical but balanced analysis, the book discusses the social benefits of esports, outlining its potential as a tool for social inclusion and sport development, whilst acknowledging the potential impacts and risks of esports participation and spectatorship, related to health and wellbeing. Finally, Esports Insights also considers future developments and changes within esports, as the sector evolves and continues to professionalise. This book will be of interest to any student, researcher, or practitioner with an interest in sport business, sport and society, event studies, esports or video gaming, or the wider media industry.

The global gaming market, due to numerous technological advancements in social media networking and live-streaming video, has exploded in recent years. However, this newly acquired popularity has left many industry professionals pondering a difficult enigma: How does this affect the professional world? Implications and Impacts of eSports on Business and Society: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides innovative research exploring the immersion of competitive electronic sports and applications within global marketing, business, and society. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as social networking, sponsorship branding, and risk management, this book is ideally designed for sports and entertainment practitioners, communications professionals, marketers, business consultants, researchers, professionals, and students seeking current research on potential business opportunities in the eSports industry.

The Japan Association of Simulation & Gaming (JASAG) and the Science Council of Japan (SCJ) hosted ISAGA 2003, the 34th annual conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA), at Kazusa Akademia Park in Kisarazu, Japan,August 25–29, 2003. About 450 participants and guests attended,with 330 from Japan and 101 from 34 other countries. The number of submitted papers and reports exceeded 210, and in addition, many poster presentations and experiential sessions were held. This book is made up of 30 papers submitted to ISAGA 2003 and provides a good example of the diverse scope and standard of research achieved in simu- tion and gaming today.The theme of ISAGA 2003 was “Social Contributions and Responsibilities of Simulation and Gaming.” Looking back over the history of simulation and gaming research in Japan,in 1991 JASAG hosted ISAGA 1991 in Kyoto. However,even though there were only 12 years between ISAGA 1991 and ISAGA 2003,and both conferences were held in the same country,Japan,for Japanese researchers,the meaning of hosting these two international conferences of simulation and gaming research was very different.

Competitive gaming, or esports – referring to competitive tournaments of video games among both casual gamers and professional players – began in the early 1970s with small competitions like the one held at Stanford University in October 1972, where some 20 researchers and students attended. By 2022 the estimated revenue of the global esports industry is in excess of $947 million, with over 200 million viewers worldwide. Regardless of views held about competitive gaming, esports have become a modern economic and cultural phenomenon. This book studies the full history of competitive gaming from the 1970s to the 2010s against the background of the arrival of the electronic and computer age. It investigates how competitive gaming has grown into a new form of entertainment, a sport-like competition, a lucrative business and a unique cultural sensation. It also explores the role of competitive gaming in the development of the video game industry, making a distinctive contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the history of video games. A History of Competitive Gaming will appeal to all those interested in the business and culture of gaming, as well as those studying modern technological culture.

Gaming applications are rapidly expanding into the realm of education. Game-based education creates an active and enjoyable learning environment, especially for children and young adults who regularly use gaming for recreational purposes. Due to the evolving nature of education, gaming provides a transformative learning experience for diverse students. The Handbook of Research on Gaming Trends in P-12 Education provides current research intended to aid educators, school administrators, and game developers in teaching today’s youth in a technology-immersive society. This publication melds together gaming for entertainment purposes as well as gaming applied within educational settings with an emphasis on P-12 classrooms. Featuring exhaustive coverage on topics relating to virtual reality, game design, immersive learning, distance learning through 3D environments as well as best practices for gaming implementation in real-world settings, this handbook of research is an essential addition to the reference collection of international academic libraries.

Learn about the rapidly expanding esports industry in Esports Business Management. Written by esports executives and experts and endorsed by the International Esports Federation, Esports Research Network, and the United States Esports Federation, this is a comprehensive introduction to the world of esports.

This book is the first linguistic study that combines CL and CDA to compare the media representations of Macau’s gaming industry in English-language newspapers published in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. An analytical framework based on the notion of the extended units of meaning of a lexical item (Sinclair, 2004) is adopted to examine the ideological stances regarding Macau’s gaming industry among three English-language newspapers published in the three Chinese territories mentioned above by comparing the patterns of co-selection of shared and unique words and phraseologies. The book’s findings confirm that the news media in these three territories differ in their ideological stances. Moreover, the book offers readers a fresh perspective on Macau by exploring how the region and its gaming industry are represented in three news article corpora. Thus, it provides unique insights into the similarities and differences among these three territories. Further, the research suggests that the methods adopted in this book can be replicated to examine and compare the news and political discourses in a variety of contexts. Accordingly, the book represents a valuable resource not only for students majoring in linguistics, media studies, communication, journalism, etc., but also for researchers in the fields of corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, etc.