e-Sports

e-Sport (also referred to as esport or eSport) is the name given to organized, competitive digital game play. e-Sport (electronic sport and the leagues and players that compete through networked games and related activities) saw its first major North American leagues in 1997, with South Korean leagues following the next year when StarCraft became popular in the country. Although there are smaller scale e-sport competitions, such as local tournaments, generally, the usage of the term is[Page 556] reserved for more formal, larger events that are structured and feature teams and finalists from different regions.

While South Korea was the first place where competitive gaming would become a sociocultural and economic staple for youth (and indeed the national economy), the popularity of e-sports outside of South Korea ...