Esports and competitive gaming

Electronic Sports, commonly known as eSports, is where playing video games meet competition. This type of competitive gaming has grown in popularity in recent years up to the point where professional teams and organizations are forming to compete against massive prizes. There’s no shortage of what type of game is also becoming popular, as there’s always a way to be able to be competitive when it comes to gaming.

Common popular game options

Common games that are becoming some of the stars of eSports competitive gaming fall under the multiplayer online battle arena or MOBA category. These are typically two teams who battle it out against each other in an arena with their individual hero of choice. The most popular MOBA games today are Dota 2 and League of Legends or LOL. Dota 2 also has one of the largest eSports prizes in the gaming world, with their annual tournament, The International, having tournament prizes in the double-digit millions.
Other types of popular team-based games are known as first-person shooters or FPS. A few options here are extremely popular such as Call of Duty: Warzone, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO), and even APEX Legends. Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without the ever-popular Fortnite, or Player Unknown Battle Ground (PUBG).
Besides MOBA and FPS games, there are also plenty of sports games that have attracted crowds, such as games in the FIFA soccer series and even NBA 2K. In addition, there are also many fighting games with varying-sized tournaments, especially with games such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7 and Even Super Smash Brothers games.
Again there has also been a huge shift to everything that’s a game online, including card games as well. As long as there’s a way to track a score, even with solo-type games, it can be easily converted into an eSports tournament with a nice prize at the end. That means even when you choose to play Solitaire Social, you can start training yourself for the next eSports solitaire tournament.

Why has eSports become so popular?

eSports itself has been able to grow because of the popularity of the games themselves. Competitive video game playing has actually been around for quite some now, with certain games becoming quite competitive in the early 2000s.
One of these games was StarCraft, which was especially popular in Korea but was also one of the very first games to take advantage of the faster fibre-optic internet speeds. Also enabling gamers to play with interconnected computers through a Local Area Network (LAN) setup.
It simply grew to a point where substantial money started appearing behind the prizes, making it a career option for some. With the advent of streaming services such as Twitch and YouTube, it’s become possible for competitive players to stream when they aren’t competing as another source of revenue for them, allowing this to become a lucrative path for many. All those eyes watching the streamers help with advertising and affiliate revenues.
Yet what’s so great about any of these games is that even with the digital aspect of the game itself, the major tournaments are typically held offsite in major stadiums around the world, drawing the fanbase together for a multi-day tournament. As a result, these tournaments tend to get sold out, with tens of thousands of people watching the game live and in person and millions across the globe able to watch the actual stream of the competition itself.

Where eSports is headed

eSports requires both skill and strategy, as well as the ability to be able to play on a team for some of the games. This is where the top players become celebrities themselves with endorsements beyond the game itself. On top of the players themselves, it’s a complete industry with coaches, analysts, commentators, marketing, event production, sponsorships and streaming distribution rights.
Many countries also see this becoming closer to a competitive sport, allowing these foreign teams an easier way to travel with visas to compete on-site for these tournaments. Even the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognized eSports as an actual sport and is ready to include them in future Olympics.

Competitive spirit of casual games

Whether you play online Solitaire or another type of game, you’ll quickly start to see just how competitive it can be. Solitaire Social is based on tournaments and the core of the game is competition as it is. You also may create your own Solitaire team to play with your friends and you don’t need to find a special time for that unlike most eSport games. Join Solitaire Social right now and you won’t get bored any more!