EPT
Introduction
I think all of you know how great StarCraft works as a real e-sport in Korea. Though its predominant status can be a topic of discussion in itself (why it became so, how big it is, can other games claim their share, etc...), it's not really what I want to talk about now. I will be more focused on how e-sports are seen in other countries, especially in France since I live there and can comment on it. I will try to give my point of view for other countries as well, so natives from these countries can debate about it and maybe change my views
Anyway, let's go.e-sports ?
By "e-sports" I mean the ability of a game to transcend its state as "amateur game" to "professional game". Where contestants will play against each other in offline competitions to win relatively large sums of money and where these same contestants will be able to make a job from it. Yeah, that's quite restrictive but that's what I want to discuss.
Now, how many games have achieved this status ? I can think of two RTS (StarCraft and Warcraft 3), many FPS (Counterstrike, Quake 4, Painkiller in some way, some others I'm forgetting), a few simulation/sports games (FIFA or PES series, NFS). World of Warcraft seems to emerge as well but I have no clue at how it works as a competitive game (if you know and want to comment, please feel free to do so). I'm not even sure I should include the simulation/sports ones but since I do not know much about them, I will keep them.
As far as I know, except maybe for a few FPS games like Quake 4 or Unreal Tournament, there are very few game companies that develop a game specifically for its competitive aspect. It's simply too risky as e-sports is very young and there are too many unknown variables. However, it is clear Blizzard is (again) making the first move with StarCraft II by gathering a lot of information from the gaming community and modifying the game accordingly. We'll see how it works in a couple of years...
I have also read a recent article about the remake of Speedball 2 where the game's designer says he thinks about making it an e-sports game. Wait and see.
Events
There are two events that can be seen as "major e-sports events" and one I don't know much about but seeing his list of games is making me suspicious.
- World Cyber Games (WCG)
![[image loading]](http://repasm.net/img/WCG_cup.png)
Of course, the well-known WCG has been around for 7 years now and is considered the biggest e-sports event worldwide. Originally organized by Korean companies/associations, it has known an incredible rise because of the good marketing and publicity that was made around it but also because of a good management and attractive money prizes. - Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC)
![[image loading]](http://www.eswc.com/css/default/img/logo_eswc.gif)
Created by a French company, the ESWC started back in 2003. The idea is to offer ladder services where people will play to qualify for the grand finals that will happen in early July in France. The prizes are generally high (started with 150,000 $ the first year, reached 400,000 $ in 2006 but was lowered in 2007), split among 5-6 games : Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike Women, Warcraft III, Quake 4, Trackmania Nations, PES 6. - World Series of Video Games
![[image loading]](http://repasm.net/img/WSVG_banner.png)
This one is a newcomer and has an original format : like other sports (beach volley is a good example), it is a tournament with a circuit including different stops in various countries : mostly USA (Dallas, LA), Sweden, UK, Canada... attendees gather there for a 3-4 days and the winners earn money and points. At the end of the tour, the players with most points will be declared grand winners and earn more money (this might be inaccurate as I am quite unfamiliar with WSVG). The games are... odd : World of Warcraft, Quake 4, Guitar Hero and Fight Night Round 3
These events are the ones I know or have heard about. I know there are other ones in different countries (Sweden's DreamHack, Russia's Asus LAN, China's tournaments, etc...) but I don't think they have the "international" dimension like the 3 ones above. Maybe I'm wrong, so don't hesitate to correct my mistakes and I will edit this post accordingly (but please bear in mind this is not a place for fanboys to promote their national tournaments).
That's it for today. Next part will discuss about these events more deeply and I'll introduce how e-sports seems to be considered worldwide. In the meantime, do not hesitate to react in the comments
