THE IMPACT OF VIDEO GAMES ON THE eSPORTS FORMATION

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of video games, as a form of digital media, on the formation of a new kind of sport. eSports take place in virtual space and do not rely only on the physical being of the participant, as is the case with the traditional understanding of sport, but on the interaction between man and a computer. This paper deals with the discourse of a contemporary game, which takes place in virtual space, and which is, according to theorists, classified as an eSports. Given that sport involves participants who occupy the "physical world", while eSport participants are in the "virtual world", as well as the fact that eSports athletes always have to use the Human-Computer interface that connects their bodies to an electronic system, a key issue that the authors of this paper seek to answer relates to whether there can be an electronic sport, and whether computer mediated sports have similarities with the traditional understanding of sport?