Abstract
Abstract
Background
Esports is competitive video gaming, performed within teams or individually, across multiple genres. Players are required to be sedentary for extended periods and require a high-level of cognitive skills for successful competitive performance. There are conflicting findings within the physical activity research in the esports industry. The aim of this research is to explore self-reported physical activity through accelerometer-assessed physical activity, to gain a better insight into the physical activity behaviours of international e’athletes.
Method
Participants (n = 796) across multiple popular esports games, holding any in-game rank, competing at any level, were recruited. The survey consisted of demographic details, esports experience, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form (IPAQ-LF), and Behavioural Regulations towards Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-3). Within a convenience sample, local intervarsity e’athletes (n = 18) were recruited to wear a wrist-worn accelerometer to measure physical activity for 7-days and then complete the survey. Results from the accelerometers were compared to the survey results to explore physical activity reporting within this population.
Results
When comparing IPAQ-LF to accelerometer data, players significantly over-report moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and weekly MET-min− 1 (p = .018, r = .63 and p ≤ .001, r = .92). The BREQ-3 showed that e’athletes categorised as high physical activity displayed significantly higher levels of intrinsic motivation, when compared to players categorised as low and moderate physical activity.
Conclusions
E’athletes significantly over report physical activity time when measured through the IPAQ-LF, suggesting previous surveys may overestimate physical activity and further research is needed. Given the exponential growth of the industry and the level of physical inactivity, esports may contribute to global physical inactivity levels.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference88 articles.
1. Formosa J, O’Donnell N, Horton EM, Türkay S, Mandryk RL, Hawks M et al. Definitions of Esports: A Systematic Review and Thematic Analysis. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. 2022;6(CHI PLAY):1–45. https://doi.org/10.1145/3549490.
2. Ahn J, Collis W, Jenny S. The one billion dollar myth: Methods for sizing the massively undervalued esports revenue landscape. International Journal of Esports. 2020;1(1). Available from: https://www.ijesports.org/article/15/html.
3. Goswami S. From Reality To Virtual: Why Traditional Sports Are Getting Into Esports Forbes: Forbes; 2022 [02/11/2022]. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/05/17/from-reality-to-virtual-why-traditional-sports-are-getting-into-esports/?sh=23f906974736.
4. Chung T, Sum S, Chan M, Lai E, Cheng N. Will esports result in a higher prevalence of problematic gaming? A review of the global situation. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. 2019;8(3):384 – 94. Available from: https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/8/3/article-p384.xml; https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.8.2019.46.
5. Hennick C. eSports Programs Start to Pop up in K–12 Schools 2019 [Available from: https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2019/01/esports-programs-start-pop-k-12-schools.