Esports… for a person far from gaming, this word itself is a mystery. Sport is a competition in some activity that allows you to compare the skills and physical/intellectual abilities of people. And cyber is a prefix that denotes something related to computers and digital technologies. So you might think that this is a competition between computers or robots. But no, people are still competing, only they are measuring their skills in video games rather than physical strength.
The origins of esports can be traced back to the popularity of traveling amusement parks, which were full of various attractions. Later, some of them were implemented in the form of mechanical slot machines with the calculation of earned points, then electronic, and even later – computer games. Basically, any game in which you can earn points and their receipt depends not on a lucky chance but on the skills of the player, eventually found itself at the epicenter of competitions. It didn’t matter whether it was personal between a couple of particularly fanatical players or national tournaments organized by a slot machine developer or distributor. But even large tournaments remained, at their core, small-town events that attracted regulars to gambling halls.
Everything changed with the advent of computer games that support online play. The pioneer in this regard was DOOM 2, which made it possible to fight an opponent hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. And there were such maniacs, even despite the extreme high cost of computers back in 1993. However, the first international league of professional cyber-athletes (computer game players) was formed a little later and around another game – in 1997 in Quake. And this is not surprising, because Quake was created as a multiplayer online shooter. Its developers created the perfect (for those times) game around which the esports community crystallized.
The first games suitable for esports were created for individual players. Quake and StarCraft tournaments gathered many teams of one person. Yes, they had modes for paired teams, but even in them, players cooperated only insofar as they could. Therefore, the circle of successful esports players was limited to outstanding loners. A breakthrough in the development of esports occurred with the release of team-based competitive games. The first team-based tactical shooter Counter Strike (originated as a mod for Half Life), the first online battle arena (MOBA) DotA (also appeared as a mod for Warcraft 3).
These games have become the gold standard for developers who dreamed of creating their own project with an eye to getting into a number of esports disciplines. Most of these developments failed in sales, as they slipped into simple copying without adding anything new. However, over time, worthy successors emerged and took over the flag from the leaders of esports. New types of esports disciplines also began to appear. For example, team-based tank shooters, racing and football simulators, or the battle royale genre, which is especially popular now.