As a sport, e-sports also has an essential basic feature, that is, unified competition rules and fair, open and just competitions guaranteed by such rules.
Starting from this understanding, we try to explain the concept of e-sports: e-sports is an antagonistic educational electronic game movement with information technology as the core, software and hardware equipment as tools, in the virtual environment created by information technology and under the unified competition rules. As a sports event, e-sports can train and improve participants' thinking ability, reaction ability, coordination ability, team spirit and perseverance, as well as their adaptability to the modern information society, thus promoting their all-round development.
It is precisely because of the connotation and function of e-sports that the State Sports General Administration has listed it as the 99th sports event officially launched in China according to the needs of the development of the situation. (Note: It has been redefined as the 78th sport. )
[Edit this paragraph] 2. The difference between e-sports and online games
E-sports and online games belong to the big category of electronic games. E-sports and online games are two different concepts, which are very different in nature, mode and events.
First of all, from the nature, e-sports is a sports event, and online games are entertainment games, which is the essential difference between the two.
The purpose and way of online games is to build a virtual world. All players live in a brand-new society, and this society has its own "laws". Players living in this society must abide by these laws. Online games have completely inherited the most critical upgrade system of RPG and the weapons and equipment system commonly known as dolls. Players can experience the growth and happiness of their characters and entertain themselves through these systems. Therefore, in essence, online games are simulation and role-playing for the purpose of pursuing feelings, and relatively little attention is paid to and game skills are not needed.
E-sports, on the other hand, are close to those traditional sports, and antagonism and competitiveness are its characteristics. It has the characteristics of quantification, repeatability and accuracy. The gameplay is confrontation and competition, with unified rules and the same technical means, which is exactly the same as the skills and tactics in sports competitions. Through daily hard and almost boring training, the team members improve their comprehensive ability and quality related to the speed, response and coordination of electronic equipment and other competition equipment, and strive for victory and good results in the confrontation by relying on the exertion of skills and technical and tactical levels. In fact, simply speaking, e-sports is a sport, but its equipment, competition environment and so on are all realized through information technology. This is the most essential difference between it and online games.
From a technical point of view, the network environment or carrier they rely on is different. Online games are built entirely on the Internet. Without the internet, they can't survive at all. E-sports relies on the LAN environment, or even the direct connection between two computers. Internet is just a means of e-sports training or entertainment.
In addition, their dependence on software, profit mode and operation mode are also different. Online games are largely controlled by software vendors, and through nearly three years of market practice, a complete profit model has been explored. Game developers are responsible for developing games, and operators are responsible for operations. Players pay according to the game time, and the profits are divided by developers and operators in a certain proportion. E-sports are basically not limited by game software. Game developers are responsible for developing games and entrusting distribution companies to distribute them. Players can conduct e-sports entertainment and competitions by paying a one-time fee for buying games. In this way, whether the organizers of e-sports competitions can make profits is not directly related to the game developers and distribution companies, which also causes great differences in platform construction and the relationship with the platform.
Taking e-sports as a formal sports event and bringing it into the track of sports competition and sports industry will inevitably highlight its sports characteristics and intensify the development of e-sports and online games in different directions.
However, although e-sports and online games are different, both of them and their industries are products of information technology, and they have many similarities. How to deal with the relationship between them is an important issue that the development of e-sports must face. Judging from the current situation in China, online games have formed a very large market due to their early start and large group of players, and their business model and industrial chain are relatively mature and clear. E-sports in China is still in its infancy, and the competition mode, brand, business model and industrial chain are all being explored. No matter for the project or the industry, e-sports and online games should work towards their proper positions and complement each other. In fact, the huge foundation of online games is not without benefits to the development of e-sports, and the healthy development of e-sports has also promoted and promoted the development of online games.
Of course, the difference between e-sports and online games is a historical point of view. From the perspective of development, e-sports and online games are not absolutely separated and unchangeable. Theoretically and practically, after the development of online games, some of them may be transformed into new e-sports projects after supplementing and strengthening the characteristics of sports.