The next generation of sports as symbolic dualistic simulation is already taking place through the tremendous growth in popularity of eSports. “The eSports (also known as electronic sports, esports, e-sports, competitive (video) gaming, professional (video) gaming, or pro gaming) is a form of competition that is facilitated by electronic systems, particularly video games; the input of players and teams as well as the output of the eSports system are mediated by human-computer interfaces.”
“So how big is this gaming thing? Let's start with this: Some 205 million people watched or played eSports in 2014, according to market research firm Newzoo -- meaning that if the eSports nation were actually a nation, it would be the fifth largest in the world. (They're coming for you next, Indonesia!) And while eSports have long been biggest in Asia, especially gaming-mad Korea, North America and Europe now claim 28 million eSports fans and the number is growing by 21 percent a year.”
“People watch this thing? Well, in a word, yes. When Major League Gaming launched in the early 2000s, its tournaments played out in hotel ballrooms before ... dozens of fans. Today, eSports' biggest tournaments rival practically any sporting event. The League of Legends Championship sold out Staples Center in 2013, then sold out the 40,000-seat World Cup Stadium in Seoul a year later while drawing an online audience of 27 million -- more than the TV viewership for the final round of the Masters.”
These eSports competitions take the next step in the extension of sports as a symbolic simulation of duality that has existed since the advent of time. The first level of this symbolic dualistic simulation would be participating in actual warfare or combat whereby the current reality is taking place and two groups are physically combating each other in order to unite their dualistic differences. The second level can be seen in the participation of the majority of team sports where simulations of battle, warfare and combat take place under the auspices of team sports with the sun symbolism, measurement of time and duality being fully expressed. Further steps from here occur by people watching other people physically participating in sports live and then watching via. electronic devices, thereby constituting the basis for the next step on this ladder of dualistic symbolic sports simulation.
The next step that eSports has now taken completely removes the physical simulation of warfare and creates an artificial mental simulation through the use of competitive video games to simulate sports. Not only can sports be simulated and contested in eSports, but actual simulated warfare can also take place in a competition style eSports contest such as occurs with League of Legends. Taking this even another step further is the most recent phenomenon whereby spectators watch contestants play eSports. Having just arrived at this point, another layer of sub-reality has been created whereby essentially people are watching or viewing an art form of a simulation (eSports) of a simulation (sports) of a simulation (warfare) of dualistic symbolism.
12 - Juho Hamari and Max Sjöblom. "What is eSports and Why do People Watch it?,” Internet Research, accessed December 6, 2016, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2686182.
13 - “Resistance is Futile: eSports is Massive … and Growing,” ESPN, accessed December 6, 2016, http://www.espn.com/espn/story//id/13059210/esports-massive-industry-growing.
14 - “Resistance is Futile: eSports is Massive … and Growing,” ESPN, accessed December 6, 2016, http://www.espn.com/espn/story//id/13059210/esports-massive-industry-growing.
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