Gamers Who Gamble: Examining the Relationship Between Esports Spectatorship and Event Wagering

During recent years, while electronic sports (esports) has increasingly become a positive mainstream cultural phenomenon, it also may have several socio-economic implications, such as the growth of esports betting. Much like betting in sport, betting on esports has become a prominent form of gambling. However, there is still a paucity of knowledge on the demographic characteristics of this gambling cohort, particularly in regard to its relationship to video game play and spectatorship. In the present study, past-year video gamers (N = 1368) completed an online survey. Survey questions inquired about their esports event spectating, video game play, and esports betting behaviours, as well as general demographic questions. Video gamers who bet on esports were adistinct cohort from their counterparts: younger, more likely to be male, lower frequency of video game play, higher frequency of esports spectatorship, and more likely to watch esports in a social setting (e.g., with others). By providing a background on gamers’ behaviours this work contributes to the growing body of research into the dynamic profile of esports play, spectatorship, and gambling. Findings are reflective of the growing interrelation of gambling and gaming behaviours, a subject garnering increasing attention from governments, regulatory agencies, public health specialists and clinicians, and the related industries themselves

Calling for Information Systems Research on Esports: An Overview Study

Online gaming has become a pervasive entertainment activity, and its professionalization has resulted in esports (i.e., electronic sports)—a new blend of sport and business. Esports has a promising future given its widespread acceptance and significant business value. Its innovative nature necessitates more research to help understand and shape its future. We hold that scholars, especially information systems (IS) researchers, should pay more attention to this phenomenon since the IS discipline has a key interest in examining esports’ constituents (i.e., people, organizations, and technologies). To increase research attention and help readers understand esports, we compiled this research overview. In it, we first comprehensively define esports. Then, we summarize the esports development. We outline the current state of research in general and systematically review the IS perspective. Based on these efforts, we propose an esports research framework with four promising IS research avenues. We end by discussing “IS contributions” to esports and this overview’s implications. This study serves as a foundation for comprehensively mapping the esports practice and research landscape. We hope our findings can help others, especially IS researchers, more clearly understand esports and guide them towards creating increasingly impactful works

What predicts esports betting? A study on consumption of video games, esports, gambling and demographic factors

The parallel media related to sports, gaming and gambling are expanding, exemplified by the emergence of esports and game-related gambling (e.g. loot boxes, esports betting). The increasing convergence of these phenomena means it is essential to understand how they interact. Given the expanding consumer base of esports, it is important to know how individuals' backgrounds and consumption of game media may lead to esports betting. This study employs survey data (N = 1368) to investigate how demographics, alongside consumption of video games, esports and gambling can predict esports betting activity. Results reveal that both spectating esports and participation in general forms of gambling are associated with increased esports betting, no direct association was observed between the consumption of video games and esports betting. Findings suggest that while games may act as a vehicle for gambling content, highlighting the convergence of gaming and gambling, there is no intrinsic aspect which directly encourages gambling behaviours

It’s Not Just a Game: Virtual Edgework and Subjective Well-Being in E-Sports

The authors investigate subjective well-being in the context of e-sports (competitive video games). They adopt the theoretical lenses of virtual edgework theory, a recent adaptation of edgework theory from physical to digital contexts. Sports have long been used as a tool to improve subjective well-being. The research question is whether e-sports lead to well-being, as their physical sport counterparts do, and through what psychological mechanisms. The authors answer through a conceptual model of moderated mediation tested on hundreds of e-sports players. They also address the role of privacy concerns, as e-sports pose several potential threats to players' privacy that could hinder players' achievement of well-being. Findings suggest that virtual edgework provides a useful theoretical perspective for understanding consumers' behavior in digital environments. They also show that e-sports can lead to well-being by achieving feelings of self-enhancement under the positive moderation of perceived control over the digital environment and the negative moderation of privacy concerns

Esports’ Feasibility as an Entertainment Media: A Study

This research is conducted to find and determine the perks the public can get by engaging in Esports, the adverse effects that can affect Esports and making suggestions on how to improve the Esports scene. This study will be based on interaction in Esports, viewership in Esports, toxicity and aggressive behavior in Esports, as well as in-game purchases in Esports. The results of the data analysis showed that interaction in Esports, viewership in Esports, and in-game purchases in Esports have a positive effect on Esports’ feasibility as an entertainment media. On the other hand, no significant effect was found on toxicity and aggressive behavior in Esports to the feasibility of Esports as an entertainment media.Keywords: Esports; In-game purchases; Media consumption; Online gaming; Toxicity; Video game

Motivations of usage for video game media and their effect on video game consumption

Objectives The main objectives of this study were to find the motivations that drive the usage of video game media platforms and what the relationship between using the different game media types was. The objectives also included examining the effect the usage of the medias have on the consumption of video games themselves. Summary Video game medias were divided into three platforms for the research: video game live streams, eSports events, and pre-recorded videos about gaming. Video gamers and video game media have been studied previously but in an isolated manner focusing on one area of media or on the motivations of playing video games. Previous literature has established that various motivations that existed in consumption of sports and media also translated into consumption of video games and related media. The conceptual framework was derived from these previously used scales and tested with an online survey. The results illuminated differences in motivations between the medias and other factors how the medias differ from each other. Conclusions The different game medias had varying motivations for usage, but all reported having a positive effect on video game consumption through media usage. For game streams and pre-recorded game videos, the driving motivation was entertainment, and for eSports events the driving motivation was escapis

EVERYDAY GAMING INDUCES AMATEUR ESPORTS PARTICIPATION THROUGH COMMITMENT

Electronic sports (esports), as a professionalized form of organized video game competition, enjoys incredibly high popularity worldwide. Its current limitation necessitates the emergence of amateur esports, a specific form of esports designated for mass gamer participation. As amateur esports is in the initial developmental stage, mass gamers’ transformation into amateur participants is the current focus. However, we know little about this transformation due to scant research. Thus, this study attempts to understand the transformation of mass gamers into amateur esports participants by investigating the relationship between mass gamers’ everyday gaming behaviors and their amateur esports participation. Specifically, relying on use and gratification theory, this study learns what everyday gaming behaviors impact amateur esports participation intention. Furthermore, this study also explains the mechanism of these influences through the lens of commitment. This study contributes to research and practice regarding amateur esports development