Should We Be Scared About the Rise of Esports?

Two professional gamers were killed by the rival player at the Madden football video game tournament in Jacksonville, on Sunday afternoon, with brutal camera footage capturing what happens to be a red-laser dot creeping up the torso of the player and gunshots’ audio, according to the reports.

Taylor Robertson, 27, and Eli Clayton, 21, were famous players of the Madden NFL American football game, who were murdered by a rival.

According to the Police, Katz from Baltimore carried out the attack on Sunday at the Landing shopping and entertainment complex. An unconfirmed report says Katz had become very angry after losing the match.

Florida had seen various mass shootings in recent years, including the at the Pulse nightclub in 2016, when up to forty-nine people died and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland in 2018, when up to 17 people were slaughtered.

How did it happen?

The event’s video stream being aired on the Twitch platform occurs to show Eli Clayton and another challenger playing the game when the red laser dot flashes on the sweatshirt of Mr. Clayton. Almost plenty of shots then listen before the transmission is stopped. People fled for a safe place,and Swat teams explored the area. Katz’s body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound,and the Police said: they thought there were no accomplices.

What was the eSport Tournament?

It was a Madden NFL qualifier tournament event, with a $5,000 top prize and the leading players would advance to a Madden Classic round of 16 in Los Vegas in October. Those players who make it to the overall finals would qualify for a share of a $165,000 pool.

Players who have to succeed in the tournament can win lucrative endorsements, make money from streaming and play for thousands of thousands of dollars in prizes. The shooting event in the tournament has already sparked calls for massive security risk at eSports Events.

What is eSports?

There is a new type of sport that has become popular among children and adults, who enjoy getting competitive with their computer gaming. Esports is a short name for electronic sports and just like the just like other sports players play together, and esports players play computer video games against each other.

The event doesn’t take place inside the living rooms between family and friends. Massive esports tournaments now are set all over the world in the form of huge arenas with massive crowds. The big tournaments deal with well-known gamers, fans from across the land may tune in to see the action online, and competitors may even be rewarded for doing it.

Where did eSports come from?

Almost all ages of people are playing computer games against each for over thirty years. In the year 2000, the computer became cheaper, and the internet became faster, which became a reason for people to get involved with computer gaming. It made the way more comfortable to connect with gamers from all over the world so that people could play against each other and watch the games.

Do violent video games increase aggressive and violent behavior in real life?

It’s a long-standing argument. Particularly after the shootings in the United States, the gaming habits of the shooter are often scrutinized, but analysis confirms video games rarely play an essential role in the lives of US mass school-shooting killers.

The research connecting real-life and video game violence are conflicting and inconclusive. But the case of the public shooting in the US in Jacksonville, Florida, a connection occurs strikingly. The killer named David Katz, who is a 24-year-old gamer from Baltimore, was playing in the tournament and the two other gamers he killed with a handgun, named Taylor Robertson and Eli Clayton, were other participants, previous winners of the gaming tournament, whom he occurs to have targeted at the Game Bar. 11 other peoples were wounded before Katz murdered himself.

Witnesses were saying that Katz was an aggressive gamer who was angry because of losing the game in the tournament.

Here can we make a connection between increased propensity toward real-life violence and exposure to screen violence. According to Professor Gerry Moore, who is associate professor of Psychotherapy at DCU (Dublin City University), says “the jury is still out” on academic research creating the connection between violence and gaming. However, it does prove that gaming activity can decrease the pro-social behavior and empathy.

Prof Gerry Moore says, evidence also proves that if the gamers are exposed to violence over time, in games or real life, it desensitizes them to aggressive behavior.

Almost all children in the United States play video games, over 84% comprises some form of violence.

Risk Factor

The American Psychological Association considers that violent video games risk factors for those who are aggressive and says playing these games can increase the aggressive level, feelings and behaviors, both long term and short term.

Several reaches were conducted this year at York University, using the massive sample, backs other studies drawing no evidence connecting the relation of violent video games and game behavior.

According to the National Center for Health Research, studies show the longer girls or boys are uncovered to violent video games, the more likely they are to have aggressive thoughts and behavior.

The studies show the competition between players in the best predictor of aggressive behaviourthat is the violence’s level. This research could be revenant to the Florida Shooting. Winners of the game tournament, where Katz (the killer) was competing against other players to go on to finals in Las Vegas for the huge prize which was $165,000.

Prof. Gerry Moore admits and clears that even though Katz was not playing the violent war game, “gamers” get hyped up during battle games,and it increases their aggressive thoughts and decreases their pro-social behaviour”. Moreover, he says: “When there is a tournament between young males, we discover it played out on sports pitches every week, players may become aggressive because of it.”

Access to Weaponry?

Behind this case, there are always other factors, Prof Moore says. “You need to include in the gun laws in the United States. If you have a gun, it is easier to use it in a public place.”

Additionally, he says it may be less than the shooter was playing video games, which increases the aggressive level of the killer, with the included factor of gun culture.

The murdered bought two handguns legally in the tournament within the past month. Federal law needs a gun to disclose involuntary commitment to a mental institution.

Integrity

The industry of esports is facing the number of integrity challenges as it starts to grow such as:

eSports Betting

The Use of Software Cheat

Doping

Some of these problems are the same as traditional sports while others unique available issues to eSports. Match-fixing or betting is the massive business in eSport, and for some bookmakers, while betting can be a considerable source of fan engagement, it also increases the number of integrity issues.

The number of people who compete and watch eSports matches, there are some concerns around the role of the video games and the normalization of the gambling may play in conditioning young people to become a better gambler. Skin betting, which is used by certain video games enabling players to make in-game purchases for virtual items like digital designs, weapons, skins, or more.

eSports Betting also increases serious integrity problems by tempting players to fix competitions and matches. This thing can be a severe issue for players who aren’t making decent money from their esports activities.

There have been several match-fixing scandals, involving eSports such as Alex Berezin discovered to be betting against his team and losing on purpose while playing DOTA 2 video game. Valve was banned seven players in 2015 who were found in fixing CS: GO video games.

The use of Software Cheats, server attacks, and applications are unique integrity problems for esports. These cheats work in one of three different ways such as they enable the automated action, they let the gamer to discover through objects, or they allow the player to obtain additional powers.

Is Esports actually a sport?

Many eSports have similar characteristics to other traditional sports such as high-skates winning, competition, fans, technological infrastructure, and barriers to contests requiring training and skills.

John Skipper, the president of ESPN, stated in 2014 that eSports aren’t a sport, it’s a competition. It was recently declared that eSports would be a medal sport at the year 2022 Asian Games and in the United States, esports players have been recognized as the professional athletes in specific cases to acquire a P-1 Visa. Lets players get into the United States to participate in competitive esports events as though they were a professional athlete.

Despite this, debates remain about esprots whether it should be considered a sport. Thomas Back, the president of the International Olympic Committee said, we are entirely sure whether sports is really a sport, with regard to physical activity and what it requires to be considered sport. The harsh reality is that eSports now become the part of the Multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry and is being treated as such by organizations and persons with significant influence.

The streaming websites like Twitch, have incredible viewer numbers and multinational companies and broadcasters are searching sponsorship are launching to show a grown interesting eSports.

Now, Sporting leagues and clubs are investing in esports and esport teams. Some of these investment goes to sports simulation video games such as NBA 2K eLeague and others like League of Legends, Counter-Strike, etc. are considered non-sport simulation games.