Dota 2 : An Online Multiplayer Video Game

Video games have been around for many years and so has competitive gaming. The first video game was created around 1970 and was Pong. Pong required one or two players to play. The players would play next to each other and the game required both players to move the courser to the ball and knock in to the other player’s side. Pong was the first competitive video game because you could play with another person. The video game industry now is a very big market and is suspected to be an 86 billion dollar industry in 2016 (A Classification Of Business Models In Video Game Industry). For the past couple of years video competitions have gotten really popular and now there is a franchise called eSports that hosts gaming competitions in big areas. “The past several year’s eSports have seen meteoric growth in dozens of markets, attracting tens of millions of viewers each year in the United States, alone” (Hollist). Esports is made up of many different games and each game has different teams that specialize in the game that they are competing in. E-Sports 89 million viewers in 2014 and is suspected to grow to 145 million in 2017. ("Red Bull Media Readies ESports Studio for Prime Time."). Competitive gaming should be recognized as a sport because each team has a sponsor. The sponsors pay for all associated costs of the player’s gaming including, but not limited to, plane tickets, hotel rooms, and food. In return the teams have to wear the

Whether violent media content leads to real-life violence is always debatable. And in recent years, school shootings have made video games a new focus of public concern and scientific research. In public opinion, video games cause more aggression in comparison to traditional violent media contents because video games have more features of interactivity, "due to the active engagement and participation of players" (Hummer and Wang et al. 137). But more and more reports tell us that video games are not the main cause of school shooting issues; rather it is the negligence of parents, schools, and communities.

In my most recent essay I wrote of the violence attributed to video games in light of various shootings and other tragedies that occurred in the past year or so. In this essay I argued that despite their violent content, video games are not completely to blame for acts of violence committed by children. Throughout this essay I tried to convince the reader by, first, establishing my own credibility with video games, then sharing my own experiences with violent games, and providing both empirical data and valuable insight from trusted sources.

“According to data recently released by The NPD Group, in 2012, U.S. video game software sales reached $6.7 billion (174.8 million units) and computer game sales were $380 million (13.2 million units)” (Improving Economy). To many, the violent video game industry has turned all adolescents into mass murderers. However, they’re absolutely wrong. Very seldom do adolescents who play violent video games commit acts of violence, and the ones who do usually have a mental disorder. Instead of blaming the tragedies that occur on violent video games, the news media should explain to people that a large percentage of young males play violent video games, indicating that the two are uncorrelated. They should alternatively research other possible solutions to the crisis. In lieu of negatively affecting people’s lives, video games could potentially improve their lives!

People have been playing video games since the late 1970s, but it wasn't until 1999 that we began to question the consequences and influences associated with younger players. Karen Sternheimer's article "Do Video Games Kill" is about the controversial idea that video games are responsible for mass school shootings.

As the level of violence in video games increases, so does the level of concern for those who play them. Some people are quick to blame school shootings on games just because the kid played a “violent” game. “The topic of videogames and violence can be compared to the chicken or the egg question, which came first, violent games or violent behavior”(Violence and Videogames). However most kids in mass shootings tend to have easy access to guns and are mentally unstable.

Because some video games have an age limit for people to purchase mature rated games, the companies don’t think about the kids who watch the ads too. On December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school was raided by a 20 year old man by the name of Adam Lanza. Lanza, known to have been an avid videogame player, went into the school and killed 20 kids ranging from six to seven years of age as well as six other staff members. Lanza had even killed his own mother. After the event had occurred, there was a town nearby that offered a video game “buy-back” program in hopes to discourage videogame violence (Common Sense Media). Anyone with a high school diploma knows that video games don’t make people kill other people. It’s the guns right? Most researcher reject the idea that the television or video games are the single cause that makes people choose to participate in a massacre. Researchers do, however, believe that video games and television do play roles in causing otherwise non-violent individuals to behave

There are thousands of problems troubling our society today, one being the increase in school shootings. In this case Sandy Hook Elementary School where 22 year old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, 20 of which we children. The investigators at Sandy Hook looked towards science to determine why Adam Lanza did this. The scientist found one factor that stood above all the rest. Adam’s increase in violent video games he played, such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto. Each of these games give a 1st person view of killing civilians and the realism of death.

Rose, Mike. “Video games and gun violence: A year after Sandy Hook.” Gamasutra, 10 Feb. 2014, www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/210322/video_games_and_gun_violence_a.

Whether it’s playing video games or watching video games, we get filled with an intoxicating feeling to play or watch more. Throughout generations, there has been an increase of people playing video games and about half the population in the United States plays video games. Since 1980, video games are taken to a different level with eSports, which is competitive electronic gaming tournaments with other competitors. In 2000 to the present , eSports grew in popularity and became known worldwide because of the game “League of Legends”. In 2011 “LoL” tournament ranked over 1.6 million views worldwide and during a “LoL” championship in 2015 over 36 million people were viewing the game. ESport raises this question: “Do video games counts as sports?” Video games do not count as a sport because it does not match the criteria of a sport,video games are luck-based, and are unhealthy.

After the elementary school shooting of Sandy Hook in 2012 this issue of violent video games became a hot issue calling for a connection of violence to video games. However, the final investigative report suggested that he was more a fan of nonviolent games (Ferguson, 2015). Video game violence is an issue that continues to be studied due to the inability to come to a general conclusion on whether or not the games provoke violence in connection to mass shootings. With shootings occurring and receiving mass coverage the media and public often seek a person/item to place the blame on. After the tragic events that left people dead or injured one of the topics that emerged was that of video games affects/effects on the person.

Imagine a large arena filled with two competitive teams. The tension grows and finally, one team prevails and is greeted by stupendous amounts of cheering. There are a wide variety of video games that are popular worldwide, and are played by many different people. Video games, and gaming in general, should be considered to be added in the many sport selections because of how similar it is to any other sport: how pro players that get paid, and how a lot of talent is necessary to play.

Competitive gaming, also known as e-sports, is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. With huge events and tournaments that are watched by millions of passionate fans, many people are beginning to question whether playing video games can be considered a real sport. Even though e-sports may not be as physically demanding as traditional sports like football and basketball, the structure, strong fan base and the requirements to seriously contend in the competitive gaming scene legitimize it as a “real” sport.

eSports are a form of a sport that deals with video games and their competitions between professionals. eSports has risen over the years, with 2016 allowing the peak of the popularity. “Consider this year’s The International 2016 DOTA (Defense Of The Ancients) 2 Tournament,” Chris Wood says to The State Press [eSports deserve their place in the world]. “The total prize pool available to the winning teams of this tournament (August, 2016) was around $20 million dollars. In comparison, the prize money pool for the 2014 Rose Bowl was $22 million.” With winnings like this, I believe it is beyond safe to say that eSports are on the rise, and they mean business.

Gaming has been such a huge part of nearly everyone’s life growing up as a kid and it’s only getting bigger and bigger every day. Growing up as a kid, online gaming wasn’t as popular as it is today. I started off with a Gameboy and Dreamcast console that later shifted to better consoles like the PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, and Nintendo. Nowadays, almost everyone, including myself, have shifted to the more popular gaming platforms in mobile games and online PC games. More specifically, certain types of online gaming styles like FPS, MOBA, and MMO are distinctly more popular than many others. Not only has the popularity for online gaming platforms evolved but the importance and relevance of