Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling (2nd ed.)

The Symbolic Construction of Community

Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer GamingT. L. TaylorCambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012. Appendix, notes, bibliography, index. 304 pp. $29.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780262017374In Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming, author T. L. Taylor examines the ups and downs of a slowly emerging industry, e-sports (electronic sports). The e-sports industry aims to turn real-time video game competition into the next major professional sport-complete with franchises, broadcast tournaments, superstar players, and mogul team and league managers. Those who would make e-sports a success point to South Korea, the only country so far in which the industry has taken hold. Taylor tells us that tournaments like the World Cyber Games draw sponsors like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Samsung and that Korean Telecom companies, and even the Korean Navy have-or sponsor-teams. Outside of the promised land of South Korea, however, e-sports have struggled and exist as a generally small, niche industry.Taylor's book does an excellent job of examining e-sports through numerous lenses. Providing historical context, she takes us back to the roots of e-sports, delving into the early days of informal, head-to-head video game competitions around the first computer game, Space War! (1962) and the inclusion of highscore record keeping on arcade machines to arcade-based tournaments (still happening today on the old machines like Pac Man and Donkey Kong and chronicled in the 2007 documentary King of Kong) and the video game-themed Starcade (1982- 1984) television show. She then moves to the emergence of the on-line networked play of Id Software's Doom (1993) and Quake (1996) through today's current live and networked tournaments of firstperson shooters and other video game competitions. Yet Raising the Stakes is not just a historical effort. With her first book, Play between Worlds: Exploring On-Line Game Culture, Taylor established herself as a solid analyst of games as media and community.And Taylor brings those skills to bare on gaming as a sport. For example, in her second chapter, titled "Computer Games a Professional Sport," Taylor guides us through an in-depth, well-reasoned, and documented analysis. She cites the literature on the debates around computer games as play. She examines the modification of rules, and occasionally of systems, of the games themselves for tournament play, judging, and broadcast. She compares the requirements and practices of professional sports and professional athletes (mental and physical training, hours and routines of practice, preferences for specific brands and makes of equipment or insistence on the use of personal equipment) in other sports to those of professional gamers. …

Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming

Subtitle: Camillo Eitzen in Norway has experienced a very dynamic last two years, with a major group restructuring, acquisitions and a public share listing. Stephen Matthews reviews the company's progress and strategy.

Raising the stakes

Research questions: To tackle the idiosyncrasies associated with esports online spectatorship, the study was designed to: (a) develop the Motivation Scale of Esports Spectatorship (MSES) and (b) id...

It is in the game: dimensions of esports online spectator motivation and development of a scale

This study explored and evaluated the dimensions and consequences of esports online spectator demand In doing so, we identified preliminary dimensions of esports online spectator demand based on s

Beyond the Game: Dimensions of Esports Online Spectator Demand:

This study examines esports fans’ psychological processes and pertinent behaviors through the lens of the self-determination theory (SDT). The extent to which the esports fans’ basic psychological ...

Fulfilling the Basic Psychological Needs of Esports Fans: A Self-Determination Theory Approach:

Research questions: The current study is aimed at providing preliminary answers to two research questions: (1) What salient self-images do people pursue for self-expression in the context of sport ...

Self-expression through sport participation: exploring participant desired self-image.

Shifting from a player-oriented approach, e-sports has increasingly positioned itself as emerging spectator entertainment. In the wake of the growing online viewer market, the industry has made tremendous efforts to innovate marketing strategies and build up a base of passionate fans across the globe. To augment this endeavor, the current study investigated push and pull factors that influence e-sports online viewers’ consumption behaviors (N = 1,309) using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The authors proposed a new way to operationalize push and pull factors that have been relatively overlooked in the literature. The findings indicated that, while push and pull factors had different effects on e-sports consumption behaviors, they should be considered equally important in e-sports livestreaming. The study expanded our understanding of the attractiveness and desirability of e-sports and shed some critical light on management and marketing issues within and beyond the e-sports space.

Jerred Junqi Wang

Papers

Beyond the Game: Dimensions of Esports Online Spectator Demand:

It is in the game: dimensions of esports online spectator motivation and development of a scale

Fulfilling the Basic Psychological Needs of Esports Fans: A Self-Determination Theory Approach:

Self-expression through sport participation: exploring participant desired self-image.

Push and Pull Factors in E-Sports Livestreaming: A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling Approach