The Psychology of Esports: A Systematic Literature Review
Summary (3 min read)
Introduction
- Playing video games has become one of the most popular recreational activities, not just among children and adolescents, but also among adults too (Entertainment Software Association 2017).
- In summary, according to these definitions and descriptions, esports are alternate sports, and a special way of using video games and engaging in gameplay (Adamus 2012) .
- The second criterion concerns institutional stability, which means esport requires centralized rules for regulation and stabilization to be recognized as a sport, and not just viewed as a juvenile recreation activity (Jenny et al. 2016) .
- Many researchers have examined the motivations of gamers, and even if the theoretical basis and the examined video game genres are different, some general and common motivational patterns have been found according to various empirical studies carried out.
- Furthermore, there are no systematic reviews of the psychological literature to date.
Methods
- The present study aimed to collate and review all the empirical studies concerning esport from a psychological perspective published between 2000 and 2017.
- Given that competitive gaming only started to occur after videogames could be played online and against other people, the year 2000 was chosen as a start date for the search because the playing of videogames competitively did not exist prior to this date.
- The data collection included all studies published between January 2000 to July 2017.
- The following keywords were used in the respective search engines: 'esport video gam*'; 'professional gam*'; 'pro gam*'; 'competitive video gam*'; 'esport competitive video gam*'; 'sport video gam*' and 'professional video gam*'.
- Based on the inclusion criteria (i.e., an empirical study containing new primary data and published in a peer reviewed journal in the English language), a total of 22 papers were excluded because they were either non-empirical (n=11), were published in conference proceedings or student theses (n=8), or were not specifically focused on esport (n=3).
Becoming an esport player
- In a study by Seo (2016) , the author focused on different perspectives of esport definition, and examined whether esport was fun or work (or neither) by attending esports tournaments in a number of countries and via in-depth interviews with 10 professional eSports players.
- Seo (2016) characterized professional esport playing as a serious leisure activity, following Stebbins' (1982) definition.
- When players gain a more developed competency, they experience the enjoyment of the gaming itself again (achieving stage).
- They 'lose' the glory and satisfaction they experienced earlier (and enter the slumping stage) before having to recover (recovering stage).
- The authors drew attention to the motivational patterns that change during the development of an esport player, highlighting the fact that esport players use these particular video games differently from a casual gamer.
The characteristics of esport players
- A recent study by (Himmelstein et al. 2017 ) interviewing five esport players identified the mental skills and techniques used by esport players in achieving optimal performance in a highly competitive gaming environment.
- The stronger motivations of spending time on esport playing were competition, peer pressure, and skill building for actual playing of sport.
- Compared to traditional sport behavior involvement, the study explored similarities between esport and traditional sport consumption (i.e., game attendance, game participation, sports viewership, sports readership, sports listenership, online usage specific to sports, and purchase of team merchandise).
- The competition, challenge, and escapism motivations were identified as the need gratifications obtained through esport.
Motivations of esport spectators
- As noted above, esport not only includes players, but also includes organizers and sponsors of esport championships, esports commentators, and the viewing esports audience (Adamus 2012; Jenny et al. 2016; Jonasson and Thiborg 2010) .
- Lee, An, and Lee (2014) examined the characteristics of 103 esport spectators, who attended the 2013 League of Legends World Championship Finals.
- Findings demonstrated that esport viewers watched professional gaming because they enjoyed the drama that occurred during esport matches, as well as the recreation, game commentary, and skills displayed by the professional gamers.
- Furthermore, team attachment and game commentary strongly contributed to the satisfaction of esport viewing.
- From a different perspective, Hamari and Sjöblom (2017) surveyed 888 esport viewers and investigated esport consumers' motivations, to better understand how and why they used this type of media to satisfy their needs based on uses and gratifications theory (Katz et al. 1973) .
Discussion
- The present review aimed to review all empirical studies examining the psychology of esports, and to draw attention to a new field of video game research.
- These studies not only provided data about why professional gamers act in such competitive ways, but also showed that becoming a professional esport player appears to be similar to the process of becoming a professional athlete in any given sport.
- The playing activity becomes a part of working life, and can negatively affect the concept of playing as free activity.
- Borrowing from the perspective of problematic gambling, further esport research could focus on the fact that professional video game players can also be affected by problematic use due to the level of stress they have to face during practices and competitions.
Conclusion
- In addition to the increasing popularity and attraction of esport, and the psychology of video gaming more generally, these phenomena are often framed as problematic, because of the lack of physical activity and its sedentary nature (van Hilvoorde 2016 ; van Hilvoorde and Pot 2016) or the intensive, excessive use (Griffiths 2017) .
- There is a paucity of empirical data and further research is needed before any definitive conclusions can be made concerning the psychology of esports.
- To earn the 'sport-status,' esports need to be accepted as a sport worldwide ( van Hilvoorde and Pot 2016; Witkowski 2012 Witkowski , 2009)) , and is already under consideration in about 40 countries (International e-Sports Federation 2017).
- Examining the phenomenon of esport could reduce the stigma that some professional gamers may face (individuals, teams, and staff, including coaches, managers), and also identify and help overcome any potential difficulties (e.g., the process of becoming a professional player, coping with stress during training and/or matches, problematic video game use).
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Cites background from "The Psychology of Esports: A System..."
...In light of the growing attention among scholars on gamingdisorder, intensive and excessive videogame use among esport gamers raise interesting questions about the nature of addiction [1,16,23,24]....
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..., money, fame) in becoming esport gamers [1]....
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..., need of tension, experiencing new, exciting) [1]....
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...Increasing numbers of gamers now see video game playing as an opportunity to make a financial living that could potentially change players' gaming motivations [1,16]....
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...Esports as professional (competitive) gaming started to gain prominence in the early 2000s [1]....
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References
14,963 citations
"The Psychology of Esports: A System..." refers methods in this paper
...…(2017) USA Five esport players Semi-structured interviews with competitive League of Legend players Interview analysis based on the inductive and deductive content analysis (Elo and Kyngäs 2008) To identify the mental skills and possible obstacles of esport players to achieve better performance....
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...(2017) USA Five esport players Semi-structured interviews with competitive League of Legend players Interview analysis based on the inductive and deductive content analysis (Elo and Kyngäs 2008) To identify the mental skills and possible obstacles of esport players to achieve better performance....
[...]
13,996 citations
"The Psychology of Esports: A System..." refers background in this paper
...Building on the work of Caillois (2001), Brock (2017) argued that esport could lead to the pursuit of extrinsic rewards over intrinsic ones by playing video games (Ryan and Deci 2000; Ryan et al. 2006)....
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2,900 citations
"The Psychology of Esports: A System..." refers background in this paper
...Similarly to Seo (2016), Kim and Thomas (2015) explored the process how a video game player becomes an esport player utilizing activity theory (Engeström 1993, 1999; Engeström et al. 1999)....
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Frequently Asked Questions (14)
Q2. What have the authors stated for future works in "The psychology of esports: a systematic literature review" ?
The present review systematically collated all the published peer-reviewed empirical studies concerning the psychology of esport players, to draw attention to the topic to academics and researchers in an emerging field of gaming activity, and to encourage future empirical studies in the field of sport psychology. However, there is a paucity of empirical data and further research is needed before any definitive conclusions can be made concerning the psychology of esports. Regarding future research directions, further comparison and evaluation of sports and esport is needed, developing the similarities and the differences between such activities. Accepting esport as a genuine sport and the emerging popularity of this activity could lead future empirical studies to applying the tools and methodologies of sport psychology in their design.
Q3. What are the main motivations of MMORPG players?
Among the motivations for playing were achievement motivations (advancement, mechanics, competition), social motivations (socializing, relationship, teamwork), and immersion factors (discovery, role-playing, customization, escapism).
Q4. What is the popular genre in esports?
Although the FPS and the RTS genres have retained their popularity, the new MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games have become the most popular genre in esports.
Q5. What are the important elements underlying gaming motivations?
For instance, Vorderer and his colleagues (Vorderer 2000; Vorderer et al. 2003) found that the most essential elements underlying gaming motivations are interactivity and competition.
Q6. What are the common sports consumption elements among esport players?
However in-game participation, radio listenership, and team merchandise purchase were less common among esport players than traditional sport players.
Q7. What is the purpose of the present review?
The present review aimed to review all empirical studies examining the psychology of esports, and to draw attention to a new field of video game research.
Q8. What is the popular recreational activity in video games?
Playing video games has become one of the most popular recreational activities, not just among children and adolescents, but also among adults too (Entertainment Software Association 2017).
Q9. What is the effect of novelty on esport viewing?
novelty (i.e., enjoyment of seeing new players and teams on the sport scene) had a moderate association with esport consumption, but the enjoyment of aggression (i.e., witnessing aggressive/hostile behavior by the players), escapism (i.e., using media to forget/avoid everyday problems), and acquiring the knowledge (i.e., learning about players and teams, collect information, learn new skills) positively influenced the frequency of esport spectating.
Q10. How many papers were excluded from the literature review?
based on the inclusion criteria (i.e., an empirical study containing new primary data and published in a peer reviewed journal in the English language), a total of 22 papers were excluded because they were either non-empirical (n=11), were published in conference proceedings or student theses (n=8), or were not specifically focused on esport (n=3).
Q11. What is the main argument of Brock (2017)?
Building on the work of Caillois (2001), Brock (2017) argued that esport could lead to the pursuit of extrinsic rewards over intrinsic ones by playing video games (Ryan and Deci 2000; Ryan et al. 2006).
Q12. What is the meaning of "Playing video games in the higher stages of this model"?
This means that playing video games in the higher stages of this model are considered as work (extrinsic motivations) rather than leisure (intrinsic motivations).
Q13. What does Caillois cite as the main argument for esport?
According to previous game studies, Caillois (2001) argues that competitive gaming in general has a negative impact on people and society when gaming engaged in as a free activity becomes a work activity.
Q14. What were the main goals of Seo’s study?
Seo’s (2016) research goals were threefold, to explore: (i) the elements of esport consumption that make the activity attractive to a career of a professional esport player, (ii) the reasons why esport players want to pursue such a career opportunity, and (iii) how players progress through the identity transformation to aquire a professional gamer identity.