TAMPA – Everyone is into video games these days, including Hillsborough County Parks & amp; The leisure department. The county has its own sports program.
Basically, esports stands for electronic sports or competitive video games. Millions now see players compete for millions in prize money.
Robert Cruz grew up playing video games, and now runs the county esports program at Northdale Park & amp; Recreation Centers e-sports lounge in Carrollwood.
The lounge is filled with about 20 different video games. It opened last summer for all ages, but the average age of current participants is 7 to 12 years old, he said. Last spring, the county opened another e-sports lounge at the Emanuel P. Johnson Recreation Center in Progress Village.
Cruz, 29, is a native of Oviedo and holds a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Minnesota. He honed his skills in competitive e-sports by playing Overwatch.
He spoke with the Tampa Bay Times about the county’s video game program, how skilled professional e-sports players are, and why some can make millions by competing.
Why is it called esports? Why not something like egaming?
When you think of esports, a lot of people think of it as a hypercompetitive game, as if you’re being paid to do this, you’re a professional organization, and that’s what you do for your job.
Unlike traditional sports, we have not reached the point where we can distinguish between the different types of e-sports or just gaming in general. See the article : Additions to Netflix’s Schedule: New Series and Movies Coming July 4-10. It is called esports, and no one has really branched out or tried to create expressions that would (denote) the differences in them, so it is all-encompassing in the present day and age.
Can someone make a living playing hyper-competitive esports?
Yes. There are people who do this to live. I actually knew someone who ended up getting paid, not to play, but to train. On the same subject : An Iowa man earns enough money from video game farms to buy a real-life farm. He was recognized and signed by a professional organization to train their team.
The organizations are looking for gamers within their infrastructure. They want to hire people who know their game and know what their community wants and wants.
How many esports players are able to make money?
Right now, I would say that there is probably less than 1% – equivalent to that of professional football in America – actually living. See the article : Politics Report: People asked for the time and now they have the time because what they really wanted was time.
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I know for a fact that the people who are in the Overwatch League, the professional organization for the video game Overwatch, they are like 0.00001 percent of the total game (players). They are so small a set of people that it’s just hard to figure out how few of them there are.
When I played the game, I got to the top 1%. I felt accomplished, but then you look at those players, and if I had to play against any of (them), which was very rare, maybe once or twice, they were just on a whole different level.
How much prize money can be won in competitions?
I will give you (the international Dota 2 championship) which I think is the biggest prize pool. The prize pool for the invitation was $ 40 million in 2021.
Team Spirit took home $ 18.2 million.
(Editor’s note: Team Spirit, a group of Russian players, won the biggest pool of money in e-sports history in October by playing Dota 2, a multiplayer online fighting game.)
How do you accommodate players using the esports lounge?
If you are in our after school or our summer program, we have set times during the week where they can come and use our lounge.
For the most part, what we have done is that we have configured it to where we can maximize the number of children playing at any given time.
(More than one can play) many of the games. Say, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, you can take four to six at any one time in one game.
We have more than enough space to accommodate a bunch of kids. In the summer camp right now, what we do is that we have a group that has room for the whole day so they can come and go as they please. Since they need to rotate children in and out of that room, they are able to do it all day.
When it comes to open play nights (for) the public, the most we have had in the room at any given time is 24 children. And everyone still got the game and did not wait too long. Most of the kids like to play Fortnite on the back wall, so I have them play duos. And if I have to have someone on the deck, the person with the smallest eliminations (in the game) will turn off. …
If someone is waiting, they do not wait for more than a maximum of 10 minutes.
How did you get into this?
I’ve been playing video games pretty much my whole life. I used to see my dad play Tomb Raider and probably some other games that were not very age-appropriate at the time. They were horror games so they are very scary to me so I had nightmares.
I didn’t really get into the multiplayer aspect of video games, really, until Halo: Combat Evolved (in 2001). But when I really started to find out the true potential for myself, I was playing Overwatch and I was going to the University of Minnesota to get my master’s degree.
I ended up trying for the (high school) Overwatch team … In our first season, we got all the way to the top 50.
It was a fun time and I still have contact with all the people. We did things outside of the game together as a group. We would always pick up food or something on campus and watch events. They wanted to hold primaries for the Overwatch League at the university.
I think what made it an influential experience for me is that I’m in a completely different area coming from Orlando. I did not know anyone and these people welcomed me with open arms and we were just fine, just a bunch of strangers coming together for the first time. We showed that we were capable of success.
People blame video games for so much. What’s your take?
I would say it really depends on what the kids are playing. And there are also a lot of other forms of entertainment media that are just as violent. This is something that has gone on since the invention of television and just basic entertainment in general.
I would not put this directly on video games, but I would say that when the only type of entertainment you eat is relatively violent, from different states, then it seems to be a problem of monitoring what is happening, perhaps at home too though. I do not think video games are to blame.
They tried to blame Columbine for the game Doom. There are plenty of other people who played the game Doom in the early 90s who did not do what they did. Blaming video games alone, I think, is unfair.
Can video games be addictive?
I would think, yes, but that also applies to any hyperstimulating form of entertainment medium.
What is different about video games from other forms of entertainment is that they are interactive. You enter input and you see it on the screen in relation to e.g. TV (where) you get to know what’s going on and you just eat it.
Learn more
For more information on Hillsborough County Parks & amp; The leisure department’s sports program, click here.
Why are gamers not athletes?
Although video games require lots of skill and quick reflexes in the fingers, professional video games do not require the physical nature of the sport. Being able to move your thumbs quickly does not make you an athlete. Playing video games is not a sport but a hobby.
Can athletes be gamers? Most players play sports video games to live out their athletic fantasies in the cyber world. Athletes do not have to live substitute through a video game, but many of them still enjoy playing.
Is a gamer considered an athlete?
Note the phrases “or physical training” and “especially athletics” are used, meaning that the term athletes is not exclusive to physical versions of sports. So for sure, as long as esports can be considered a sport, pro esports players should be able to consider themselves athletes.
Can video gamers be counted as true athletes?
Yes, video games should be considered a sport. Anchored in competition that involves athletic ability, requires training and physical activity, takes place in stadiums and cheered on by fierce fanatics, checking video games and games of them all the necessary boxes.
Is gaming a talent?
It requires no talents that one cannot get better at. Play is a skill and you can hone this skill over time with practice. Once you are good at this skill, you have no idea how good it can be for you. It can be beneficial for you as a person to improve your cognitive abilities.
Is gaming a real career? Gaming as a career is always a viable choice. There are lots of jobs in the gaming market in various fields. Game developers employ thousands of people, as do esports tournament companies and esports teams. There are lots of jobs in gaming and all industries related to playing video games.
What is a talent example?
Talents can include innovation, adaptability, persuasion, communication and teamwork. You may have previously described these abilities as “soft skills”, and in a way, “talent” is another term for “soft skills”.
What talents do gamers have?
Valuable skills developed through video games
- Take a risk. …
- Patience and perseverance. …
- Problem solving. …
- Strategic planning. …
- Concentration. …
- Management. …
- Social skills. …
- Critical thinking.
Is gaming a waste of time?
But consider balancing these activities, including games: you neglect your friends, family, your mental and physical health, and your career. If this is the case for you, then gaming is a waste of time – just as any other activity with the same trade-offs would be to this extent.
Is gaming a waste of time?
But consider balancing these activities, including games: you neglect your friends, family, your mental and physical health, and your career. If this is the case for you, then gaming is a waste of time – just as any other activity with the same trade-offs would be to this extent.
Are all games a waste of time? Some games are even specifically designed to be a waste of time. But games are no more waste than, for example, reading a book or watching a movie. Nor is it less.
Is 1 hour of gaming OK?
Video games for less than an hour a day were associated with better-suited children and teens in the study. The study by Oxford University researchers found no positive or negative effects for young people who played ‘moderately’ between one and three hours a day.
Is gaming not a waste of time?
Playing video games can make you a better college student. A new study showed that games improved generic skills such as problem solving, communication, ingenuity and may have a role to play in higher education.
Why gaming is waste of time?
Video games can be a huge waste of time. Like watching TV or spending time on Facebook, playing video games can also waste a lot of time. If you play thoughtlessly, avoid life and end up not getting what you should have done, then you are wasting officially and literally time.
