Are E-Sports the Future of Entertainment? – Slate Magazine (blog)

Competitive video gaming, or e-sports, is a growing cultural phenomenon tied to a shift in the way people socialize around video games and consumer technology. It has all the trademarks of professional athletics—TV deals, teams, sponsorships, fans, big prize money, cults of celebrity for top players, and so on. The cultural reach of e-sports extends far beyond the stadiums filled with fans. It’s a fast-growing form of global popular culture whose growth is a case study of how society leverages new technologies to satiate its age-old appetite for public spectacle and competition. The question isn’t whether electronic sports are the future of sports—the question we should all be asking is, “Are e-sports the future of entertainment?”