14 DAY TRIAL // Video games are becoming more and more popular, and with them, the eSports scene grows every year, without showing any signs of stopping.
eSports will become so big that they will eventually turn into "the predominant hobby in the world," according to former Starcraft 2 pro Sean "Day9" Plott.
He has recently told Business Insider that he expects them to continue their rampant growth, making a pretty solid argument for his case.
The main driving force behind eSports is accessibility, as children don't require to possess a particular body size or shape in order to play them, and there are no geographical barriers to overcome.
You don't even need to have others who share the same hobby in order to be able to play them at a competitive level, as is the case of traditional competitive team sports.
There are no gender restrictions, no need for any specialized equipment other than a computer, and you don't require to have specific facilities in order to be able to train or play.
"If you want to play soccer, you need a huge field. If you want to play football, you need armor! If you want to play squash, you need a court. If you want to play a video game, all you need is a computer and an internet connection," Plott points out.
He compares the experience of seeing LeBron James play a basketball match and getting inspired by his performance, then finding an available basketball court, changing into sneakers and gym clothes, getting a basketball, and convincing a few friends to play a game, with the seamless experience of playing a League of Legends match and trying to emulate a pro's maneuvers.
Video games have exploded in popularity in recent years
Any person with an Internet connection is able to watch any professional match at any time, either live or on replay, for free on Twitch and YouTube. This eliminates a pretty big barrier that many face when trying to engage in physical activities, as you can get into the game and start playing like the pros much more easily in video games than in any other sport.
The potential of eSports goes well beyond simply defining a new direction for video games, as many developers have tried to push the multiplayer component of their games to eSport status, trying to take advantage of the huge momentum of the MOBA genre, led by Dota and League of Legends.
As was shown during last year's ESPN coverage of The International, the huge Dota 2 championship hosted by Valve, eSports can draw even bigger crowds than traditional sporting events. The broadcaster mentioned looking to expand its video games coverage in the future at the time, so a future in which we can tune in to more than just Twitch in order to watch various competitions does not sound as outlandish as it would have a few years back.