Based on a critical discussion, the results of the coding were combined with the objective facts of the current esports industry and theories from similar fields to reconstruct the construction of an esports definition. In addition, the relationship between esports and its related concepts was discussed based on the proposed esports definition structure. The proposed esports criteria can help avoid misunderstandings and confusion in future studies regarding the research subjects related to esports and propose standardized usage of relevant terms in the field of esports research. While there is no team promotion or relegation, players can be signed onto contracts, traded among teams, or let go as free agents, and new players may be pulled from the esports’ equivalent minor league. While it is common for video games to be designed with the experience of the player in game being the only priority, many successful esports games have been designed to be played professionally from the beginning. Developers may decide to add dedicated esports features, or even make design compromises to support high level competition.

Although these endeavors are still in their early stages, they show the potential. Additionally, under the guidelines of conceptual analysis, we analyzed alternative terms and related concepts of esports, and using the proposed esports framework, we identified commonalities and differences among these activities. We also observe overlapping areas or “gray zones” between these activities, resulting from the development of the gaming and esports industry, as well as related gaming technologies. There is a long history of different esports teams or certain players in leagues that aren’t exactly the same as most players. For example, there are many esports organizations or teams that are entirely made up of players that have physical disabilities.

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There Is no running, jumping, or ball sports involved, but reflexes to respond fast are required. Updates And Balance/meta Adjustments Have A significant impact on how games are played and scored in many esports games. After A sport is recognized as official in any capacity, changes to its regulations are uncommon. Regulations Are updated more frequently and new ones are added all the time in esports. From another perspective, during this period when esports is not yet universally recognized, when a certain category of esports games attains a significant player base, its level of commercialization steadily increases. This allows the general public to have opportunities to understand and become aware of it, and the game to gain acceptance and support within the esports community.

In the 1990s, many games benefited from increasing internet connectivity, especially PC games. PC games played at the CPL included the Counter-Strike series, Quake series, StarCraft, and Warcraft. Historically, women have been underrepresented in esports, despite the fact that they make up around 45 percent of all video game players. Due to the limitation of searching only English literature in this paper, some discussions and research on esports from countries with well-developed esports industries and fields, such as China and South Korea, may be missing, resulting in gaps in a comprehensive understanding of esports. For example, there is the varying recognition and status of mobile games in the field of esports in Asian and Western countries 23.

China And South Africa Were Among The First Few Countries (together With South Korea) To Recognize Esports As A Legitimate Sport. Ukraine Was The Most Recent Nation To Acknowledge Esports As A Legitimate Sport. In September 2020, The Nation Formally Acknowledged Esports As A Legitimate Sport. Currently, Esports Are Recognized As A Legitimate Sport In Nations Including The US, Finland, And Even Germany, Which Is Known For Its Reserve. The hierarchical structure of coding results, including core categories, subthemes, and higher-order themes.

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Additionally, establishing standardized terminology in the gaming field can avoid misuse in various studies and prevent misunderstandings of different research outcomes. With the continuous development and popularization of the gaming industry, in future game research, we need to establish a standardized system of gaming terminology to standardize and promote these studies and help the public better understand and interpret the research findings. Based on this concept, we found that virtual sports share some commonality with the definition of physical esports. Additionally, we can find some activities that fit the definition of virtual sports or physical esports start to appear in formal international esports competitions. For example, Formula One Esports Series has become one of the important esports tournaments since 2017; Just Dance became a formal competition in Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) in 2017 and 2019. The classification of virtual sports as esports, as well as the specific types of virtual sports that can be considered esports, still require further exploration and substantiation through additional theoretical and empirical evidence. Nonetheless, the current findings indicate the potential for such categorization.

For example, until 2018 Riot Games ran several League of Legends series, with the League of Legends Championship Series being the top-tier series. Teams that did not do well were relegated to the League of Legends Challenger Series, replaced by the better performing teams from that series. This format was discontinued when Riot opted to use the franchise format in mid-2018, but the promotion and relegation format still exists within Southeast Asia’s Pacific Championship Series and in North America’s new tier 2 league, the North American Challengers Series, as of 2024. Furthermore, among the other 45 articles, 8 articles suggested that esports should be played within a local area network, with players gathering in stadiums and arenas, while 2 articles mentioned that esports could be played online or remotely. Regarding the usage of the term “online” in the definition, we referred to the literal meaning explanation provided by the Oxford Dictionary. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “online” means “controlled by or connected to a computer or the Internet”. This implies that the term “online” not only refers to playing esports on the Internet (remotely) but also includes playing within a local network.

Therefore, it is widely acknowledged that esports originates from computer games and video games 31,45,46. Among these 231 articles, 15 of them specifically define esports as “computer games”. In different contexts, computer games can refer to PC games installed on operating systems such as Windows or Mac OS, controlled and played using devices like keyboards, mice, or game controllers. It can also encompass video games with a broader range of Don’t Break The platforms and control methods. Secondly, neither the related papers nor the current esports competitions provide any supporting evidence or theoretical reasoning as to why esports should be limited to PC games. Other forms of games (mobile games, motion-controlled games) have already been accepted by official international esports competitions, such as the World Cyber Games (WCG), Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), and Asian Games. Therefore, the terms “video games” or “electronic games” might be more suitable for defining esports.