How to start playing and watching esports? There are a lot of possible entrances to the esports world. Maybe the best and most popular are playing esports competitively and watching esports matches or tournaments. Basically, we can compare this to sports, for example, football. There are people who play football, just for fun as a hobby, or on a more competitive level and there are people who love football, but are just following it closely and watching the games, leagues, and competitions.
The same thing can apply to esports. Let us try to introduce you to playing esports games and watching those same games.
How to start playing
Esports is playing video games but on a competitive level against other real players, usually in a tournament format featuring prize pools. To be able to participate in any esport title you should:
Decide which game you want to play. The first important thing is whether you like First Person Shooters more, or Simulation games or MOBA maybe. If you are good in League of Legends for example (MOBA), you should try to compete and test your competitive nature. That’s the next thing you need to have, competitiveness and motivation. There are people who like to focus on one game, but there are people who like to play multiple esports games and are good at a few of them too. For start, pick the game that you are good at (keep in mind not all games are played competitively as esports titles).
Join the communities. Find communities and forums where that game and its tournaments/tactics are being discussed. Find friends, play with them, and talk with them about tactics, moves, and matches. Some games are played in a single mode, some in 5v5 mode (like League of Legends), so you will need to meet people and create a team with which you will compete or play ladder.
Training. Train tactics, moves, and strategy. Watch replays and learn from the best players and teams in the world. Try to copy their tactic and get a better understanding of the game. Learn in game terms. Play the game ladder and advance on game rankings to get better and get noticed.
Play tournaments/leagues. Esports is all about competitive nature and that adrenaline rush when you are winning or doing something good. It’s about winning in the end. That feeling when you beat your opponent and outsmart it in a computer game, so so satisfying. That’s what makes playing and competing in esports titles and tournaments so fun and contagious. There is something for everyone out there. Amateur competitions or professional ones. Start from smaller ones without the prize pool and continue to the bigger ones where you will get rewarded if you become good enough.
How to watch esports
Watching esports games, matches, tournaments, and leagues is pretty simple. Twitch.tv is the biggest platform for players and organizations to stream their games and tournaments. Most players are on Twitch streaming their day-to-day games. It’s the same with the tournaments and leagues – Twitch is number one. Some tournaments are streamed on YouTube or Facebook Gaming, but those are in the minority. You can visit Twitch.tv and their esports directory, and see the list of all active esports matches and tournaments that are currently live.
Some of the most popular esports games on Twitch.tv are:
- League of Legends
- Fortnite
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Dota 2
- Valorant
- PUBG
- Starcraft 2
- APEX Legends
- Overwatch
All the biggest esports tournaments in the world are streamed on their Twitch channels. For example, you can watch:
- League of Legends World Championship
- LoL Mid-Season Invitational
- Dota 2 The International
- Dota 2 DPC
- IEM Katowice
- CS:GO Majors
- ESL Pro League
Some of the Dota 2 tournaments, for example, you can watch from the game client itself. Basically, it looks like you are in the game with the players. You can follow their every move rather than watch observers on Twitch streams adjusting the camera as they want.
So to watch the esports games and tournaments, you need an internet connection, laptop, PC or smartphone, Twitch.tv app or browser and you can watch live games in bed, at work, from home, or anywhere you want. If you follow esports and you have your favorite teams or players that you cheer for, this can give you the same or even better experience when you watch your favorite football team on TV live, for example.
