Better Eyesight In The Dark

A study done in 2009 showed that gaming gives your eyes plenty of exercise which in turn helps you see better in the dark. This is most noticable if you play video games where there isn’t a whole lot of contrast such as Call of Duty which is one of the games included in the study as the game uses a fairly dark color palette. This trains your brain and your eyes to get better at distinguishing things in a low contrast setting which can then be used in real life while driving at dusk or on a foggy day.

Quicker Reaction Times

If you play a fast paced action game it can lead to you having a quicker reaction time overall. These kinds of games can also lead to you becoming better at focusing in general but also teach you how to focus intently on the task at hand. This can later be applied in real life to focus on a task in school or at work which can help you perform at a higher level than before.

Moderation Is Key

Even though there are plenty of positive effects of gaming, it doesn’t mean that there are no downsides. If you spend all day playing video games every day your health will eventually begin to suffer one way or another. So be sure to take breaks every now and then to get as many of the positive effects as possible while staying away from the negative ones.

What Does E-sport Mean?

Simply put, e-sport is what professional gaming is called. It might sound like a very relaxing career to just sit around and play videogames when you feel like it and then just relaxing the rest of the time. But the fact is that members of an e-sports organisation often have to practice several hours a day while staying in good physical shape to further improve performance.

So while they do get to do something that they love, which is playing video games. They often have to sacrifice most of their social lives and other hobbies in order to become the very best. This means that it’s definitely not a career path that suits everyone. But if you are interested in pursuing a career in e-sports there are a few things you can do to increase your chances.

How To Become A Professional Gamer

When you want to become a professional gamer and join an e-sports organisation there are a few different paths you can take to do so. The most important thing however is to make sure that you are very good at your game of choice. Games like Dota, League of Legends and Overwatch all have millions of players and you need to be in the top 0.1% to even stand a chance so make sure to get a whole lot of practice.

When it comes to getting noticed by an organisation you can either try to climb to the top of your respective games ranked ladder, apply for tryouts when organisations are looking for players or start streaming your gameplay on a platform like Twitch to get yourself out there. The best thing is to do use all three of these methods to increase your chances of being able to become a professional gamer.

Why Online Gaming Is So Popular

There is no definite reason as to why online gaming has become as popular as it currently is. Just a few years ago video games were considered something that only nerds could enjoy but today the vast majority of people do take part in online gaming.

It can lead to a number of positive things such as increase brain function, faster reactiontimes and better problem solving abilities. This means that online gaming is very good for you, thegamer as you can ger healthier at the same time as you can make friends around the world and learn a whole lot about different cultures and more, all from playing video games online.

What Are Some Of The Biggest Online Games At The Moment

Most of the games mentioned above are very popular at the moment. Only a few years ago MMORPG’S such as WoW was the most popular genre and new games that were similar kept showing up. Nowadays it’s far more popular with MOBA games such as League of Legends and FPS games like Overwatch simply because they are really easy to bring to the e-sports scene.

Survival games are also incredibly popular even though they are rare to come across in e-sports. But if you go on Youtube Gaming or Twitch you can ususally find tons of streams and videos from survival games such as H1Z1, Ark and so on. The important thing to remember is that online gaming is an ever changing thing and the games that are popular today could be gone by tomorrow.

Dreamhack

Dreamhack takes place once a year in the city of Jönköping in Sweden. A number a big games host a number of tournaments at Dreamhack which makes it a must to attend if you live in Europe and you’re serious about your gaming. What originally started as a big LAN party now sees tons of big tournaments when it’s hosted, in fact the very first world championship for League of Legends took place at Dreamhack. The event takes place in the middle of June every year but is currently expanding to take place in more locations.

The International

The International is the biggest tournament in the game Dota 2 and is where you can see the best players in the game on a big stage. It’s been held in Seattle every year for the past six years and will be held there again this year. Even if you can’t make it there in person you can still catch all of the action online as it is streamed on a number of platforms. For people who aren’t too familiar with the game there is usually a newbie stream availible where everything is explained in a way that is easy for newcomers to understand. The International takes place in August every year,

League of Legends World Championship

Notably one of the biggest events for one individual game is the world championship for League of Legends. While the very first world championship in 2009 was held at Dreamhack in front of a handful of viewers. Nowadays the tournament fills up entire arenas and millions more follow the streams from home. The event takes place in different locations each year and takes place in October each year.

PAX

PAX started out as an event that was created mainly for games and gamers back in 2004. It started out as a fairly small event that then doubled in size each and every year up until it reached the massive size that it is today. PAX originated in Seattle but eventually expanded to PAX East which is held in Boston each year, the original PAX in Seattle is now referred to as Pax West.

Even though PAX has expanded to be about alot more than just gaming during later years, the main focus is still on games. Plenty of games offer exclusive content for attendants, League of Legends often offer exclusive skins at PAX for example, these skins are impossible to get any other way. Pax West takes place in the start of September while Pax East takes place in the middle of March.

E3

E3 is the abbreviation for the Electronics Entertainment Expo and is one of the biggest gaming events of the year. A whole bunch of big publishers of video games choose to announce upcoming titles at E3 and you can often try out games that are currently in development. When a new console is in the making you can usually catch a glimpse of this as well at E3. In 2017 E3 will take placein the middle of June, the 13th to the 15th to be more specific and will be in Los Angeles, California. So if you like video games and cutting edge technology you should most definitely visit E3 as you can get your fill of both things.

Other Popular E-Sports Games

Other than MOBA games the most popular games in E-sports are First Person Shooters or FPS games as they are commonly referred to. These often are very self explanatory, just kill the enemies and occasionally plant or defuse a bomb as in CSGO or hold a point as in Overwatch. So the key to a game becoming a succesful E-sports franchise is mostly in the simplicity.

Camera Friendly

Another criteria for a game becoming a succesful E-sports is that it is spectator or camera friendly. Games like CSGO and Overwatch have very intriquate spectator cameras which makes them perfect for spectating. This means that livesteams can get all the necessary angles and casters can get all the visual information needed to properly relay information to the viewers.

Team Games

This is not a criteria, but all the most popular games in e-sports are team games. Meaning that a team can usually start it’s own franchice to expand into several other games. There are still games out there that play out in a one versus one setting such as Super Smash Bros and other fighting games. These are not as popular as the team based giants that are mentioned above though.

It is becoming more common to see teams expand into all of the biggest games, some popular organisations to do this is Team Solo Mid who are originally from League of Legends, FNATIC who are originally from Counter Strike and Team Dignitas who are originally from Battlefield 1942. So it is not too uncommon to see e-sports organizations expand into various games.

People Change

This may sound fairly philosophical but the gamers are constantly changing and developing. Due to this you most likely won’t like the same things in five years as you do today. This is evident when you look at gaming as most people tend to jump around between different genres depending on where they are in life.

When people are young and have alot of time on their hands they tend to play games that can take up alot of their time to keep from getting too bored. Games like Minecraft which theoretically have no end in sight, or MMORPG’s where you constantly upgrade your character and then try to climb the pvp ladder once you reach endgame are very popular among young people.

However when you reach adulthood and get a job or start a family you no longer have as much time to put into gaming. At this point most people will gravitate towards games that take less time such as FPS games which usually have short rounds or racing games which also tend to have shorter rounds.

Domino Effect

When it comes to gaming online it has always been, and most likely always will be a very social experience. You play with or against people that you eventually get to know in most video games. Due to this you may be tempted to switch to a new game, or a whole new genre if enough people ask you to. This means that one player leaving the game could potentially lead to hundreds or thousands of players leaving in rapid succession.

What Dota 2 Does

Dota 2 instead opts to host a number of tournaments around the globe, these tournaments have a prize pool can be anything from $25 000 up to several million. Professional teams take part in the Majors in hopes of winning the first prize to secure a whole lot of money for their organization. You would think that due to this being a fairly unique thing it would not be the best one. But the fact is that Dota 2 currently is the highest paying e-sport in the whole world, so they are clearly doing something right.

Majors

Majors are what the biggest tournaments for Dota 2 are called. These have a prize pool consisting of millions of dollars and they are played every few months. The most recent Majors were The Boston Major which took place in December of 2016 and saw OG as the winners. There was another Major that took place in April which was The Kiev Major where OG once again took the first place and the biggest cut of the prize pool.

Upcoming Dota 2 Tournaments

There are a few upcoming events that are going to take place during the summer. First up is The Manila Masters on May 26th, mid June will also be a busy time for Dota 2 fans as the Epicenter tournament and The Summit both take place at roughly the same time on June 9th and June 14th respectively. July will see the DreamLeague tournament on the 21st and in August The International takes place which is one of the biggest tournaments in all of Dota 2. The International is played on August 12th this year so be sure to keep an eye out of that.