There was a time when gaming was just considered a hobby. Today, it has evolved into a billion-dollar industry. Gaming is now considered a legitimate sport under the name of “eSports.” You will be amazed at the number of gaming tournaments and championships held everywhere, where gamers take part from all over the world!

Now, how did online gaming go from being a hobby to a sport? Let’s find out!

A Brief History of eSports

The first ever gaming competition took place in 1972 at Stanford University for a game called Spacewar. The students were invited to an exclusive event called the Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics and the rest is history!

This introduced the idea of holding eSports competitions and there have been multiple competitions since then! Initially, the prize pool was very small. It was just a year-long subscription to the Rolling Stone magazine. Now, however, decades later the prize pool is placed at millions of dollars! Whoever said that video games rot your brain and there’s no future in them was wrong!

The Games Included in the eSports Industry

You will be glad to know that there is a wide array of games that are included under the umbrella of eSports. These games include the following:

• Tekken 8: First the Tekken Tournaments used to be dominated by Tekken 7. However, things changed when Tekken 8 was released. The new game introduced more mechanics and to win a match, you would need superfast graphics and strategies.
• Rocket League: Imagine regular soccer, but you use rocket-powered cars instead of humans! It’s a pretty fun game to play once you get the hang of it.
• Call of Duty: If you like first-person shooter games, then you would enjoy Call of Duty for sure. Two teams compete against each other and the one with the highest kills wins. Sometimes, there are other objectives that you have to complete, and the team that completes it first, wins.
• Valorant: Just like Call of Duty, Valorant is another first-person shooter game that is popular worldwide. The game is split between two teams and each character has their specialized ability. Within each team, there are attackers and defenders. For either team, you have to plant a spike and defend it. The opposing team will try to defuse the spike and whichever team wins the most rounds wins.

These are some of the most common games that are played in eSports competitions. These are games that even you can play if you give them some dedicated time. I’ll get to that in the section ahead.

How to Start Playing Online Games at Home?

Who says you need to be a big shot before you take part in an online competition? Even the current champions, put in endless hours of practice before they reached where they are today. For instance, the undisputed Tekken champion, Arslan Ash from Pakistan, has been playing Tekken ever since he was a young boy.

He first excelled at Tekken 7 and became the champion and he is now the champion of Tekken 8 as well. Similarly, it would help if you began with the idea that you want to be the best and start putting in time for practice.

You may also have online campaigns with people from all over the world. This will help you polish your skills so you can harness all your abilities and master your reflexes and focus.

What Should Your Gaming Setup Include?

Remember that a gamer is only as good as their gear. You will have to pay a lot of attention to your gaming setup to enjoy flawless gaming experience. First and foremost, your online gaming depends entirely on your internet connection – it has to be fast and reliable enough.

Whenever I have to start an online campaign with my friends, I always rely on my superfast Xfinity Internet connection and it never lets me down. The latency rate is low enough for me to rarely have problems during my gaming sessions!

Once you get your internet connection figured out, you can move towards your PC specs. You can start with a minimalistic 2K monitor that’ll give you all the graphics that you need. You don’t have to go overboard with a 4K monitor.

You may either opt for an Intel chip or an AMD Ryzen chip for your CPU. If you’re getting an Intel chip, an i7 should be more than enough for you. Similarly, you can go for the Ryzen 7000 series for an AMD chip.

Next up, there’s your GPU. If you intend on getting an AMD graphics card then you can consider getting the AMD Radeon RX 7600 but if you want one from NVIDIA, you can get the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060.

An Added Bonus Tip

Once you start playing online games, make sure to focus on one game at a time. If you indulge in multiple games at once, you will divert your focus and won’t be able to enjoy any of them. So focus on one at a time and make the best out of every online game till you can take part in a competition.