Differences Between Gaming and Esports

The stakes are getting higher in the professional gaming scene not only as streamers dictate which games are popular through what games they stream, and the viewer count per game. Twitch is one streaming platform where a lot of gamers stream the games they play, and several titles are “competing” for the most popular status.

Most Watched Games in Twitch as shown by Newzoo.com.

As shown by Newzoo.com, Dota 2 is currently the most popular or most watched video game on Twitch. Just below Dota 2 are Overwatch, Apex Legends, Elden Ring, and Grant Theft Auto V. Of these five games, only the first three can be considered esports, while Elden Ring and GTA V are not and are simply called video games.

Elden Ring’s popularity can be attributed to the fact that it’s a relatively new game. GTA V’s popularity is arguably thanks to many top streamers playing on the NoPixel roleplay server, where people roleplay as different characters and produce content in-game. These games may have a multiplayer aspect, but they can’t exactly be called esports due to the nature of such games and the fact that competitive matches don’t exist in these games.

However, even some games with a pseudo-competitive scene like Minecraft also aren’t esports, even if there are professional players who compete in events. Just because a game has a competitive scene, it doesn’t mean that it’s automatically an esports title. So, what makes a game an esports title? What’s the difference between a regular video game and an esports title? What’s the difference between gaming and esports? Why do sportsbooks offer some video game events odds and not others?

Gaming is Casual

Gaming is simply the term for playing any kind of video game. So, it doesn’t take people to play certain video games to be considered “gamers,” Anyone, even girls, can automatically become gamers by playing whatever video game they want. Boys don’t need to be sexist, and gamers don’t need to be particular with certain games and force people to play certain games just to be called a gamer.

Newzoo’s data on the percentage of gamers per persona.

Based on the graph above, women account for a large percentage of gaming enthusiasts, including in the Ultimate Gamers and All Game Enthusiasts categories. According to Newzoo, the Ultimate Gamers are those “who live and breathe all things games across all facets of the market,” while the All Game/All-Round Enthusiasts are those “enthusiastic about all aspects about gaming” but not to the same extent as Ultimate Gamers.

Even girls play a lot of games these days, and these aren’t the stereotypical girly-girl, and very simple games as a lot of female gamers excel at esports titles like League of Legends, and a lot of them also roleplay in certain GTA servers.

Gaming is typically a casual activity of playing a video game, may it be a platform game, a roleplaying game, a single-player game, or a multiplayer game. Not even playing esports titles like CS: GO, Dota 2, League of Legends, and others mean that a gamer is not simply gaming.

Esports have High Risk and High Reward

The competitive esports scene is populated by professionals. These professionals are way different from the ordinary gamer as they’ve literally spent thousands of hours into their games of choice and compete in competitions where ordinary gamers will easily get owned.

The term “esports” is a combination of the words “electronics” and “sports,” which means competitive video games. Esports have already been inherently competitive since the 1970s, but the idea of large crowds watching people compete and having a high prize pool only became popular in the 2000s when more people had access to the internet.

The first games that attracted attention included Quake, Counter-Strike 1.6, Warcraft 3, Starcraft, and more until newer versions of one game appeared with fresh updates or newer games were released. Today’s most popular titles include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, and NBA 2K. While there are still competitive matches in some older games, not all of them can be considered professional esports events today.

Apart from older games, there are also other video games with a competitive scene today with no formal esports events and no odds offered by formal bookmakers. The pros playing games such as those part of the Command & Conquer series, CS 1.6, Minecraft, and others usually compete in events held by the active fanbase. Only Minecraft has an active fanbase numbering in the millions of the games mentioned. However, it still cannot be considered an esports title even with whatever competitive events it may have.

Not all video games are suitable for esports, and there are some criteria that titles must meet to be considered an esports title:

Be entertaining to watch
Be easy to pick up but hard to master
Be easy to follow by outsiders or at least viewers who also play the game
Have enough in-game variables to keep games exciting

Because some video game communities are only barely kept alive by the fan communities, not a lot of people will want to watch the game and bet on matches to warrant having high price pools. Minecraft itself is easy to pick up and can easily be followed by outsiders when watching the PVP or Player vs Player action. Still, it’s not exactly entertaining to watch block characters fighting other block characters.

Some video games easily fit into the esports category while others don’t even with extensive support from the existing fan communities.

What This Means for Esports Betting

Regardless of how entertaining certain competitive matches are for the video games’ respective fanbases, they won’t gain much attention to warrant bookmakers providing odds for them. The Command & Conquer community is one relatively small community focused on Command & Conquer games, except Command & Conquer 4, with small-scale competitions and outstanding commentators, but there’s virtually no option to bet on their matches.

Certain games are in the sights of different sportsbooks because of the game’s popularity. Among the most popular games these days not only include newer titles and modern versions of old games, but also classics like Warcraft 3. WC3 competitions are still held using the classic The Frozen Throne graphics even though a Reforged version is available. As long as a game is popular, it doesn’t matter how old the game is; there is a chance to bet on it when looking to bet on e sport in Malaysia and Singapore through TF Gaming.

Anyone who wants to participate in online betting in Malaysia or Singapore through esports betting should consider how to bet legally in both countries and adopt the common traits that successful sports bettors have. The bettors won’t be missing out anyway since the popular games covered by sportsbooks today are popular for a reason. Such games are fun and exciting to watch.