STACK #166 Aug 2018

GAMES FEATURE

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A concise history of esports Since the inception of video games, competition has existed with players battling over high scores in early arcades. But over time, and as technology progressed, competitive gaming moved from hotly contested LAN parties to the commercial arena competitions now evident around the globe. But how did we get here? Here’s a brief history to esports.

1972 – Originally created by Steve Russell in 1962, by the early ‘70s, Spacewar! was available for a variety of computer systems. In 1972, Stamford University held the first documented competitive event using Spacewar! . The winner scored an annual subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. 1980 – With Space Invaders becoming killer app for the Atari 2600, in 1980 10,000 entrants fought for the title in the

2000s – The noughties witnessed an expansion in esport tournaments including the Electronic Sports World Cup, World Cyber Games and the Major Gaming League, still the most popular and successful to this day. In 2009 MOBA League of Legends was released; it remains not just a mainstay of esports competition, but one of the most played games on the planet. While esports is still somewhat in the Wild West in terms of governing bodies, it has and continues to grow exponentially, and in 2017 close to $US111 million dollars was awarded in prize money.

of achievements, was founded by Walter Day. 1990s – With a new decade came the Internet. Home consoles were ubiquitous and when hooked up, competitive gaming through connected networks took off with Nintendo and Blockbuster sponsoring early events. It also signaled the rise in PC gaming and in 1997 the Red Annihilation tournament, featuring the first-person

Professional League was founded, becoming one of the first gaming leagues to make shooters and sports titles its predominant focus. This all changed when Blizzard released the real-time strategy title StarCraft in 1998 The game found traction in South Korea where the burgeoning professional gaming scene was soon established.

National Space Invaders Championship won by Bill Heineman. 1981 – Twin Galaxies, a company that began recording high scores at video arcades to compile a record book

shooter Quake , is widely considered to be the fist official esports event. The prize? A Ferrari.

Not long after, the Cyberathlete

MOBA – multiplayer online battle arena FPS – first person shooter Shoutcaster – commentator Ult – ‘ultimate’ ability Emote – dance/other form of expression used in game to taunt/otherwise communicate with allies/enemies Voice lines – similar to emotes but audio only – will sometimes trigger only when near certain other champions

Skins – alternate forms/appearances of characters GGWP – "good game, well played" GLHF – "good luck, have fun" MMR – matchmaking rating – varies between games but is generally a rating against others as to how well you fare in your region Meta – the perceived ‘correct’ way to play the game, or a more suited role for a champion or hero. What’s popular in the game at any given point

OP – overpowered Nerf – make weaker; change a character’s ability kit to make them less viable in game Buff – improve a character/item’s in-game presence Strat – strategy Ranked queue – a game type to queue in when you want to increase your MMR AFK – "away from keyboard"

CS – creep score – number of minions killed Loot boxes

Glossary Some of the words you’re likely to hear thrown around at these kinds of events and what they mean – a handy guide.

– rewards obtained for levelling up – can also be bought. Include cosmetic improvements such as skins, emotes, voice lines and sprays F2P – free to play Spray – an in-game sticker you can place in the world HP – hit points/health points

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AUGUST 2018

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