Back in the early 2000’s, when gaming first became a big thing, it was simply seen as being a hobby. Because, surely, playing video games couldn’t be anything more than time-wasting, right? Actually, that’s wrong. Just like any other hobby gaming requires a specialist skillset and knowledge. Plus, it actually is good for you - gaming can relieve stress and, believe it or not, increase concentration.

Today, some of the world’s best gamers not only make money off of gaming but also compete in gaming championships. As there are now hundreds of competitive gaming events held across the world each year, has gaming become a sport? Well, because it doesn’t involve physical exertion, technically it’s not a sport. Instead, it’s been dubbed an e-sport - aka, an electronic sport.

For gaming newbies, the world of competitive gaming can be confusing. Getting your head around the fact that gaming isn’t just a hobby for geeks, but an e-sport that there are competitions held for, can be hard. To give you a better insight into what pro gaming is, below is a list of the things that you should know about this modern sport.

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Almost every game has a championship

The first thing to know is that almost every game has some sort of championship held each year. Some are national, and some are international, it depends on how big games are in certain places. All successful pro gamers tend to stick to just one game, such as World of Warcraft, and specialize in that. Think of pro gamers like athletes. Most athletes only focus on one sport to give them the best chance of being successful at it, and it’s the same with gaming.

So, if you have aspirations to become a pro gamer, it’s important to focus on just one game. Take League of Legends, for instance. If that’s your favorite game, spend as much time as you can improving your play, and learning all there is to know about the game. Use a LoL boost or rent a skilled duo queue partner and watch how they play, so that you’re able to improve your gaming.

There are big payouts for the winners

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Just like sports competitions come with big payouts for the winners, so do gaming competitions. Each gaming competition has a different prize amount, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds. So pro-gamers have the potential to earn a good amount just from gaming. As long as they’re successful and win, that is.

There are fans

Just like regular sports have fans, so do e-sports. For this reason, the majority of e-sports events and competitions are held in arenas, and tickets to watch them live are sold. Just like some footballers are sporty kid’s heroes, some gamers, like the members of the LoL KTA team, are idolized by fans.

Gaming championships are becoming so popular that they’ve even starting to be streamed online. There are many sites online that stream live gaming events for fans to access and watch. In some countries, gaming events are even shown live on TV, like sports events are.

Today, gaming is an incredibly popular e-sport, making it a great hobby to take up.