Exploring Esports

This fascinating new book lifts the lid on the rapidly growing esports industry to examine its human dimension, exploring the career paths, performance, and wellbeing of esports players, as well as the marketing, media, and venue strategies that can keep fans engaged across the life course. The book introduces the fundamentals of esports for the reader who may not have prior knowledge, including key concepts and terminology. This book draws on recent research from psychology, high performance, business, and management. It explores key issues in contemporary esports, including skill development, health and fitness, career transitions, live streaming, sponsorship, consumer behaviour, and social identity in esports. Furthermore, the book examines special populations within the esports community, from parents of esports players to older adults. Every chapter opens with a thought-provoking question and contains real-world case studies from around the world. Offering a unique set of perspectives on esports and adding depth to the reading list for any esports course, this is essential reading for any student, researcher, or practitioner looking to better understand the esports industry.

Hee Jung Hong is Associate Professor in Sport at the University of Stirling, UK. Her research interests include career transitions in sport, dual careers of athletes, athletes' career development and management, athletes' welfare and wellbeing, and the application of sport psychology in esports. Sungkyung Kim is Assistant Professor in Sport Management at the University of Stirling, UK. He has two primary areas of research that address contemporary challenges in public policy and consumer behaviour. The first strand of research focuses on policy public relations and the second centres on technology adoption to understand consumer behaviours.

Part I: Esports in Sport Psychology, 1. Introduction to Esports, 2. Parental Involvement, Support, and Pressure for Esports Players, 3. Life Skills Development and Transfer in Esports, 4. Esports Players' Physical and Mental Wellbeing, 5. Career Transition Out of Esports, Part II: Esports in Sport Marketing, 6. Understanding Motivations for Streaming and Viewing for Esports Live Streaming, 7. Esports Event Venue Marketing, 8. Esports Fan Behaviour: Multiple Identifications, 9. Sponsorship in Esports, 10. Market Segmentation: Silver Marketing and Women-centric Marketing, Conclusion