ABSTRACT

The desire to be engaged in eSports continues to reach a broad spectrum of sport consumers. This chapter reports on a study comparing and contrasting the uses and gratifications of eSports, focusing on differences that emerge between the reasons one participates via active game play and the reasons one opts to witness others participating. In sporting terms, data contrasts the participants from the fans, yet in an eSports arena that inherently blurs such distinctions much more than within other sporting realms.