Team play is crucial in sports, and eSports are no different. The Game Awards is honoring five teams this year who have made an impact in the gaming industry. On that list are Cloud 9, FaZe Clan, Lunatic-Hai, SK Telecom T1 and Team Liquid.
Never heard of eSports? Here are some basics.
The first game team was created at Stanford University in 1972 to play Spacewar. The winners got a year's subscription to Rolling Stone.
But it wasn't until 1980 when Atari held a Space Invaders Championship that gamers got serious about competing in a public forum.
That's right, these battles are live! And with the growth of the internet and streaming services, millions of people, mainly men, watch the competitions.
What's at stake now? A real lot of money and international fame.
But they weren't always a sport. In fact, even Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel took a stab at making fun of gaming as a sport. It's only in recent years that countries honored the gaming competitions in the same way as they do physical sports teams. In fact, it was just this past October that the International Olympic Committee ruled that eSports are a recognized sporting event. They concluded that "Competitive eSports'could be considered as a sporting activity, and the players' involved prepare and train with an intensity which may be comparable to athletes in traditional sports."
That doesn't mean gamers get to go to the Olympics, but you never know!
Nor does it mean they are stuck playing Madden NFL. They play real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter (FPS), and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games.
Aside from the winnings, team members can draw a salary, get paid to travel to tournaments and even have sponsors.
Like any sport, eSports have rules of conduct. For example, when beaten tagging gg for good game is expected. Sharing leaked information so teams are on even ground and not using cheat codes are hight up on the etiquette list as well.
So who are the teams being honored as nominees by The Game Awards? Click next to find out. And stop in here for our full coverage of the Awards.
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