Challenges of e-sports based on big data and qualitative analyses: : How should e-sports develop in the future?
e-Sports has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the sports industry. However, the research trends in e-sports rely heavily on traditional research trends in sport management. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to generate a strategic development plan for e-sports based on an in-depth analysis of the current status of the e-sports industry. The two studies conducted used big data analysis and qualitative research methods. For Phase 1, the overall schema of e-sports was established through the analysis of big data on the internet. In Phase 2, three Delphi surveys were conducted and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis was used, involving 13 experts in the field of e-sports in South Korea. Study 1 produced 15 keywords related to the development of e-sports, while 12 subcategories required for the development of e-sports were generated through Study 2. The detailed guidelines for each subcategory were based on the results of this study.
- ADELMAN, M. (1986). A sporting time: New York City and the rise of modern athletics, 1820-1870. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. doi: 10.1123/ssj.3.4.378
- BILLINGS, A.C. & HOU, J. (2019). The origin of Esport. A half century history of an “overnight” success. In R. Rogers (Ed.), Understanding Esports: An introduction to the global phenomenon. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. doi: 10.1038/d41591-024-00037-x
- BOLTER, J.D. & GRUSIN, R. (1999). Remediation: Understanding new media. MIT Press.
- BROWN, A.; BILLINGS, C.; MURPHY, B. & PUESAN, L. (2017). Intersection of fandom in the age of interactive media: eSports fandom as a predictor of traditional sport fandom. Communication & Sport, 1: 1-18. doi: 10.4324/9781003410591-45
- CLAVIO, G. (2017). Introduction to sport, emerging media, and the law. Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, 27: 1-2. doi: 10.1123/jlas.2017-0007
- CHOI, Y. (2013). “South Korea’s controversial Internet games addiction bill.” The Epoch Times. Hyperlink: [https://www.theepochtimes.com/south-koreas-controversial-internet-games-addiction-bill_392077.html]. Retrieved on 2 October 2020.
- CUNNINGHAM, G.; FAIRLEY, S.; FERKINS, L.; KERWIN, S.; LOCK, D.; SHAW, S. & WICKER, P. (2018). eSport: Construct specifications and implications for sport management. Sport Management Review, 21: 1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2017.11.002
- EXPERT MARKET RESEARCH. (2023). Global esports market size, share, industry trends, report & forecast 2024–2032. https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/esports-market
- FUNK, D.; PIZZO, A. & BAKER, B. (2018). eSport management: Embracing eSport education and research opportunities. Sport Management Review, 21: 7-13. doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2017.07.008
- GRAHAM, B.A. (2017). eSports to be a medal event at 2022 Asian Games. The Guardian. Hyperlink: [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/18/esports-to-be-medal-sport-at-2022-asian-games] Retrieved on 12 April 2023. doi: 10.1080/17430430500256014
- GRIFFITHS, M.D. (2018). The therapeutic and health benefits of playing video games. In K.E. Dill (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of cyberpsychology (pp. 484-505). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198812746.013.27
- HAMARI, J. & SJOBLOM, M. (2017). What is eSports and why do people watch it? Internet Research, 27(2): 211-232. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2686182
- HASSAN, M.M.; KARIM, A.; MOLLICK, S.; AZAM, S.; IGNATIOUS, E. & AL HAQUE, A.F. (2023). An Apriori algorithm-based association rule analysis to detect human suicidal behaviour. Procedia Computer Science, 219: 1279-1288. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2023.01.412
- HEERE, B. (2018). Embracing the sportification of society: Defining e-sports through a polymorphic view of sport. Sport Management Review, 21: 21-24. doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2017.07.002
- HEIMERL, F.; LOHMANN, S.; LANGE, S. & ERTL, T. (2014). Word cloud explorer: Text analytics based on word clouds. In: 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 1833-1842), 6-9 January 2014. Waikoloa, HI: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). doi: 10.1109/hicss.2014.231
- HOLLIST, E. (2016). Time to be grown-ups about video gaming: The rising eSports industry and the need for regulation. Arizona Law Review, 57: 823-847. doi: 10.1145/3415229
- INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE GAMING (ICRG) (2020). “International Center for Responsible Gaming”. ICRG. Hyperlink: [https://www.icrg.org/] Retrieved on 2 October 2020.
- INOUE, Y.; HEFFERNAN, C.; YAMAGUCHI, T. & FILO, K. (2018). Social and charitable impacts of a charity-affiliated sport event: A mixed methods study. Sport Management Review, 21: 202-218. doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2017.06.005
- JENNY, S.; MANNING, R.; KEIPER, M. & OLRICH, T. (2017). Virtual(ly) athletes: Where eSports fit within the definition of “Sport”. Quest, 69: 1-18. doi: 10.1080/00336297.2016.1144517
- KHALIL, S. & FAKIR, M. (2017). RCrawler: An R package for parallel web crawling and scraping. SoftwareX, 6: 98-106. doi: 10.1016/j.softx.2017.04.004
- KIM, M.S. (2019). “Video games are dividing South Korea.” Technology Review. Hyperlink: [https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/12/23/238190/video-games-national-crisis-addiction-south-korea/] Retrieved on 2 October 2020. doi: 10.1017/s0021855300010615
- KIM, Y.; KANG, D.; KIM, D.; KIM, H.; SASAKI, Y. & WATANABE, T. (2015). Real-time strategy video game experience and visual perceptual learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 35: 10485-10492. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.3340-14.2015
- KULAKOWSKI, K. (2020). Understanding the analytic hierarchy process. NY: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/b21817
- MCLUHAN, M. (2012). Understanding media: The extensions of man (reprint edition). MIT Press.
- NEWZOO. (2019). “U.S. games market 2018.” Newzoo. Hyperlink: [https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2018-light-version] Retrieved on 12 April 2023. doi: 10.1049/ep.1979.0024
- OSSEIRAN, A.; BOCCARDI, F.; BRAUN, V.; KUSUME, K.; MARSCH, P.; MATERNIA, M. & FALLGREN, M. (2014). Scenarios for 5G mobile and wireless communications: The vision of the METIS project. IEEE Communications Magazine, 52(5): 26-35. doi: 10.1109/mcom.2014.6815890
- PARK, S.H. & KIM, H.J. (2020). The origin and expansion of e-Sports space as a sports facility: From the Ancient Greek Stadion to PC room. Journal of Sport and Leisure Studies, 82: 55-67. doi: 10.51979/kssls.2020.10.82.55
- PARK, S.H.; JUNG, I.; LEE, Y. & KIM, B. (2019). An analysis of the current status of e-Sports among people with disability. Journal of Korean Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women, 33(4): 147-164. doi: 10.16915/jkapesgw.2019.12.33.4.147
- PARK, S.H.; LEE, Y. & JUNG, I. (2019). A study on the development of eSports for persons with disability. Korean Journal of Adapted Physical Activity, 27(4): 113-130. doi: 10.1002/j.2161-0045.1989.tb00831.x
- PARK, J.S.; SEO, Y. & KO, E. (2019). Culturalization of esports: Influences of culture and global esports. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 10(2): 106-120. doi: 10.5040/9781501368745
- PIZZO, A.; BAKER, B.; NA, S.; LEE, M.; KIM, D. & FUNK, D. (2018). eSport vs. sport: A comparison of spectator motives. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 27: 108-123. 10.32731/SMQ.272.062018.04
- SAATY, T.L. (2008). Models, methods, concepts & applications of the analytic hierarchy process. Springer.
- SCHWARTS, G. (2017). Research (in)complete: An exploratory history of competitive video gaming. Gaming Law Review, 21: 542-556. doi: 10.1089/glr2.2017.2185
- SEO, Y. (2013). Electronic sports: A new marketing landscape of the experience economy. Journal of Marketing Management, 29(13-14): 1542-1560. doi: 10.1080/0267257x.2013.822906
- SINGH, S.; GARG, R. & MISHRA, P.K. (2018). Performance optimization of MapReduce-based Apriori algorithm on Hadoop cluster. Computers & Electrical Engineering, 67: 348-364. doi: 10.1016/j.compeleceng.2017.10.008
- SCHOLZ, T.M. (2019). eSports is business. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-11199-1
- SWEENEY, K.; TUTTLE, M.H. & BERG, M.D. (2021). Esports Gambling: Market structure and biases. Games and Cultures, 16(1): 65-91. doi: 10.1177/1555412019872389
- TAYLOR, T.L. (2012). Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming. MA: MIT Press. doi: 10.5860/choice.50-1511
- WAGNER, M.G. (2006). On the scientific relevance of eSports. International Conference on Internet Computing and Conference on Computer Game Development (pp. 437-440). Proceedings of the “International Conference on Internet Computing and Conference on Computer Game Development”, June 2006. Las Vegas, NV: CSREA Press. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-35806-8_12
- WITKOWSKI, E. (2012). On the digital playing field: How we “do sport” with networked computer games. Games and Culture, 7: 349-374. doi: 10.1177/1329878x0511700117
- WOLF, J. & KANG, A. (2019). “A timeline of Riot Korea and KeSPA’s investigation of Griffin.” ESPN. Hyperlink: [https://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/28334899/a-line-riot-korea-kespa-investigation-griffin] Retrieved on 11 November 2022.
- XUE, H.; PU, P.; HAWZEN, M. & NEWMAN, J. (2016). E-sports Management? Institutional logics, professional sports, emerging E-sports field. Proceedings of 31st North American Society for Sport Management Conference, 2016. Orlando, FL. doi: 10.37279/2413-1709-2020-6-3-3-15
- YOON, J. (2020). “Esports in Korea – A complete breakdown of the Korean gaming culture.” Seoulspace. Hyperlink: [https://seoulz.com/esports-in-korea-a-complete-breakdown-of-the-korean-gaming-culture/] Retrieved on 11 September 11, 2020.
- YOON, S. (2017). “Lawmaker urges scrap of ‘forced game shutdown law’.” The Korea Times. Hyperlink: [http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2020/05/134_239703.html] Retrieved 11 September 2020.
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Seong-Hee Park, Daniel F. Mahony (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.