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Esports has emerged as a prominent leisure activity in the digital society, exerting a significant influence in the virtual world. Particularly for college students who have immersed themselves in gaming, the plethora of online activities can be overwhelming. However, esports activities on campus play a crucial role in shaping the identity of these students. By providing a sense of community and belonging, as well as opportunities to develop essential skills such as teamwork, communication, and problem-solving, esports clubs offer valuable experiences. Moreover, they serve as a platform for students to showcase their competitive abilities. This study aims to explore the commonalities and differences that arise from interviews conducted with regard to esports clubs on campus. The focus will be on college students who have grown up in a digital society, deeply engaged in games and esports. Additionally, the study seeks to investigate the emergence and progression of esports clubs within collegiate settings in both the United States and South Korea. The participants were interviewed via video-conferencing platforms, such as Zoom, or in-person meetings, with each session lasting approximately two hours or less. Through this research, we aim to propose that the activities of esports clubs among Korean as well as American university students can contribute to the establishment of a healthy esports culture, centered on the restoration of amateurism, which is often overshadowed by professionalism.

The integration of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems and large language models (LLMs) has the potential to revolutionize the esports ecosystem by affecting game publishers, professional players, and the nature of esports games themselves. This article examines the relevant advancements in generative AI, their capabilities and limitations in context of gaming. It explores how AI-driven innovations can streamline game development processes, foster fair competition, and enable new types of esports games, including open-world and story focused collaborative games. Furthermore, the article delves into the potential impact of AI on game control mechanisms, the introduction of smart non-player characters (NPCs), and the emergence of human-AI esports.

This paper discusses the changing concept of digital labor in the gaming environment of eSports. It refers to the term “human-machine hybridization” to investigate the formation of new working conditions under the conditions of computational technology. The first part of this paper examines three developments of automation that create immersive gaming environments powered by artificial intelligence. These developments include the enhancement of player immersion, the datafication of player engagement, and a self-enterprising data analytics business environment. The second part analyses how AI training software changes the playing style of competitive players and improves their practice skills. It elaborates a new mode of labor productivity mediated through a mathematical machine-learning model created for processing large-scale player data. Finally, it concludes with a discussion of digital labor as it emerges from the interaction between computer datafication, high-tech labor subjectivity, and corporate commodification in eSports.

Since 2018, widely referred to as the “First Year of eSports” in Japan, the country has witnessed rapid growth in the eSports industry, fueled by increased media coverage and public interest. However, this expansion has also exposed significant ethical challenges, including the legal ambiguity surrounding prize money, misconduct among professional players, and a lack of comprehensive education regarding sportsmanship and fair play. This paper explores these ethical transformations by examining Japan’s unique legal and cultural context, the establishment of professional licensing through JeSU, and a series of high-profile misconduct cases that have prompted stricter compliance efforts. It also considers the role of education and institutional support in fostering a more sustainable and ethically grounded eSports environment. Through an analysis of recent developments and ongoing challenges, the paper outlines a forward- looking framework for the ethical advancement of Japanese eSports.

This study aims to explore the educational and social implications of how university eSports lead to community participation through the case of eSports competitions at Naresuan University in Thailand. To achieve this goal, this study intends to adopt qualitative case research methods through literature research, participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and collection of local data. In conclusion, the university eSports competitions did not remain at the university level, but led to community participation including several middle, high schools in Northern Thailand. It had educational and social implications related to the concept of trust, reciprocity, and network as a social capital in Phitsanulok. It holds significant meaning in understanding the regional eSports activities centered around Naresuan University

The purpose of this research is to elucidate the educational significance for participating students of eSports club activities at high schools in Japan. It was decided to focus on students at four types of schools — public full-time ordinary course, public full-time technical course, private full-time ordinary course, and correspondence — affiliated with the North America Scholastic eSports Federation JAPAN (NASEF JAPAN). From these schools, students were selected at random according to grade level and sex ratio, and four focus group interviews (FGIs) were conducted, one in each school, with groups of six students each. The analysis was conceptualized and illustrated using the KJ method. This survey showed that there are commonalities in educational significance that can be achieved, even when school types differ, and that they can be achieved taking as a starting point the sociability and companions cultivated in club activities, i.e., <Sociability of advancing together with companions> and <Existence of companions to share growth>. Also, it was suggested that broadening of career development varies depending on whether, through eSports club activities, there is recognition of activities mindful of relationships and contact points between eSports and society, and whether there is recognition of eSports-specific specialized activities. On the other hand, specialized human resources education connected with development of industry through specialization for eSports is also likely to be significant, particularly at correspondence schools. Generally speaking, eSports club activities are connected with developing understanding of career education, and they are likely to be significant in allowing high school students who participate in eSports club activities to recognize that they are an opportunity for surveying the future, while touching on diverse values and having the same significance as sports.iamge

The purpose of this study is to suggest ways to manage eSports ethically for sustainable eSports. The continuous holding of eSports competitions means the development and expansion of the eSports industry. This forms a close relationship with the management ethics of developers. Business ethics is the principle that developers must adhere to moral and ethical standards in the process of achieving economic goals. Developers must go beyond simple profit-seeking and fulfill their Corporate social responsibilities, and practice fair and honest management. Therefore, when developers conduct ethical management based on honesty and transparency, fairness and responsibility, Corporate social responsibility, and consideration of stakeholders, eSports competitions can be held continuously and the industry can develop. The results of the discussion based on honesty and transparency, fairness and responsibility, and Corporate social responsibility are as follows. First, honest developers should clearly disclose the probability, not deceive users, and disclose bugs and problems. Transparency also means that the organization does not hide information, but discloses it in a way that stakeholders can understand. Second, developers must apply the same rules to all users based on fairness in terms of probability items, ranking systems, and matching algorithms, and ensure that there are no arbitrary disadvantages. In addition, developers must have an attitude and behavior that can justify their decisions and actions based on responsibility. Third, developers must fulfill their Corporate social responsibility by operating a healthy community, such as by punishing malicious users and preventing hate speech. Therefore, eSports management based on business ethics can create a sustainable eSports industry.

The main debate related to eSports is whether eSports are sports or not. This is because it determines the academic direction of eSports. However, this sentence will reduce the academic domain of eSports and work negatively to build an independent academic domain of eSports. If eSports are sports, it can be sufficiently discussed academically from the perspective of expanding the sports field. This can deal with sports business, industry, and professional eSports players’ skills from the perspective of sports. However, eSports are beyond the realm of sports. The most important digital-based platform or device influence directly affects our daily lives and culture. This is a problem to be dealt with in the realm of eSports. In order to establish an independent academic area of eSports, eSports should set eSports as the core value of human movement, digital technology, and sports under the definition of eSports, and various academic studies should be conducted based on this.

Changes in the external environment such as COVID-19 and the development of digital technology have brought about many changes in the coexistence of humans and machines. In addition to AI(Artificial Intelligence), various technological changes such as VR(Virtual Reality), XR(eXtended Reality), and AR(Augmented Reality) are occurring. In particular, these changes can be easily found in the eSports industry, which is due to the specificity of eSports based on electronic devices. However, most of the existing studies focus on the concept of eSports and the processes of users and viewers, and there is a lack of research on eSports games themselves. This study aims to redefine the characteristics of eSports and suggest marketing directions for eSports, centering on the concepts of “Mechanical economy”, “Thinking economy”, and “Feeling economy” presented from a marketing perspective. Based on the concept of this study, the researcher analyzed the evolution of genre of eSports and eSports users from 2015 to 2022 provided by the Korea Creative Content Agency. The results of the study showed that the “Feeling” factor is increasingly important in eSports over time, and the trends that eSports users enjoy are also changing. Therefore, this study suggests the need for research on new marketing methods to empathize and engage eSports users as digital technology advances.

This study was conducted to investigate the public interest in e-sports at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and to understand the interest and response to the event. The research utilized topic modeling to analyze news articles published during the Asian Games period, aiming to identify changes in the distribution of topics on specific dates and to understand how these topics were influenced by events or situations. News articles related to e-sports during the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games were either utilized for data collection, and a total of 283 articles were analyzed. Through the research findings, insights into how e-sports are being embraced and understood globally were provided, laying the foundation for understanding the significance of this phenomenon worldwide. This study aims to provide a better understanding of the growth of e-Sports and its societal impact, as well as to offer insights into future trends in the e-Sports industry and policy directions.