...Yiran Su; Dongqi Wang; Wanting Sun Purpose With esports debuting as a medal event in international multi-sport competitions, the personal branding strategies of esports athletes remain underexamined despite the industry’s rapid expansion. This study addresses this gap by exploring how esports...

... of reconciling performers’ virtual immersion with the physical experiences of crowds at esports tournaments. Design/methodology/approach Using a triadic lens involving producers, performers and audiences, the study employs a comprehensive methodological approach. It combines ethnographic and netnographic...

...Byungjae Min; Daehwan Kim; Yong Jae Ko Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of in-game situations (battle vs non-battle) and advertisement animation (static vs animated) on visual attention, memory, brand attitude and behavioral intention in eSports. Design/methodology...

...Yongjin Hwang; Keshav Gupta; Deokkyung Ock Purpose Esports game developers are incorporating interactive virtual shopping (IVS) experiences into their products to facilitate consumer–brand interactions. Despite the potential influence of IVS, existing research lacks an understanding of its impact...

...Weisha Wang; Wentong Liu; Haiming Hang; Zhifeng Chen Purpose Esports is emerging as a global sensation, yet its distinctive nature complicates our understanding of players' motivations. This study leverages self-hierarchy and self-determination theories to examine the motivations that define...

...Tom Brock; Garry Crawford Purpose This study aims to examine the cultural and economic circumstances that shape esports consumer agency through case studies of “experiential consumption” (Miles, 2021). Design/methodology/approach A multiple-case study approach (Stake, 2006) is deployed...

...Gordon Liu; Yue Meng-Lewis; Weiyue Wang; Yupei Zhao Purpose The rapid growth of professional esports has highlighted the lack of a universally recognised governing body to standardise operations and competition rules. This absence presents many challenges. A key concern is the well-being...

...Joseph Siu-Lung Kong; Ron Chi-Wai Kwok; Gabriel Chun-Hei Lai; Monica Law Purpose Research on knowledge creation within eSports learning is scarce. This study extends the understanding of competition-oriented collaborative learning in eSports by examining the relationship between the dynamics...

...Joaquin Cestino; Joseph Macey; Brian McCauley Purpose This paper studies early stages of actor mobilization for institutional change within Swedish esports. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings The authors’ findings explain how...

...Max Sjöblom; Joseph Macey; Juho Hamari Purpose Esports (electronic sports) are watched by hundreds of millions of people every year and many esports have overtaken large traditional sports in spectator numbers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate spectating differences between online...

...Juho Hamari; Max Sjöblom The results indicate that escapism, acquiring knowledge about the games being played, novelty and eSports athlete aggressiveness were found to positively predict eSport spectating frequency. eSports is as “a form of sports where the primary aspects of the sport...