Perspectives on adaptive and maladaptive involvement into esports

Electronic sports, or esports, refer to organized video-gaming activities involving individuals or teams of individuals competing for prize money and prestige. Over the last decade, there has been a major expansion in the number of national and international tournaments and an exponential increase in the worldwide popularity of esports. Like other competitive sports, many esports participants invest a great deal of time and resources into the pursuit of achieving success. In addition, those who spectate or follow esports matches and the wider competitive scene may make significant time and financial investments (e.g., betting on matches) in these activities. In this context, it is important to understand how esports engagement can be a healthy or productive recreational activity, as well as the conditions under which esports engagement may become excessive and harmful.

In 2019, gaming disorder was recognized as a psychiatric condition by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2019)