Dreamhack 2014. Week 1

Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a first person shooter that has evolved into one of the biggest E-sports in the world, a virtual take to physical competitions with professional teams and tournaments. As the cold, bitter winter approaches, the CS:GO competitive is only heating up with Dreamhack, one of the biggest competitive events in the CS:GO professional scene. Teams from all over the world fly to Sweden for a three day shooting-fest in an attempt to win the $250,000 grand prize. Warowl, a prominent CS:GO community member, made a video called, "Get Ready for Dreamhack Winter 2014 CS:GO!" in which he details the teams and events:

Alongside his predictions for team performance, he comments on E-sport event itself. "Tons of people tuned in last time" isn't an overstatment: Over 13 million unique viewers watched Dreamhack 2013 on Twitch, a video game streaming website. Just like last year, the tournament will be funded by Valve, the company who made CS:GO; As such, the game will also be available to watch on the games in-game client viewer GOTV. Using GO:TV, spectators will be able to control how to view the game by switching cameras and perspectives to gain an in-depth look inside. As Warowl states, "Never before in Sporting had the viewer been given so much control over how they watch a tournament." 

E-sports have come a long way since its inception in the early days of PC gaming. With more and more people tuning in to watch Dreamhack, the CS:GO e-sports scene only grows in popularity and, ultimately, pulls the rest of the e-sports alongside with it. CS:GO is an easy game to understand, which makes it a perfect entry point into more complicated E-sports, such as League of Legends and Dota 2. With constant updates and and increased viewership, CS:GO will  redefine the definition of a sport and make E-sports widely regarded as a valid event. Other countries have taken this step already; Sweden, the unofficial home of Counter Strike, has "a McDonald's burger that is named after Ninjas in Pyjamas," according to Warowl. The increased technological advances in E-sports viewing will hopefully give it the validity to be broadcasted on networks such as ESPN. But for now, we wait.

Source:
Get Ready for Dreamhack Winter 2014 CS:GO! [Motion picture]. (2014). United States: Youtube.