Abstract
Given the rapid evolution of the gaming industry and the rising popularity of a hyper-connected, competitive esports version of online gaming, a meta-review of the impact of online competitive gaming upon health is timely. A scoping meta-review was conducted on 10 reviews that reported on any health consequences (physical, lifestyle, cognitive, mental, or social) of esports, online competitive gaming, or video gaming participation, as a player or spectator. While past reviews have examined health effects of video gaming, few have focused upon the newly evolved gaming context, incorporating both playing and streamed viewing, recognition as a professional sport, and potential career and exponential participation. Most past reviews have focused upon physical health impacts of video gaming among adolescents and young adults, but none have examined impacts of different forms of gaming participation in the new gaming era, and their potential differential health impacts. A scoping meta-review was undertaken on the physical, social, and psychological health outcomes of competitive online gaming and associated screen use, revealing a need for further review and research into lifestyle health outcomes including diet and sedentary behavior among young esports and competitive video gaming participants.
Highlights
Video gaming over the past two decades has evolved into a hyper-connected, highly commercialized, competitive system of online gaming
The search was conducted of titles or abstracts in PubMed from 2011 for and
Title and abstract screening of those studies revealed 53 potentially eligible studies, from which 74% were excluded because the video gaming behavior studied did not include esports
Summary
Video gaming over the past two decades has evolved into a hyper-connected, highly commercialized, competitive system of online gaming. The exponential growth and commercialization of “esports,” which is an umbrella term encompassing different tournaments, competitions, events, and games, signals a mainstream, global phenomenon among millennial and Gen Z consumers. Esports is quickly becoming one of the world’s largest entertainment industries, with a net worth exceeding 650 million US dollars in 2017 and estimated to increase to 1.5 billion US dollars by 2020 (Gough, 2020). The global audience for esports will reach approximately 600 million in 2023 (Tran, 2020), predominantly via platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. Esports participants (including both players and spectators) are largely young, well-educated males from high socio-economic backgrounds, making esports an attractive platform for luxury, and non-endemic sponsors (Hallmann and Giel, 2018). Sports including the NFL, NBA, Formula One, FIFA, AFL, and EPL are diversifying into esports as a means to ensure their brands remain
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