About this Research Topic
The increasing development of eSports and digitalisation in traditional sports are major features among the various changes which occurred in the field of sports over the last two decades. First, the ever-growing eSports industry contributes to redefine the boundaries of sports and physical activity, and eSports today aims at being eligible for inclusion in the Olympic programme and other major international sports events. eSports competitions also increasingly attract fans in packed arenas and/or on streaming platforms, then providing new avenues for business expansion of the sports sector. Such opportunities also include brand extension strategies resulting in the development of eSports sections within well-established sports clubs (e.g., football clubs). Meanwhile, the development of eSports is raising several sports-integrity related issues, such as fairness, doping, match-fixing, discrimination, and violence. It also raises gender-related questions and challenges related to the social norms surrounding the development of gamers’ communities.
Not only does the existence of eSports across digital spaces makes the challenge of digitalisation of sports very topical. In fact, the digitalisation process of sports plays an important role in helping transform the outline of both elite and grassroot sports. The increasing use of measurement and monitoring tools of athletic performance (e.g., power meters, connected watches, smart home trainers) tends to modify how athletic performance is produced, as well as how athletes interact with both their support personnel and followers through technology and metrology. This process of digitalisation of sports may also have an impact on athlete’s involvement in the practice and (perceived) autonomy since it shapes body surveillance under continuous monitoring. The various effects of the increasing use of technologies and metrologies in sports may then be addressed by the academic scholarship.
The objective of this Research Topic is to gather updated scientific and multidisciplinary contributions addressing the challenges and issues related to the increasing development of eSports, and the effects of the digitalisation process in sports. We encourage contributions from a variety of areas, ranging from sports sociology and management, including original qualitative and quantitative articles. Any of the following topics, contingent with the challenges related to eSports and/or digitalization of sports, would be considered as part of the proposed research topic:
• Definition, recognition and institutionalisation of eSports
• Governance of eSports
• Career trajectories in eSports
• Spectatorship, fandom and mediatisation of eSports
• Gender-related challenges of the development of eSports
• Integrity and regulation of eSports
• Economic perspectives of eSports for clubs, leagues and sports federations
• Cultural aspects of eSports
• Impact of digitalisation, technology and metrology on the sports practice and athletic performance (technology acceptance, human-machine interaction in sports)
• Change in organisational cultures through digitalisation
• Digital consumer behaviour in sports
• Digitalisation, athletes’ surveillance and autonomy
Not only does the existence of eSports across digital spaces makes the challenge of digitalisation of sports very topical. In fact, the digitalisation process of sports plays an important role in helping transform the outline of both elite and grassroot sports. The increasing use of measurement and monitoring tools of athletic performance (e.g., power meters, connected watches, smart home trainers) tends to modify how athletic performance is produced, as well as how athletes interact with both their support personnel and followers through technology and metrology. This process of digitalisation of sports may also have an impact on athlete’s involvement in the practice and (perceived) autonomy since it shapes body surveillance under continuous monitoring. The various effects of the increasing use of technologies and metrologies in sports may then be addressed by the academic scholarship.
The objective of this Research Topic is to gather updated scientific and multidisciplinary contributions addressing the challenges and issues related to the increasing development of eSports, and the effects of the digitalisation process in sports. We encourage contributions from a variety of areas, ranging from sports sociology and management, including original qualitative and quantitative articles. Any of the following topics, contingent with the challenges related to eSports and/or digitalization of sports, would be considered as part of the proposed research topic:
• Definition, recognition and institutionalisation of eSports
• Governance of eSports
• Career trajectories in eSports
• Spectatorship, fandom and mediatisation of eSports
• Gender-related challenges of the development of eSports
• Integrity and regulation of eSports
• Economic perspectives of eSports for clubs, leagues and sports federations
• Cultural aspects of eSports
• Impact of digitalisation, technology and metrology on the sports practice and athletic performance (technology acceptance, human-machine interaction in sports)
• Change in organisational cultures through digitalisation
• Digital consumer behaviour in sports
• Digitalisation, athletes’ surveillance and autonomy
Keywords: eSports, digitalisation, metrologies, technologies, athletic performance, autonomy, integrity, spectatorship and fans, big data in sports
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
