E-Sports Entertainment Association League (ESEA League) is an

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

competitive

video gaming Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

online league & community founded by E-Sports Entertainment Association (ESEA). The company is widely known for their anti-cheat software. ESEA features a system that allows players of all levels to play matches with others.

History

ESEA League began offering lessons to improve gaming skills in 2003 providing instruction in ''

Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay. Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to: Film * Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang * ''Half Life: ...

'', ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games, in which opposing teams attempt to complete various objectives. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, '' Counte ...

'', and ''

Warcraft III ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' is a high fantasy real-time strategy computer video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment released in July 2002. It is the second sequel to '' Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'', after '' Warcraft II: Ti ...

''. ESEA created the first professional fantasy e-sports league in 2004. ESEA began its league history with ''Counter-Strike'', but later added ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' (''TF2'') is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation in 2007. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video g ...

'' (TF2) a game which gained more popularity after its adaption to "

Free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

" gaming. However, due to the relative lack of players in its TF2 leagues, ESEA announced its intent to shut down the TF2 leagues on April 17, 2019.

Viewing

ESEA League games can be viewed by fans as live streams from internet broadcasting channels such as eXtv, Nova Spivack's Live Matrix, TeamFortress.tv, streams on Twitch and clips on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The annual sponsored ESEA League LAN Finals are held in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Bitcoin mining incident

On 1 May 2013, a user reported that the ESEA's anti-cheat software was being used to mine

bitcoins Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. Use o ...

without the user's consent. This was confirmed by ESEA's co-founder Eric 'lpkane' Thunberg in two subsequent forum posts. As of the date of discovery, the claimed dollar value of bitcoins mined totaled $3,713.55. As of November 2013, ESEA has agreed to a US$1 million settlement, though a separate class action lawsuit is still ongoing.

Middle East region

In 2017, the company announced new server expansion in Dubai to serve the CS:GO community in

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. In April 2018, ESEA announced Rank S division for players in that region. Later in May 2018, ESEA announced the first CS:GO League for Middle East teams.

References

External links