# The History of Video Gaming and Esports Part of the Competitive Gaming Merit Badge Digital Resource Guide: [Introduction & Overview](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/index.md) *1. Where Gaming Came From* > **1.** Do the following: This requirement is about building context. Before you can talk seriously about esports, you need to know where gaming came from, what makes games different from each other, and what actually separates a casual match from an organized competition. You'll build a decade-by-decade timeline, learn to sort games into genres, draw a clear line between gaming and esports, and trace the milestones that turned competitive gaming into a global industry. ## Requirement 1a > **1a.** Create a timeline showing how video gaming has evolved since 1958. Include at least one significant event from each decade. > **Did You Know?** > > The game most historians point to as the first video game, *Tennis for Two*, wasn't built to launch an industry — it was built to give visitors something more interesting to do than stare at nuclear physics displays at a government lab's public open house. A good timeline does more than list dates — it shows *why* each event mattered. When you research your decades, look for the moment a technology, game, or company changed what was possible next. A few starting points: - **1950s–1960s**: Early computer experiments like *Tennis for Two* (1958) and *Spacewar!* (1962) proved games could run on the room-sized computers of the era. - **1970s**: *Pong* (1972) launched the arcade and home console business almost overnight, and the Atari 2600 (1977) brought cartridge-based gaming into living rooms. - **1980s**: The video game crash of 1983 nearly ended the industry in North America — until the Nintendo Entertainment System (1985) rebuilt trust in home consoles. - **1990s**: 3D graphics, CD-ROMs, and the rise of PC gaming reshaped what games could look and feel like. - **2000s**: Broadband internet turned gaming into something you could do *with* people instead of just *against* a computer, powering early online communities. - **2010s–2020s**: Livestreaming, mobile gaming, and cloud platforms turned watching games into as big a pastime as playing them. ![Five iconic gaming consoles shown side by side in chronological order: Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, original PlayStation, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Switch](https://ik.imagekit.io/doulacoop/tr:w-800/mbu-assets/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/gaming-console-timeline?v=5b519406) Download: [Gaming History Timeline Worksheet](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/gaming-timeline-worksheet/) Use the worksheet above to organize your research decade by decade before you build your final timeline for your counselor. ## Official Resources [Video Game History Timeline (website)](https://www.museumofplay.org/video-game-history-timeline/): An interactive, decade-organized timeline from The Strong National Museum of Play — a great starting point for research. Video: [The History of Video Games: From Pong to Fortnite (video)](https://youtu.be/vQ0XSceaPNs) [The Video Game Revolution (website)](https://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/index.html): A PBS retrospective covering the console wars and the personalities behind gaming's biggest turning points. [The Worst Video Game Ever (website w/ video)](https://www.si.edu/sidedoor/ep-15-worst-video-game-ever?page=1): A Smithsonian look at the 1983 video game crash — proof that even a young industry can nearly collapse. ## Requirement 1b > **1b.** Identify and define five major video game genres. Provide an example for each. Genre is one of the fastest ways to understand what a game actually asks you to do. Here are a few genres to get you started — pick five (these or others) and define each one in your own words: **Common Video Game Genres** — Pick five and define each in your own words - [ ] **First-person shooter (FPS)**: Combat viewed through the eyes of your character, testing aim and positioning. Example: *Valorant*. - [ ] **Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA)**: Two teams each control one character and fight to destroy the enemy base. Example: *League of Legends*. - [ ] **Battle royale**: Many players compete on a shrinking map until one survivor or team remains. Example: *Fortnite*. - [ ] **Fighting game**: One-on-one combat with special moves and combos. Example: *Street Fighter 6*. - [ ] **Real-time strategy (RTS)**: Players manage resources and armies simultaneously and in real time. Example: *StarCraft II*. - [ ] **Sports simulation**: Games that recreate real-world sports as closely as possible. Example: *EA Sports FC*. Don't just copy this list — for each genre you choose, explain in your own words what makes it distinct and why that genre plays the way it does. ## Official Resources [Glitchwave Game Genres (website)](https://glitchwave.com/games/genre/): A browsable catalog of game genres, useful for finding examples beyond the most famous titles. [Esports Genres Explained (website)](https://esportsinsider.com/esports-genres-explained): Breaks down which genres dominate competitive esports and why. [Explore All Video Game Genres (website)](https://gamedesigning.org/gaming/video-game-genres/): A deeper reference covering genres beyond the most common competitive categories. ## Requirement 1c > **1c.** Explain the difference between video gaming and esports. Include how esports incorporates elements of organized competition such as teams, tournaments, rules, coaching, and spectatorship. Provide two examples of games that are commonly played casually as video games but are also used in organized esports competition. Here's the simplest way to think about it: **every esport is a video game, but not every video game session is esports.** Playing *Rocket League* with your family after dinner is video gaming. Playing *Rocket League* on a registered team, following official rules, with a coach reviewing your replays and an audience watching on a stream — that's esports. What turns casual play into esports is structure: - **Teams** with defined rosters, not just whoever happens to be online. - **Tournaments** with brackets, seeding, and a path to a championship. - **Rules** enforced consistently, often by referees or match officials. - **Coaching** — someone studying strategy, reviewing footage, and training players. - **Spectatorship** — an audience watching live, in person or through a broadcast, often with commentators explaining the action. Games like *Rocket League* and *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* are perfect examples of this dual life: millions of people play them just for fun, while thousands of others compete in them at a professional level with all five of those elements in place. > **Tip** > > When you explain this to your counselor, use a game you actually play. It's much easier to describe the difference between "playing with friends" and "playing competitively" when you're talking about a game you know from the inside. ## Official Resources [Gaming vs. Esports (video)](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12HVwGZbzfuvZNJ1fT7Htygk7BgyFnSXF/view): A short video explainer contrasting casual gaming with organized esports competition. [Video Gaming and Esports (website)](https://hwb.gov.wales/keeping-safe-online/views-from-the-experts/video-gaming-and-esports-the-differences-and-distinctions-in-detail): A detailed breakdown of the distinctions between recreational gaming and organized esports. [PlayVS Game Title Overview (website)](https://help.playvs.com/en/articles/5915810-game-title-overview): Shows how a real scholastic esports league structures official game titles and competition formats. ## Requirement 1d > **1d.** Identify and define five major moments in the development of esports as an industry since 1990. Include key tournaments, technological advances, and organizations that helped shape competitive gaming globally. Discuss your findings with your counselor. In Req 1c, you learned what separates esports from casual gaming. This subrequirement asks you to trace how that structure actually got built — tournament by tournament, organization by organization. A few milestones worth researching further: - The 1990s LAN tournament scene, where games like *Quake* and *StarCraft* built the first organized competitive circuits. - The founding of major tournament organizers and leagues that professionalized scheduling, prize pools, and broadcasting. - The rise of livestreaming platforms, which let anyone in the world watch a tournament live instead of relying on secondhand reports. - The arrival of major sponsorship and advertising deals that turned esports into a real business, not just a hobby with prize money. - The growth of collegiate and scholastic esports programs that gave competitive gaming an educational pathway similar to traditional sports. > **Be Prepared! Talking Esports History With Your Counselor** > > Your counselor may ask you to defend *why* you picked the five moments you did. > > - **Step one**: For each moment, be ready to explain what came before it. > - **Step two**: Explain what changed because of it — a new audience, a new business model, a new level of competition. > - **Step three**: Connect at least one moment to something in modern esports you can point to today. ## Official Resources [Major Milestones in Esports History: A Timeline (website)](https://whatisesports.xyz/major-milestones-esports-history-timeline/): A dedicated timeline of esports-specific milestones, distinct from general video game history. Once you know where competitive gaming came from, it's worth thinking about how you show up in it. That's what Requirement 2 is all about. --- - Previous: [Introduction & Overview](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/index.md) - Next: [Living the Scout Oath and Law Online](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/competitive-gaming/guide/req2/index.md)