Att göra (e)sport : om datorspel och sportifiering

Sammanfattning: Competitive computer gaming, under the name e-sport, have become a popular activity inSweden and worldwide. Within the e-sport community the question about the relationbetween the e-sport and sport has been discussed. Despite of this, very few sport scientistshave studied e-sport. The aim of this licentiate thesis is to create an understanding of thephenomenon e-sport. As a theoretical framework the concept of sportification was used. Inthree articles aspects of sportification in e-sport was studied. E-sport as a concept evolvedin the late 1990 and is used by many people and organizations. The reasons why theconcept of e-sport is used are probably manifold. In the thesis three reasons are presented,namely higher legitimacy, social recognition and autonomy. Furthermore, the results showsimilarities between e-sport and contemporary sport. E-sport has, in contrast tocontemporary sports, developed from commerce around computer games to sport, and notonly from spontaneous play. In conclusion, e-sport is e-sport. By that I mean that e-sport issomething that goes beyond contemporary sport. Probably, it is due to the fact that e-sportevolved in a time when industrial society was transformed into an information- andcommunication society.