# Anyone ever hear of E-Sports?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-of-e-sports/674347>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [November 20, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-of-e-sports/674347 "2013-11-20T14:28:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-of-e-sports/674347/1 "2013-11-20T14:28:04Z")

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E-Sports is apparently some sort of Game hosting company. It turns out their software was slaving their customers’computers and turning them into Bitcoin mines without their knowledge. The articles I have read didn’t make it clear exactly what the company was though. It also didn’t help that I first heard the story on the Radio while driving and they called it “EA Sports” which I am very familiar with and freaked out about until I got home and did some Googling.

I was just wondering if anyone was familiar with them or (hopefully not) actually using them.

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**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-of-e-sports/674347/2 "2013-11-20T14:30:08Z")

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This was supposed to go in The Game Room. Sorry. Not sure how that got messed up.

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**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-of-e-sports/674347/3 "2013-11-20T14:48:26Z")

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“E-Sports” is actually the catch-all term for any video game tournament. And here’s a story that lays out exactly what ESEA (the actual name of the company) was involved in:

> **[Gaming Company Fined $1M for Turning Customers Into Secret Bitcoin Army](https://www.wired.com/2013/11/e-sports/)**
>
> A gaming software company has been slapped with a $1 million fine after secretly adding bitcoin mining software to a product update earlier this year.

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**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-of-e-sports/674347/4 "2013-11-20T15:17:14Z")

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The [articles](http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2013/11/online_gaming_firm_to_pay_nj_1.html) I [found](http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/19/5122274/e-sports-entertainment-complaint-user-spying-bitcoin-mining-settlement-new-jersey) referred to the company as E-Sports Entertainment. I guess that’s what ESEA stands for.

But thanks, your link explains better what they seem to do. I guess they provide host servers for Online Play?

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**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-of-e-sports/674347/5 "2013-11-20T15:35:59Z")

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> [@Quimby](#):
>
> But thanks, your link explains better what they seem to do. I guess they provide host servers for Online Play?

Yes, specifically ones outfitted with anti-cheating software. Hence… irony!