Before I differentiate between good and bad esports and decide what I feel classifies a game as a successful esport, I would like to clarify the difference between an esport and a competitive game. Video games by nature are competitive, whether it's trying to beat Super Mario Brothers in record time or trying to get head shots in Counter-Strike. Just like with esports, there are good and bad competitive games, but what differentiates a game between being simply competitive and being an esport? I believe the answer is in the depth of the game mechanically as well as strategically, the strength of the community, and history.

Great games that place a strong emphasis on game mechanics are Starcraft and Counter-Strike 1.6. Planned or not, Starcraft appears to have achieved a nearly perfect balance of UI features. The game controls are intuitive enough to allow new players to experience the game, yet difficult enough to prove challenging for even the most practiced of players. CS offers the same depth of mechanics as well, but tends to focus a lot more on mouse movement and carefully aimed shots. Both of these games offer mechanics that are easy to learn and nearly impossible to master. Starcraft and Counter-Strike offer a lot strategically as well. Starcraft: Brood War's meta game is constantly evolving, which can easily be seen through Fantasy's TvZ Mech build involving the use of Valkyries. Counter-Strike offers a lot strategically as well, with a focus on teamwork. The strategical aspects of both games are easy to observe, but difficult to fully understand and constantly evolving.

One of the easiest ways to find a large community is to simply grab the most popular game of the time. In today's age that would be World of Warcraft; however, does WoW's vast subscriber base parallel the strength of the community that Counter-Strike has been building for over five years? The answer to this question lies in the definition of a strong community. In my opinion an esport's community needs to have a large player base, as well as the means to attract spectators that have never played the game before. Counter-Strike is one of the easiest games in the world to follow as a spectator. The objectives are simple and easy to understand and the means by which to accomplish these objectives are even more apparent. When you add HLTV to this mixture it spells instant success. While World of Warcraft offers a player base to die for, it fails to appeal to a broader market of spectators, which can be attributed to complex game play that requires extensive knowledge to grasp. The game also fails to provide attractive visuals that are easy to follow, nor the means to fluently deliver games to the community.

The one attribute that sets Starcraft: Brood War and Counter-Strike 1.6 apart from the competition is history. These games have been around for a long time and have remained relatively unchanged. Their respective communities have grown and players have developed cult followings. Savior and FBH type rivalries have developed and the games have more depth because of it. Starcraft fans eagerly await for the Emperor to resume his throne at SK Telecom T1 and Counter-Strike fans reminisce of the glory days of Emil Christensen before his retirement. An esport needs more than graphics or game play, it needs to ignite passion, nostalgia, and reflection; an esport needs history.

The topic of esports inspires a lot of argument over which games deserve to be classified as esports and the answer to this debate will always be left to opinion; however, a true testament to games like Starcraft and Counter-Strike can be found in the overwhelming mass of comments left by posts on the subject. Whenever the topic of World of Warcraft comes up you're bound to have countless trolls refuting the game as an esport and just as many jumping in to defend it. The same results can even be observed when it comes to the discussion of Warcraft 3 in a Starcraft based community; however, when Starcraft:Brood War or Counter-Strike 1.6 are in the spotlight, the absence of trolls is evident. In a world full of people waiting to dispute just about anything, there doesn't appear to be a soul that can deny the perfection of these games as esports.