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Electronic Sports: a Potential New Role for the European Union

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Electronic Sports: a Potential New Role for the European Union LLM International and European Public Law: Track European Union Law Master Thesis Electronic sports: a potential new role for the European Union Koen van der Wielen ANR: 635905 Thesis Supervisor: prof. Dr. L. Hancher Second Reader: prof. Dr. P. Larouche 9 September 2013 Acknowledgements To my parents for always supporting and encouraging me throughout my study. Because of you I never doubted that I could succeed. To my friends, and especially Emelie, for showing interest in my research, and who helped me see more points of view or helping to rethink certain issues when I got stuck. To Ms Deltour from the Commission’s Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology (DG Connect) who found the time to brainstorm with me on the possible interests of the European Union in the electronic sports field. To my supervisor, professor Hancher, who helped orient me and thought along in this new entirely new subject. Her contributions also helped shaping this thesis in its final form, as well as arranging my thoughts during the research itself. Koen van der Wielen ANR: 635905 2 Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 2 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Technology .................................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Competitive gaming ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 The research .................................................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 2: The eSports field .................................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Definition ....................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Development ............................................................................................................................... 10 2.2.1 Video games in general ........................................................................................................ 10 2.2.2 The eSports ............................................................................................................................... 12 2.3 Characteristics of modern eSports .............................................................................................. 14 2.3.1 International aim .................................................................................................................. 14 2.3.2 Match coverage .................................................................................................................... 15 2.3.3 Professional gamers ............................................................................................................. 16 2.3.4 Inconsistency ........................................................................................................................ 16 Chapter 3: The regular sports ................................................................................................................ 18 3.1 Definition of ‘sports’ .................................................................................................................... 18 3.1.1 Body training ........................................................................................................................ 19 3.1.2 Technology ........................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Branch or separate tree............................................................................................................... 20 3.3 EU and sports: Legal framework ................................................................................................. 21 3.4 Professionalism and amateurism ................................................................................................ 24 Chapter 4: South Korea and eSports ..................................................................................................... 27 4.1 Online nation ............................................................................................................................... 27 4.1.1 Infrastructure ....................................................................................................................... 27 4.1.2 PC Bangs ............................................................................................................................... 28 4.1.3. Korean eSports .................................................................................................................... 29 Koen van der Wielen ANR: 635905 3 4.2 Government involvement ........................................................................................................... 30 4.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 5: Goals and interests .............................................................................................................. 33 5.1 Boundaries ................................................................................................................................... 33 5.2 Citizen freedoms .......................................................................................................................... 34 5.3 Morals and health ....................................................................................................................... 35 5.4 Gambling ..................................................................................................................................... 38 5.4.1 Relationship between gambling and gaming ....................................................................... 38 5.4.2 Betting .................................................................................................................................. 40 5.5 Gender discrimination ................................................................................................................. 40 5.6 Excessive playtime ....................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 6: Concluding recommendation .............................................................................................. 44 6.1 Concept........................................................................................................................................ 44 6.2 Legal basis .................................................................................................................................... 44 6.3 Internal market ............................................................................................................................ 46 6.4 Adverse effects from gaming ...................................................................................................... 47 6.5 Online gambling........................................................................................................................... 48 6.6 Women in eSports ....................................................................................................................... 49 6.7 Managing game time ................................................................................................................... 50 6.8 Other interests ............................................................................................................................ 51 6.9 Concluding remarks ..................................................................................................................... 51 Sources .................................................................................................................................................. 53 Books and published articles ............................................................................................................. 53 Websites and online articles ............................................................................................................. 55 Case-law ............................................................................................................................................ 59 EU Legislation and other documents ................................................................................................ 59 Koen van der Wielen ANR: 635905 4 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Technology A well-known characteristic of modern society is the rapid technical development: the constant upgrading of technologies. An obvious example of this is the development of televisions. Where 50 years ago most televisions were still without colour, the last decade or so alone has introduced LCD TVs, LED TVs, Plasma TVs (all subsequently of better quality), and also Smart TVs (with internet connection) and 3D TVs. Mobile telephones are another good example: while twenty years ago most people wouldn’t have seen the necessity of always being accessible by phone, having a cell phone has become the standard now. The unhandy big phones of long ago have been developed into the small handy smart phones which we can see in advertisements
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