A LAN party is a social gathering of participants with personal computers or compatible game consoles, where a local area network (LAN) connection is established between the devices using a router or switch, primarily for the purpose of playing multiplayer video games together. LAN party events differ significantly from LAN gaming centers and Internet cafes in that LAN parties generally require participants to bring your own computer (BYOC) and are not permanent installations, often taking place in general-use venues or residences.
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams.
The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was established by Angel Munoz on June 27, 1997, hosting biannual tournaments in hotels. The CPL's World Tour in 2005 marked a global expansion of esports, but concerns arose about fan engagement and attracting new audiences. The post-tour era saw increased competition from the WSVG, and the CPL faced financial troubles including the loss of its main sponsor, Intel, to WSVG in 2006. Shortly after, WSVG's Matt Ringel purchased the 2006 CPL Summer event, leading to a decline in the CPL's influence. The CPL attempted a "World Season" in late 2006, hosting fewer events with reduced prize money. Rumors circulated about the league's health, and in March 2008, the CPL ceased operations. Later that year, the CPL was acquired by an investment group in Abu Dhabi, later becoming solely owned by WoLong Ventures PTE of Singapore. The CPL continued hosting annual competitions in China in collaboration with the municipal government of Shenyang.
Emil Pathric William Christensen, also known as HeatoN, is a Swedish esports manager and former professional Counter-Strike player, who played as captain of the gaming team Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP). HeatoN was the manager of NiP up until October 2018 when he decided to part ways with the organisation to focus on his own brand. He is widely considered one of the best Counter-Strike players of all time.
SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in Counter-Strike (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian CS team won the ESL One Cologne 2016 Major. SK currently has players and teams competing in League of Legends and Hearthstone. SK Gaming was founded in 1997 by a small group of Quake players in Oberhausen.
The Electronic Sports World Convention (ESWC) was an international professional gaming championship. Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earned the right to represent their country in the ESWC Finals.
MTw, formerly known as Team NoA, was a professional Counter-Strike team. Founded by Jonas "bsl" Alsaker, the team was regarded as the world's best several times, taking home many prestigious "trophies". They were the first professional e-sports team to consist of members from multiple continents when they formed the team from highly experienced players from Norway, Canada and United States. They were also the first e-sports team ever to pay for a player transfer out of a contract when they bought Ola "element" Moum out of his contract with SK Gaming.
World Series of Video Games (WSVG) was an international professional electronic sports competition. It held its first season in 2006, with competitions in six different games and six events held around the world including the finals of the event. The total prize purse of the season was US$750,000 which includes the $240,000 prize purse that was winnable at the finals. The WSVG was operated by Games Media Properties, an American gaming company founded in 2002 with the BYOC Lan section subcontracted out to Lanwar Inc.
The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) was a professional esports league based in the United States, that operated from 2007 to 2008. It was a global league that featured teams representing cities from around the world. The CGS aimed to bring a traditional sports league format to competitive gaming, with teams, franchises, and a regular season leading to playoffs and a championship. The CGS was preceded by the 2006 Championship Gaming Invitational, a television pilot featuring several future CGS players. The league was founded in 2007 and was owned and operated by DirecTV in association with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR TV. Games played in the CGS included titles such as Counter-Strike: Source, FIFA, Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Forza Motorsport 2. The league had a television broadcast deal, and matches were aired on various networks. Despite initial hype and investment, the CGS faced financial challenges and eventually ceased operations in 2008.
Mouz, formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its CS:GO team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. MOUZ's League of Legends team currently competes in the ESL Pro Series, having formerly competed in the European Challenger Series.
Esports Heaven is an esports news and community website, formed from the merging of Cadred.org and tek-9.org in 2013. Cadred was a coverage site for competitive video gaming, or esports, owned by Heaven Media Group, a United Kingdom based marketing agency, which focuses on tech, esports, and gaming clientele.
Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a professional esports organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its Counter-Strike teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a Counter Strike: Global Offensive lineup upon the release of the game. Aside from Counter-Strike, the organisation has teams in Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, FIFA, Rocket League, Fortnite Battle Royale and League of Legends. They formerly had teams in Overwatch, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Paladins.
Serious Gaming is a professional gaming team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was founded in 2004 by entrepreneur Bas Peeperkorn. Serious Gaming is known for their achievements in first-person shooter Deathmatch tournaments, most notably those by Quake series players Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski and Cypher.
Matthew Haag, better known as Nadeshot, is an American former professional Call of Duty player and the founder, co-owner and CEO of 100 Thieves. As a professional Call of Duty player, Haag was a former captain of OpTic Gaming in the 2014 Call of Duty: Ghosts season and the 2014–2015 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare season, playing the objective support role.
Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) was an American esports organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in April 2010 by George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis and Alexander "Vodoo" Beutel as a League of Legends team, and branched out into other games.
OpTic Gaming is an American professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The organization currently operates a Call of Duty team in the Call of Duty League, OpTic Texas, they also operate a Overwatch team in the Overwatch League, Dallas Fuel, as well as Rocket League, and Halo teams. They previously competed in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Gears of War 4, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Fortnite Battle Royale, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, and Apex Legends. The organization is currently owned by Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez and Mike “Hastr0” Rufail.
Team 3D was an American esports organization that formerly had teams competing in Counter-Strike: Source, Warcraft 3, Dead or Alive 4, Halo 2, Painkiller, and Call of Duty. Team 3D was one of the most successful North American Counter-Strike teams and briefly became a part of the Championship Gaming Series (CGS). The owner Craig "Torbull" Levine decided not to continue the team after the demise of the CGS in 2009.
Vincent Cervoni Schopenhauer, better known as Happy, is a French professional Valorant coach for M80. He formerly played professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) as a lurker/rifler for Team LDLC. As the in-game leader for Team Envy, and before that Team LDLC, Happy won two CS:GO Majors – DreamHack Winter 2014 and DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 – and finished second at another – ESL One Cologne 2015, a performance record that led to him being ranked as one of the best players in the game's history. Happy is considered a star of the French CS:GO scene and along with Ex6TenZ, one of the country's best in-game leaders. Before CS:GO, he played Counter-Strike: Source under the name EMSTQD.
Jordan Gilbert, better known as n0thing, is an American retired professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. He previously played as a rifler/lurker for Cloud9. n0thing is one of the most experienced North American players. Before playing Global Offensive, n0thing was a professional Counter Strike 1.6 player. Jordan won his first LAN tournament at just 10 years old. Since then, he has grown into a major figure in the CS:GO scene. His large following has garnered him popularity outside the esports scene, even appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience.
Professional Counter-Strike competition involves professional gamers competing in the first-person shooter game series Counter-Strike. The original game, released in 1999, is a mod developed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe of the 1998 video game Half-Life, published by Valve. Currently, the games that have been played competitively include Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (CS:CZ), Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Counter-Strike 2 (CS2). Major esports championships began in 2001 with the Cyberathlete Professional League Winter Championship, won by Ninjas in Pyjamas.
