From batting prehistoric monsters to racing your friends, video games offer a wide array of entertainment and escapism. People latch onto video games simply because they are an enthralling escape from reality. In the real world,there is no Princess Peach needing to escape from Bowser or any evil final bosses threatening to decimate the entire human population. It’s this cathartic release of emotions that we find so appealing, much like watching a tragic movie. During the movie, people grow to love and empathize with the main characters. By the time tragedy has struck and the movie has ended, the audience can cry, then walk away and resume their daily activities without the stress of truly experiencing the devastating events since they are fictional. The same is true of video games. Aristotle coined the term “catharsis”, comparing the effect of a tragedy to the medical term ‘Katharthis” meaning purification or purgation. Video game companies have taken advantage of catharsis, creating a successful industry garnering over 50 billion dollars each year.

One of the most popular games currently is called “League of Legends”. It’s a team-player game with currently over 168 different characters or champions. The game is simple enough for beginners to enjoy while being complex enough to allow for hours of entertainment even for advanced players. Currently, it has over 150 million active players worldwide and is the most popular game in Korea. In the 2022 Asian Games hosted by China in the city of Hangzhou, a six-member Korean team took the gold playing it against Taiwan. The Korean team was then exempt from Korean military service. This speaks to how important the win was, since even the members of BTS who are famous worldwide all had to enter the Korean military service; it is mandatory for all males over 18 for one and a half years.

The history of League of Legends is very fascinating. Blizzard, now owned by Activision, makes games like Starcraft and Warcraft. Starcraft was one of the first major games that popularized E Games and tournaments with live streaming and TV broadcasts. League of Legends is based on a custom map called “Defence of the Ancients.”- also known as DOTA, from the Warcraft III game. Riot developed League of Legends as a stand-alone “free to play” game and launched it in 2009. The rest is history.

Video games, once merely a tool for escape, are now profitable jobs. In Korea, professional players are paid salaries of over six figures and train up to 12 hours per day. The team members eat, sleep, and play together every day in a sponsored training center. Lee Sang-Hyeok, known as “Faker”, has made over 1.5 million USD from playing League of Legends.

Personally, I’m not very good at video games especially- League of Legends. I play them when I desire a cathartic and stress-relieving break from my responsibilities. My amateur playing is no match for the higher-level opponents, and I always end up missing my last shots at the enemy minions. Sometimes I compare myself to people of the Victorian era watching Shakespearian tragedies. Video games are the modern version of tragedies such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar- a dramatic exaggeration of reality made to “purify” our souls.

<Ellie Byun 11th Grade, Santiago HS 2026>