Electronic sports, better known as eSports, are cementing themselves in the lives of gamers of all ages across the world. Addicting may be an understatement when taking into consideration how many hours a student will spend playing online video games, especially in comparison to the hours spent on schoolwork. In extreme cases, students may turn their video game hobby into a career. One example of this is Antioch Community High School alumni Sam Jackson who is currently a professional League of Legends player.

There is a wide variety of eSport video games, such as “Dota 2,” “Counter Strike: Global Offense,” “Heroes of the Storm” and “Overwatch.” Although these games attract many gamers, the most popular game by far is “Call of Duty.”

“Call of Duty” draws a large crowd from all ages between their “Black Ops” and “Modern Warfare” games.

Senior Marc Gillespie is an active member in the “Call of Duty” community, but is also a two sport Varsity athlete in football and track and field.

“I typically play ‘Call of Duty’ for a couple hours at night, a few times a week,” Gillespie said. “I’m an athlete and enjoy playing sports, but in ‘Call of Duty’ there is teamwork, precision and mental acuity as well as hand-eye coordination that goes into being a good player.”

The intense strategy of competitive “Call of Duty” is what attracts many intelligent players, along with large amounts of prize money awarded at the biggest tournaments.

“Games like search and destroy and capture the flag depend on teamwork in order to win,” Gillespie said. “Strategies and tactics such as trading kills and setting up plays and attack methods are just some of the strategies. On top of that, assigning different positions to players are also incorporated into the teamwork and strategies.”

Vocabulary such as teamwork and positions start to draw their own comparisons to sports such as basketball and soccer, but those are not the only similarities; some “Call of Duty” players can create a more than comfortable living through this complex video game. The top earning “Call of Duty” player, Jordan Kaplan who goes by the screen name “JKap,” has made close to $450,000 by the year 2016 at just the age of 22.

The excitement surrounding “Call of Duty” is usually coming from OpTic Gaming, arguably the most popular gaming team in the world. Having a large presence on YouTube allows their fans a live look at the team’s practicing and matches, headlined by their anchor, Seth Abner, or more commonly known by his screen name, “Scumpii.” Currently, the OpTic Gaming team is located out of Schaumburg, Illinois, and has their own nickname for their fan base: the Green Wall.

“Green Wall for life,” Gillespie said. “Scumpii is a God amongst men; his YouTube videos are second to none.”