What is esports? A systematic scoping review and concept analysis of esports.

This study conducted a systematic scoping review to collect definitions and explanations of esports and its related concepts in the existing literature. A thematic coding approach was used to screen possible disagreements and issues between the different characteristics of esports as presented in the existing definitions. Based on a critical discussion, the results of the coding were combined with the objective facts of the current esports industry and theories from similar fields to reconstruct the construction of an esports definition. In addition, the relationship between esports and its related concepts was discussed based on the proposed esports definition structure. The proposed esports criteria can help avoid misunderstandings and confusion in future studies regarding the research subjects related to esports and propose standardized usage of relevant terms in the field of esports research.