Virtual athlete or ultimate nerd? A framing analysis of eSports in Flemish printed media

Abstract

Despite the rapid and global increase in popularity and media focus of eSports, many issues remain, not least in terms of how the media portray eSports (players). Considering Flanders (Belgium) has been relatively slow to follow this global uptake, this article adopts an inductive framing approach to analyze exhaustively how eSports are portrayed in 103 Flemish newspaper and magazine articles. Results indicate eSports were represented via eight frames spread across the categories ‘game/industry’ and ‘players’. On the one hand, the Flemish printed media legitimize eSports via comparisons with traditional sports and its applicability to capitalist frameworks such as the sport-industrial complex. On the other hand, player representations remain largely permeated with ‘softer’ stereotypes of laziness as well as with neglecting reference to female players. Subsequently, greater investments by the Flemish government could raise the national prominence of eSports, benefit competitive development, and help tackle issues of stereotyping in the media.