ABSTRACT
The present study is dedicated to an analysis of e-sports, understanding them as a way of expressing sports culture in accordance with the contemporary social paradigm that involves cyberculture. Its main objective is to look into the senses and meanings of sports cyberculture for the social actors that make up the e-sports universe. Thus, in a qualitative approach, the semi-structured interview technique was used with 2 cyberathletes and 1 streamer, all professionals. The results show that sports cyberculture is appropriated by these social actors with expectations for career building, taking into account the growth of both the modality and its audience amidst perceptions and experiences of prejudice. It is concluded that sports cyberculture produces and reflects practices, attitudes and values that are similar to the traditional way of experiencing sports, reproducing stereotypes and prejudices, dreams of social ascension, and professionalization prospects.
Keywords:
E-sport; Cyberculture, Cyberathletes