Perspective of the definition of eSports in Thai society to The Draft Regulation of Gaming Business and Supervision for the Protection of Children and Juveniles Act

Abstract

The Draft Regulation of Gaming Business and Supervision for the Protection of
Children and Juveniles Act aimed to prevent the potential harmful impact of E-sports and
online gaming which mainly focuses on children and juveniles. This push comes amid growing
public frustration especially those who are involved in the online gaming community and
widespread online criticisms about restrictions. Most critics stated that there was a problem
with the draft Gaming Act since the lawmakers had an understanding and recognize the
meaning of ‘E-sports’ that were different from the general public. The purposes of this
research were 1) to study the level of perspective of the definition of eSports in Thai society
and 2) to survey opinions on The Draft Regulation of Gaming Business and Supervision for the
Protection of Children and Juveniles Act. The sample consisted of 312 general people who
are able to access the internet, obtained by online survey.
The results indicated that the general public perceived E-sports in three different
definitions as follows: a game, a sport, and a researcher redefined. They perceived E-sports as
a sport the most, followed by E-sports as the researcher redefined, and last, E-sports as a
game. The results showed that the general public agreed to the Draft Gaming Act by agreeing
with provisions relating to gaming business operations, E-sports tournaments, gaming activities,
and players (children and juveniles).