Dear Colleagues We'd like to invite you to submit your research to the HICSS Esports minitrack. Fast-track journal options are involved: accepted research will be considered for publication in the Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports (Human Kinetics) special issue. Selected articles (both rejected and accepted) will be proposed to the special issue of the Journal of Creative Communication (SAGE; IF: 1.5) with the guarantee of going to the review stage. Here is the full CfP: Esports research is a young yet burgeoning field with both extensive challenges and opportunities. Despite the ever-growing breadth of esports research, esports presents many opportunities for academics and industry professionals to continue examining new and unique ways in which electronic games will impact and change societies worldwide. In the last decade, esports have ceased to be seen solely as entertainment and have burgeoned into a multi-billion dollar area within the wider video gaming industry. We also continue to see increases in the number of esports players and games, events organized, viewership online and in-person, and the growing professionalization of the industry as a whole. Traditional sports still draw more viewers and generate more revenue. However, esports continue to increase their reach and potential through the growing number of broadcasted games, tournament prize pools, and increasing advertising potential of esports games. Despite the increasing popularity of esports, much more research is still needed in all areas. Moreover, because electronic gaming technology continues to develop at a rapid pace (e.g., augmented reality, virtual reality, the “metaverse”), there is virtually no limit to esports research. This minitrack aims to provide insight into any and all areas of esports’ theoretical development and practical understanding without excluding any methodological approach or scientific disciplines. Conceptual, theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions that enrich our understanding of esports are welcome. Given the diverse goals of this minitrack, possible topics include, but are not limited to: Business, e.g., discovering esports consumers’ motivations; designing effective marketing tools; understanding players’/esports’ networks and organizations; gamers/fans as consumers. Cognitive Science/Psychology, e.g., studying factors influencing athletes’ performance; their abilities and skills; cognitive and behavioral differences between athletes. IT and Computer Science, e.g., using game telemetry, biometrics, user-generated data, or text mining to study esports, e.g., team dynamics, players’ interactions, and in-game performance. Law, e.g., copyright issues; gambling. Sociology, e.g., gamers’ and athletes’ interactions, experiences, and identities; live events and streaming dynamics; gender issues (gender gap). Media Studies, e.g., relations between esports, traditional sports, and the media; offline spaces versus live-streaming; understanding esports in terms of virtual versus actual; how technology mediates gaming; and how esports’ communities fit here. Sports Science, e.g., comparing esports and ‘traditional’ sports; esports as ‘real’, ‘genuine’ sports or new quality. Accepted research will be considered for publication in the Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports (Human Kinetics) special issue. Selected articles (both rejected and accepted) will be proposed to the special issue of the Journal of Creative Communication (SAGE; IF: 1.5) with the guarantee of going to the review stage. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Author Instructions: https://hicss.hawaii.edu/authors/ Esports minitrack website: https://hicss.hawaii.edu/tracks-55/internet-and-the-digital-economy/#esports... IMPORTANT DATES: April 15, 2024: Paper submission begins (through HICSS systems: https://hicss-submissions.org/) June 15, 2024: Paper submission deadline (11:59 pm HST) August 17, 2024: Notification of acceptance/rejection September 22, 2024: Deadline for authors to submit final manuscript for publication October 1, 2024: Deadline for at least one author for each paper to register for the conference MINITRACK CO-CHAIRS: Piotr Siuda (Primary Contact) Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland piotr.siuda@ukw.edu.pl David P. Hedlund St. John’s University hedlundd@stjohns.edu Emma Witkowski RMIT University Emma.witkowski@rmit.edu.au Lindsey Darvin Syracuse University ledarvin@syr.edu There are several mini-tracks related to gaming. They include Gamification (in Decision Analytics and Service Science), Streaming Media in Entertainment (in Digital and Social Media), Games & Gaming (in Digital and Social Media), Digitalization of Work (in Knowledge Innovation and Entrepreneurial Systems), Game-based Learning (in Knowledge Innovation and Entrepreneurial Systems), and the Metaverse (in Organizational Systems and Technology). -- *Piotr Siuda* (PhD, Professor of Media Studies) piotrsiuda.com Faculty of Cultural Studies Department of Game Studies and Digital Culture Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Associate Editor; *Journal of Creative Communication <https://journals.sagepub.com/home/crc> *(SAGE Journals) *Recent papers:* -- *Gaming and Gamers in Times of Pandemic*, *Bloomsbury Academic Press*, https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/gaming-and-gamers-in-times-of-pandemic-9798765... *-- The Next Level of Horror Entertainment: Facing Fear in Cooperative Interactive Drama Survival Horror Games*, *Proceedings of the 57th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences*, https://hdl.handle.net/10125/106706 *-- The Problematic nature of evaluating esports' "genuineness" using traditional sports' criteria: In-depth interviews with traditional sports and electronic sports journalists,* *Leisure Studies*, https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2023.2215471