1. New kids on the block
At the 2015 Winter X Games in Aspen, there will be much that is radical – snowboarders, monoskiers, slopestylers and snowmobilers, all performing remarkable feats of athleticism, strength and dexterity. Usually in mid air.
But most radical of all, there will also be men and women hunched over computers, blowing away imaginary baddies (and goodies) with imaginary machine guns, while thousands of real people watch and cheer.
What’s more, they will be handing out medals for all this imaginary carnage – just like all the other sports. Which begs the question: is computer gaming really sport at all?
2. What is esports?
esports – or electronic sports – is the umbrella term for organised, competitive computer gaming, usually between professionals. Competitive computer gaming has been around since the days of Pong in the 1970s. But that gang of youths gathered around an Atari console in some lucky bleeder’s bedroom has become 40,000 fans in a football stadium, some of them in fancy dress (image 1), all of them glued to the action on giant screens (image 2). Imagine the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, times it by six, take away most of the booze and you get some idea of what major esports events are like.
As with traditional sports, esports consists of many different games. But those games don’t necessarily mimic traditional sports. For example, in Aspen the game of choice is Counter-Strike, a first-person shooter in which you choose to be either a terrorist or a counter-terrorist. No, you can’t be Lionel Messi. But the most popular is League of Legends, a multi-player strategy game whose Wikipedia description sounds like it was written by the lovechild of JRR Tolkien and C-3PO. To the uninitiated, it sounds as impenetrable as cricket.
Big business - online & in arenas
But there are plenty of people who get esports, in all its forms. In 2014 there were 205m viewers, according to Newzoo, which conducts market research for the computer games industry. The 2013 League of Legends world championship attracted 32m online viewers, more than double baseball’s World Series and even trumping game seven of basketball’s NBA finals. The 2014 League of Legends world championship attracted 40,000 fans to Sangam Stadium in Seoul (image 3), which hosted a football World Cup semi-final in 2002.
But while South Korea is considered by many to be the cradle of esports, it is now doing enormous business in Europe and North America. In July 2014, 11,000 fans watched an esports event in a Seattle basketball arena. The event offered the highest esports prize pool so far – $10.9m, more than golf’s USPGA Championship – and was streamed by US broadcasting giant ESPN.
£1m salaries for top players
But esports is more normally broadcast by specialist streaming platforms such as Twitch (image 4), which was recently purchased by Amazon for almost $1bn. In 2013, Twitch had 55m visitors a month and 600,000 users generating content. Not surprisingly, many of the world’s biggest corporations have got involved. esports revenue is expected to grow from $130m in 2012 to $465m in 2017, according to Newzoo.
Top esports players (like Carlos 'Ocelote' Rodriguez - image 5) are feted all over the globe, and can earn upwards of £1m a year. But they are like traditional sportspeople in lots of other ways. They compete as part of slickly-operated teams (image 6), which in turn compete in regional leagues. They might train for 14 hours a day. They study strategy, technique, the opposition. They demonstrate remarkable reflexes and mental agility. They deal with enormous pressure, experience euphoric highs (image 7) and shattering lows.
Let's meet those involved. See HERE.
3. So how does it compare? See HERE.
4. The case FOR
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"Why is it not a sport?" says Blicharz. "Why should a horse be forced to prove it is indeed a horse?"
Michal Blicharz, originally from Poland, is a former judoka who has fulfilled many roles in esports, from competitor to referee to coach. He now organises esports events around the world.
Despite cheerfully referring to himself and his fellow esports enthusiasts as “nerds”, Blicharz passionately believes esports is indeed sport. “I’ve sweated on the judo mat enough times to have a good opinion about it,” he says.
“Judo and esports are not that dissimilar,” he adds. “There are tournaments, you have to climb up a ladder to eventually compete with the best. In terms of training you have to put in the same amount of hours, perhaps even more in esports. You study strategy, technique and opponents. All the elements are there – the excitement, the adrenalin, players crying tears of sorrow and joy.”
Blicharz concedes physical exertion in esports is minimal, although some players do get struck down with repetitive strain injuries. But the fact that most dictionary definitions of ‘sport’ include the words ‘physical’ or ‘athletic’ hasn’t prevented darts or snooker from shielding under the sporting umbrella.
However, and in common with most people you speak to in the esports community, Blicharz doesn’t really care if people think esports is sport or not. esports is doing things its own way – and traditional sports should take note.
5. The case AGAINST
The US Government recognises esports players as professional athletes, at least where the granting of visas is concerned. But not everyone agrees. Despite ESPN dipping its toe into esports, its president John Skipper is distinctly lukewarm. “[esports] is not a sport,” he said, “it’s a competition. Mostly I’m interested in doing real sports.”
Tim Warwood is a former UK snowboarding champion who now commentates for the BBC. He agrees with Skipper that computer gaming is not a sport and believes esports should not have been included in the Winter X Games, which take place from 21-25 January.
“To have kids sitting there looking at computer screens indoors, alongside snowboarding and freestyle skiing and all the rest, it just doesn’t seem right,” he says. “When I was a kid, sport was all about getting outside, getting wet, muddy, out of breath – you’re not going to get out of breath smashing your thumbs on a controller. I just think it’s a bit weird really – but maybe I’m just getting old.”
However, Warwood remembers a time – not so long ago – when snowboarding wasn’t considered a real sport either and snowboarders were “outcasts and outsiders”. “When I started snowboarding,” he says, “my gran thought I was a professional snowballer – as in, I was throwing snowballs for a living.”
So while Warwood believes that some athletes will be irritated by the inclusion of esports in the X Games, he speculates that some snowboarders and freestyle skiers might actually view computer gamers as kindred spirits.
So, is computer gaming really sport?
VOTING... See HERE.
This is really interesting topic for me because I play games too. I have been following the esports games since 2015. Watching esports games is really fun and when my favourite team win, I feel the hype and the adrenaline too, its almost the same like watching a football match.
ReplyDeleteSo, is computer gaming is really a sport?. The meaning of sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. This definition really fit computer gaming competition since they involve individual skills or team against another or others for entertainment, but, the real question is does computer gaming involve physical exertion?. The answer is yes because computer gaming player involve motor skills, their capabilities and various parts of the brain are also being used at the same time. For me, computer gaming competitive matches should be consider as a real sport based on the reasons above.
Jihad wrote: "Watching esports games is really fun and when my favourite team win, I feel the hype and the adrenaline too, its almost the same like watching a football match."
DeleteThe expression you want is either "...it's almost THE SAME AS watching a football match" or "...it's almost LIKE watching a football match" ... but don't try to mix both!
Since I was a gamer in my junior high school times, I am very keen to discuss about this article. To answer the question if computer games (E-Sports) are actually categorised as sports, I will most probably say yes. If we look the real definition of sport, it tells that sport is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”. There is a fine line when considering whether or not something should be considered a game or sport. E-sports falls right into that category. It has been growing ever since it was established. The only factor that contradicts both ‘Sport’ and ‘E-Sport’ is that E-Sport doesn't have any connection with physical activities.
ReplyDeleteBecause I agree that sports do not need any physical aspects to connect with, I also agree that computer games (E-Sports) are considered as sports. However, we cannot categorise all games as E-Sports because games that can considered as E-Sports are the ones that have the 'online mode' which provides vibes to compete and interaction with a non-bot opponent.
Toba wrote: "Since I was a gamer in my junior high school times, I am very keen to discuss about this article."
DeleteWe "discuss" SOMETHING or we "talk about" SOMETHING, but we don't 'discuss about something'.
The debate about whether computer gaming is really a sport is actually very interesting. I used to play computer games competitively during my junior high school times. I played Dota 2 and Counter Strike. My team and I competed in several competitions for both games. We spent about 4 hours a day training after school every day and about 10 hours during weekends. There’s a lot to train when competing at e-sports, such as our strategy, reaction time, and the way the other teams “behave”. For instance, as a Counter Strike player, I need to know how to do ‘shoulder peeking’, how to throw the smokes, and where to place the crosshair for ‘pre-firing’, and many other things. So, is computer gaming really a sport? I would definitely consider computer gaming as a sport. Competitive computer games like Dota 2, League of Legends, Counter Strike and StarCraft are no difference compared to football or basketball. All of them need strategy and planning. The players need to train hard and understand all the aspects of the game. Also, the fans get the similar level of excitement from watching the players playing. That’s why computer gaming is worthy enough to be called ‘E-Sports’.
ReplyDeleteAlex wrote: "There’s a lot to train when competing at e-sports, such as our strategy, reaction time, and the way the other teams “behave”."
DeleteWho is trained? You, right? But you say "there is a lot to train". Then you explain that "there is" is referring to strategy, reaction time, analysis of other teams. Those things are not going to be trained; you are. So you need to express it like this:
"There’s a lot of training needed when competing at e-sports."
Or...
"We need to train a lot when competing at e-sports."
ReplyDeletefor me as a millennial who’s born in an era where there is a rapid development of technology, playing electronic game is no longer a strange thing and when the competition of playing games are being classified as sports I couldn’t agree more because I think the competition of sports can fulfill every aspect of sports, although with a little note that playing games only include minor physical exertion. Nonetheless, we can also see from the point of view of the ways that the competition is being held. Esports has more or less the same ways as the other sports, In Esports the participant can pair up with others to form a team and I think this is one of the important aspects where Esports not only compete within individual but also they need to learn to work in a team like other sports such as Football, Hockey, Basketball, and etc. And eventually it will sharpen each individual’s soft skills in communication.
Besides its teamworking aspect, Esports also teaching their participant to always think critically. By means that participant must provide several plans when they want to take action because every action they took can be an advantage for their opponent and so does the same thing happens to the other team. If we see from this point of view, Esports has the same way as playing a chess. Every movement needs to be measured and each action they must be supported by other backup plans if in case that participant took the wrong action. Therefore, I believe that Electronic games can be called also a sport because Electronic games have every aspect of what we called sports. If Football, Rugby, Baseball are playing in a team and so does Electronic games such as RPG (Role Playing Games). Even I believe that Esports is much more complicated than other sports because participant must prepare several plans while also at the same time they are working in a team.
DeleteDzaki wrote: "If we see from this point of view, Esports has the same way as playing a chess."
DeleteSo do you believe chess is a sport?
http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-chess-a-sport
If chess and bridge is considered as sport, the professional gaming should be considered as a sport too. Even though that it involves less physical activity than traditional sports, esports still consist many aspects that define sport. For example, esport can be played individually or in a team. Esports’ main objective is to win like many other sports. It requires strategy, teamwork, and intense exercises to become a professional gamer, just like professional athletes. It is also fun and entertaining to watch for some people and they love it like the way someone loves football or basketball. They have a really huge fanbase and the competition has reached the international level with huge amount of cash in rewards. It proves that esport should be considered as a sport. I personally does not really know about esport before but I know several esport games like dota2 and counter strike. I prefer watching football than esport game but I think it is worth to try to watch it sometime.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I’m quite a huge sports fan. And the idea that virtual sports are classified as sports is still not really acceptable for me. Usually, sports would require physical fitness or other physical activities. Sports competition would require opponents to meet physically. So, the idea that people meet or play sports virtually is just too strange for me. E sports should just be considered as games. Most sports would require you to train really hard, and even require you to change your lifestyle into a healthy one, so that you would increase your physical fitness. When we talk about e sports, you only need to ace the game by playing it several times. You wouldn’t exactly need anything outside of the game to increase your skill in playing the game. Therefore, I really think e sports shouldn’t be considered as real sports for now. Maybe one day, if they could combine physical activities with e sports, we should then consider e sports being real sports.
ReplyDeleteI don’t play computer games, nor I am a sport enthusiasts. But I can say that E-sports have definitely catch public attention that nowadays more people are interested in it. I know that E-sports are a big thing in South Korea, and as the article mentioned above there are organized championship for it. There are even TV shows made to invite professional gamers to play computer games live on TV. Not everyone know about this, but in the 2018 Asian Games that was held in Jakarta and Palembang last August, E-sports was also played as a demonstration sport. It means the medals acquired by players were not counted in the overall medal tally. Indonesia was able to get two medals in total, one gold and silver from winning Clash Royale and Hearthstone. However, E-sports will be an official game in the 2022 Asian Games and therefore medals will be counted. Hence, I think we should start to consider E-sports as sport. The skills and ability to be able to play computer games did not come just like that; it requires months or maybe years of training and experiences just like any other sports in general.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a very interesting topic because playing games is a hobby of mine and a lot of my friends. I even occasionally joined some gaming competition as well. It is undeniable that e-sports competition is highly popular in the International society, it also involves a big huge sum of money in the prize pool. The highest prize pool even exceeds millions of dollars, $25,532,177 to be exact, It is The International 2018 Dota 2 championship. But, the question here is; Could e-sport be considered a sport? To answer this question most people would wonder about the definition of ‘sport’ here? the Oxford English Dictionary defines sports as “An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” E-sport does involve some physical activities, but it is far less than the ‘normal’ sports such as football or basketball. Putting that aside, there’s a study that showed the blood pressure is raised while playing video games. Personally, I believed that e-sport could be considered a real sport. But, I also think that the topics are still a controversy for the public especially to people who don’t play video games.
ReplyDeleteTo me, e-sport is obviously a sport; it takes a lot of skill to be a pro, it takes dedication and a lot of practice, the team chemistry needed of a group-type of game is absolutely huge (teams would live together to bond), and a person would need both mental and physical health, and most importantly, the salary of a pro player is really, really good. The acknowledgement of e-sport to be a sport in inevitable.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, there is a major difference between amateur play of e-sports and the conventional sports. Most kids wont have the discipline of a pro e-sport player needed in order to stay fit and not just sit around and play all day. On the other hand, conventional sport would be a more physical activity so a person would be generally healthier. My suggestion is that parents should be more open minded of e-sports and the possibility of their children wanting to be a pro-player, but still keeps them healthy by telling them to exercise and socialize in outside activities.
As a person who used to play video games regularly and as someone who follows the e-sport scene frequently, I think that e-sports should be considered a sport. By definition of Oxford Dictionary sport is "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment". E-sports easily fits the second half of this definition, however the first part that specifies physical exertion is debatable.
ReplyDeleteWhat is defined as physical exertion is vague and unclear. For all we know, flicking our finger is considered as physical exertion just as much as sprinting is. With this point being the main subject of many debates, its clear why some people do not consider e-sports as a sport: where is all the physical work?.
I think that the mouse clicking and flicking could be considered as physical exertion. After all, the term used is rather vague and there is no set parameter that indicates that a certain level of physical work must be done to be considered a proper sport.
I think that computer gaming is considered as a sport. My definition of sport is a competition between two sides that wants to win, and therefore I consider computer gaming as a “sport”. There are also some games that is not between two sides and I will not consider this as a sport. Many people think that sport is a thing that involve lots of physical activity. If that is so, then let’s take chess for example. People think that chess is a sport even though it does not involve lots of physical activities and does not make you sweat. As someone who used to play First Person Shooter (FPS) games, I can confirm that it is very competitive. My friends used to rage a lot when they are playing this FPS games. People intimidate their opponent just like real sports. Playing games is also not easy. People who never touched games think that they can be good just by playing it once and this is false. It takes hard work and dedication for people to be good at certain games.
ReplyDeleteDespite the intriguing appearance of Indian food, I still can’t decide that Indian food is delicious. I may have tried some, though very common, such as the briani rice. But other than that, I cannot even mention one. Nevertheless, the article above convinced me to try Indian food. In my opinion, India’s culture is very special that even they have their own philosophy in cooking. The spices featured in most of their cuisine represent the strong culture of India. Although, it seems like Indian cuisine is not that favorable among Indonesians comparing to Japanese or Chinese food. I somehow believe that the best way to enjoy Indian food is to eat them directly in India. Strolling around and trying Indian food in the streets of India almost feel like tasting India’s culture in your mouth. In addition, is there anything better than having the chance to taste any cuisine made by someone that originally came from the place?
ReplyDeleteAs a former e-sport athlete, I used to play Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, a tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. R6 is my primary focus in e-sport beside that I also focus on Counter Strike Global Offensive, a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve Corporation. From my experience in joining some competitions I can say that e-sport is the actual sport.
ReplyDeleteMany people say that because of this sport has no physical activity and less stamina they consider esport as a medium of playing computer games with no correlation to sport activity. But they should understand that in esport we train our mind to act efficiently and fast. In addition, we have to work as a team because the game I used to play is a multiplayer based game. The scientific one mention that, According to the American Psychological Association, despite the violent nature most games display, video games work almost as well as academic courses in enhancing spatial navigation, memory, and reasoning.
In my opinion, it’s not whether e-sport is just a game or a sport. Its all about how competitive they can be, how much hard work and dedication they all put for winning a single game, and how they can convinced their family or friends that what they’re doing here is something that they love and be passionate for. Moreover, being able to make a living out of something that we really love must be a dream job especially for kids who dream about it. It is a great deal of opportunity for not all people in the world has the chance to do such thing. It also proofs that by focusing on something that we love can actually bring positive impact as long as we put hard work and good aim in it. Although e-sport is not precisely a real sport since it does not really move your body as other sports. But it shouldn’t be consider as a waste. Perhaps, sport itself is evolving.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am agree upon Warwood’s opinion; in which gaming does not really seems right if it conclude as a real sport. We all know that doing sport always required a good physical health, hours of practice, dedication and persistence; but so do e-sport. It seems that they also required huge amount of energy to play and think; also, they need hours of practice in order to set various tactics for the tournament. Literally just like what usual athlete do right? But I don’t see e-sport is a real sport. Because usually, sport is always have to deal with our body movement, sometimes it does not even required any tool to deal with, or even some of them need extra tool but not in a form of technology. Like for example, when people play boxing within their gadget, that does not count as a sport right? Because technically they are not the one who really play the game, instead, they only play it as a role. So that is why I’m certainly sure that e-sport does not really conclude as a real sport.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think playing games is also considered as sport. Because not all sport have to deal with something physical like outdoor activities, or getting ourself dirty, but instead there is also a branch of sport that is done in indoor places such as chess and bridge. Even though a lot of people said that e-sports do not deal with physical stuffs, But actually in e-sport a good hand reflex is required. Games that require a good hand reflex is Dota, CSGO, GuitarHero and many more. In fact, according to https://www.popsci.com/musicglove-helps-stroke-victims-regain-use-their-hands Guitar Hero, a game that makes us a guitarist, is used by a stroke rehabilitation place in US called The Music Glove and the method itself is already approved by FDA. This game is used because researchers have found out that Guitar Hero strengthen the patience hand and arm muscle to improve their dexterity without making the patience bored. E-sport athletes also have to maintain their health by eating healthy and working out when they are participated in a competition not much different than traditional sport athletes. In conclusion, I disagree with the statement that says E-sport is not a sport because the facts above have showed us otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting when we talk about E-sports as a formal form of sporting competition, as a matter of fact, it is a debatable topic that most people would bring up when they are talking about E-sports. Is it a competition worth having the title of sports in it? Well, in my opinion, it is a big competition with a growing number of fans and viewers as time goes by. Numerous player goes to retirement just because of the feeling that their quick reflexes are starting to deteriorate, similar to sports athlete that feel their body can't keep up with the schedule given by the tournament. Hence, I do think that it is a sport where you need to be on your prime condition, physically and mentally in order to win the games. In addition, in terms of the legality of it as a competitive event, it is already as competitive as it gets with all the player and manager trying to get the best strategy there is. Another point worth mentioning is that it is also getting more popular at the moment, and we could agree that a popular sport is determined by the number of viewers and fans it has. Also recently, some competitive gaming (E-sports) are included in the previous Asian Games as a mock test for future Asian games. All in all, I do think that it is a vigorously competitive sport, that needs an extra shot of rock solid mentality.
ReplyDeleteI love sports, I think they are the ultimate way to be healthy and to have fun at the same time. During junior high school and high school, I used to play futsal and basketball at a weekly basis, now at college I do not have the time and opportunity to play futsal or basketball, because of the assignments and the packed schedule. Besides sports, I also love to play video games, such as FIFA, PES, Counter Strike, console games, and mobile games. In my opinion esports is like the blend of real sports and video games, and to be honest, I do not think that they are real sports. I agree that they require a lot of skills, training, techniques, and proffessionalisme, much like the real sports. I also think that esports is also as competitive as the real sports, but I do not think that the esports player are athlete. So, in my opinion esports is not sports, and they should be categorized differently.
ReplyDeleteTo think online gaming/computer gaming as a sport requires a deeper explanation to further develop an understanding of what it actually is. As a sportsman and an avid gamer myself, I take sports as an activity that requires the body and mind to engage in physical movements and mental durability; whereas there is also a competition which is a contest between two or more participants. These two may intersect on each other and form something we refer to as sports competition, for instance, combat sports which require a great deal of physical and mental endurance. What about computer gaming? Even if there is the term eSports, the sports that is meant here is actually a competition. In the ancient times, when somebody say they keep an animal for the sport, it means they keep the animal to be put in a pit and fight against other animal or human in the case of the Gladiator. So, when you don’t involve physical endurance in a sport, it’s still a “sport” anyway, it’s just how people perceive it.
ReplyDeleteFor me, computer games are considered as a sport. Even though that it would not 100% utilise our physical strength, it makes a heavy use of our logic, patience, judgemental skills and teamwork, just like sports activities in general. If people do consider chess as a sport, why don’t they recognise computer games as a sport. Chess did not utilise our physical strength, it did not specifically require our physical attributes, it makes use of our logic, just like E-sports, it makes use of our judgemental skills again just like e sports. And to be honest, I do enjoy watching e sports rather than watching sports matches in general since besides the fact that I spend most of my free time playing those titles like DOTA, CS:GO and sometimes PUBG. I do watch sports matches instead of playing it to be honest since I felt that I’m not good at it and besides, the time constrains which held me back to play sports outside
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wikipedia, a sport is all activities that includes all forms of competitive physical activity or games which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators. As we can see, esport fulfilled most of the stuff written. But why are sport and esport aren’t considered the same? My opinion is that not a lot of people is familiar with it. And people always has this view where Games = Children. Which to me personally is an outdated point of view. Being both sports fan and a gamer myself, I attended events that has a rather large prize pool rather frequently. And surprisingly, a lot of people that compete are mostly young adults. Because just like in a regular sport, esport has their fair share of tactics and strategies. Both demands a high level of coordination between brain and body, just in different forms. A close comparison to esport is Chess, who is considered by many a mind sport. In it’s core, both chess and esport has the same requirements and fundamental to be qualified as sports. Yet why only esports received such negative outlook?
ReplyDeleteI personally would consider computer gaming as a sport. According to oxford dictionary, sport is defined as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Just like soccer, American football, and basketball, computer gaming requires training, teamwork and tactics. Physical exertion is defined as the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit, as these E-sport player trains, they exert various muscle to press the buttons on the keyboard, move the mouse and make use of their reflexes as reflex is one of the main needs of an E-sport player. Even though, E-sport player do not produce as much sweat as a soccer player but, computer gaming meets the standards that must be obtained in order for an activity to be classified as a sport. As computer gaming meets the standard requirements, I think that there should be no reason for computer gaming to not be classified as a sport.
ReplyDeleteI like sport and I know what sport is. I’m also a gamer and I know what game is. Sport and computer game are different. But, there is one similarity; both of them are the product of our culture and imagination-- A proof of our creativity. Everyone loves to compete. It has been happening since the ancient age where people competed with each other for land, richness, and honor.
ReplyDeleteThen, a softer way came up. We created a new way to compete by doing an activity called e-sport, a safer competition which is produced by our creativity. It involves physical movement and we will found an enjoyment inside it. Our culture and imagination has created a sport because of our willingness to compete. Therefore, they are the same basically. We do it because we love competition. It is important because people love to compete. That is a fact. The different is how we play it and the time it was made.
First of all, I was hyped up when I came across this article. As both player and follower since I was in elementary school, I understand well what e-sport is. But, before we jump to the question of “is e-sport actually a sport?”, the first question that should be answered is “does e-sport feel like a sport?” from my point of view the answer to that question is yes. The feeling of watching Dota 2’s Evil Geniuses somewhat successful run in The International 8 after their poor performance during the whole year gave me the same impression of watching England in The Last World Cup. The drama, the upset, the hype, all of those can be seen even though they are just sitting in front of a computer.
ReplyDeleteSo, is it considered to be sport you may ask. Personally, my answer to that is no. In my opinion e-sport is too big to be part of sport. What I mean by that is e-sport is e-sport. It is not part of a sport like basketball or running. The reason behind that is in e-sport there a lot of different genre of games and in that genre there also a lot of different games. So, the conclusion is e-sport is not part of a sport nor it is a sport, but it is similar with sport in general.
Esports is not a sport; it is a competition. The same as chess and any other board game competitions that are held on different corners of the Earth. What makes esports different from chess is the arrogance. The players engaged in esports are either just full of themselves or merely desperate and defenceless against the hurtful words their parents use in an attempt to persuade their children to go outside and have fun with other people by joining the team sports that they do in their free time. I probably wouldn’t be writing this comment if these esports players didn’t ask for so much and just accepted the fact that the financial rewards they earn from competing with other players is the furthest achievement that they could get from playing a competitive game. Chess players also earn financial rewards for winning a position within the top 3 in a chess competition and have never asked for their hobby to be included as a sport, then why do the esports players? Honestly, the name esports should be changed to either ecompetition or just esitting.
ReplyDeleteThe common meaning of sport we knew is referring into any physical related activities, however sport also can be referred as a behaviour to defeat something or someone. So if we define sport as the second meaning implied, then e-sport is actually a sport, due to the fact each person or team trying to defeat one another and seeks to win. As game of chess considered as sport although it does not required the people playing the game to exert any major physical action, despite that they exercise their mind in order to outplay their opponent, then we can describe this mind games as a sport, maybe it doesn’t require that much of energy physically yet the mentality to defeat one another and the determination to be the winner can change the overall outlook of e-sport. Me personally enjoying games so much and once I participated in e-sport for a game called rainbow six : siege and surprisingly I won the first place and received quite a big amount of money. It was tiring, arduous, trust me and I believe that e-sport is truly a sport ever since.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion E-sports is one of the branches of sports, its conduct is what makes it all somehow looked different than the other sports. I have a few friends that happen to be these e-sports athletes. They are professionals. Just like normal athletes, they put in countless hours of work to their development of skills and they spend lots of money to try to enhance their capability. I have tried to jump in to these fields once, like really got in the hype and focus on the game, but it was so time consuming and exhausting. Give credit where credit is due. These e-sports gamers take it seriously and the games have become major part of their life. Talking about life, some of them even rely on these e-sports games to make money. Even if they don’t move their bodies much during the game, they still put their energy to think and react to game’s response.
ReplyDeleteI consider myself a gamer, I have been playing video games for quite a while, and I have always been addicted to gaming and always fascinated with e-sports. I would say e-sports is categorized as “sport” because it does have the competitive aspect as any other sports; however, some might argue because it is not as entertaining or fun to watch. For a gamer like me, e-sports is the pinnacle of gaming tournament because nowadays people earn millions of dollars from tournaments, for example in 2014 a League of Legends (MOBA) tournament, the prize pool is $2.14 million. For the past couple of years, e-sports has taken over mainstream media because of its popularity, millions of people tune in to watch e-sports tournaments, it shows how big the gaming community is. I would not say computer gaming is a sport but it could be in a way that, people do practice or train to be the best player they could be, just like any other sports.
ReplyDeleteBorn in the 2000’s has taught me that technology will always grow on a fast rate because every developer will always try and find a way to create new and interesting things in technology. That is why I am not surprised that E-sport has become a common thing now in 2018. Every year, new competitive games will always be released and a lot of people will always try to be the best at it. E-sports events is now being held all around the world with crazy price pools. There is a very popular online MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game called DOTA 2 that always hold a E-sports event once a year called ‘The International’. This E-sports event has a very big prize pool from the first International raising around 1.5 million dollars until this year’s International that has a price pool of around 20 millions dollars. I believe that E-sports can be a real profession if every the year the prize pool will continue to grow a crazy amount.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic for me considering I used to play video games, especially DOTA 2 which is a ‘Multiplayer Online Battle Arena’ type of game. MOBA has been the top leading game genre; they’ve conducted several tournaments which grew in time, generating lots of money and pulling lots of audiences. I played DOTA 2 for three and a half years straight and I have to say that it has greatly trained my ability to communicate, cooperate, critical thinking, memorise, act quickly and being patient. In a way, it involves a huge amount of brain capacity to play this game, which is why I think we should deem certain video games as a sport (or e-sport). However, I have to agree to an extent that sports should be recognised only when there’s physical activities involved. But if we follow this thought process, chess shouldn’t be recognised as a sport, where else the International Olympic Committee as well as over 100 countries do recognise chess as a sport. Perhaps we need to change our perspective as well as the definition of sports, what’s considered as one and what’s not.
ReplyDeleteOut of all the students in the Faculty of Economics and Business of Gadjah Mada University, I think I have to admit myself as the one who understands the world of e-sports the most. I played competitive games for almost a decade now, starting from Point Blank and up to the most recent one Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). I have attended many offline and online tournaments, I have won several ones too. I think it is clear for me to believe that e-sports is a sport. No matter how often you'll hear this reason, I'll still go with this one: If chess is a sport, then e-sports also has to be considered as a sport. From how I see this issue, most people couldn't separate casual gaming and competitive gaming, which is why people doesn't consider e-sports as a sport. But to me, nevertheless of how people perceive e-sports, I believe that every country should develop it, especially in Indonesia because of how much talent we actually have.
ReplyDeleteThe dispute of whether computer gaming included in sports competition has long been gone for some time. In my point of view, computer gaming has to be excluded from any sports competition, why? Because I think sit down and just play computers is not a sport, sport I think requires a lot of movement and not involving any kind of digital technology. Computer gaming is involving digital technology and it is not appropriate to call it a sport. Chess I think also has been a debatable sport because the way it plays so I think the public tends to recognize a sport with movement. There is a solution for computer gaming if it still wants to be included in sports competition which is an e-sports competition. The competition specialized for activity that using digital tech for their sports such as computer gaming or even console gaming. So I think that is a win-win solution for everyone
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ReplyDeleteI have a really clear opinion about this topic. In my opinion computer gaming is not a sport. For me something can only be a sport if it demands physical effort. Therefore I also think that chess and checkers are no sports either. I would define something like E-sports as a game. I don’t think that the ancient Greeks would ever consider giving E-sports the Olympic status, for the same reason chess never made it: It is missing a physical element. I do believe that there is a big commercial market for E-sports and that a lot of people enjoy watching it, but it should not be compared with real sports. I find it funny and typical Asian that those E-sports made it to the Asian Games. Please note that I don’t know much about the Asian Games. If I was an Olympic medal winner like Usian Bolt and I saw that some 15 year old gamer was rewarded with the same recognition, it would feel as a devaluation of my performance.
Personally, I think competitive gaming is a sport in its own right. Many MOBA games, first-person shooters, fighting, and real-time strategy games require an organized and cohesive teamwork, and strategic thinking in order to be utilized in a competitive setting. Professional e-sports require careful planning, precise timing, and skillful execution that mirrors that of other, more conventional, sports. Though some may argue that e-sport might never become a “true sport”, because it doesn’t exert a physical and positive strain on the body; it’s worth noting that competitive gaming can prove extremely exertive on the human body. There have been cases of people suffering from injuries, complications, and even death, caused by the body being overexerted while playing computer games for extended periods of time. The e-sport industry still struggles with recognition as an official sport, which is why most events are heavily sponsored. The e-sport industry is also no stranger to scandals involving performance enhancing drugs, player exploitation, gambling, and other ethnics and legal problems found in other sports. So in conclusion, despite not being considered as a mere “mind sport”, e-sport is a growing industry that will continue to entertain and employ millions of people for many decades to come.
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