Are E Sports An Actual Sport

[T.Vengeance]

E-Sport is as much as a sport as Email (E-mail) is as to mail.

[Guest]

I think they are a competitions like chess. They require training, skill, and dedication to become good at. Saying gaming isn't a sport in no way diminishes it's value and I don't understand why people feel this way.

[theawesomejman]

Short and most accurate answer: no. 

 

E-Sports should push toward being their own and unique category instead of consistently forcing others to believe that they are a type of sports. 

"An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment" ~ Definition of the noun "sport" by the Oxford Dictionary.

 

Professional Gaming involves physical exertion, even if little of it, in the form of rapidly pressing keys and moving mouses, occasionally standing up and shouting, eye movement and so forth. A team competes against another team for entertainment and with the goal of beating the other team, as long as this statement is true. E-sports are by definition a sport.

 

Now when gaming is done with the mind, sitting down and not moving an inch. Then this will no longer be true, regardless that is not the case. 

[solarflare]

I feel E-sport is just that its own category. 

You can say most e-sport pro's are fit but its not because of playing video games. 

in that outlook you could say a accountant that works out at the gym every night is a athlete which obv isn't true.  

 

Im glad that gamers are living healthier life styles then they used too in the 90's but that doesn't make them athletes which imho and many others defines a true sport. 

 

A physical Competition or game where someone has to be in great shape and often that factor leads to them playing better or worse then the other athletes in the competition. 

 

Now in a E-sport Id say as long as your players are somewhat healthy and not having debilitating health issues your probably going to be ok the rest is just up to their brains and finger coordinations. 

 

I Do however feel Gaming could even be taken more seriously as many people love watching pro's play at a high level in some ways i think the FPS genre has let us down the last 8 years or so in the Competitive scene and id love to see that change and see the E-Sport scene grow even further. 

 

but its still not a physical sport. 

[VulsaviiK]

Streaming over internet and being broadcasted on satellite/cable tv are still two completely different things. Though with PS4 and Xbox One we are getting there. Being televised for major people still means that they turn on big black screen in living room, turn on some channel and instead of NFL, NHL or NBA there is MLG or ESL etc.

Korea dude, they have 2 TV/cable stations dedicated to esports. They do turn on that black screen in the living room.

 

 

"An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment" ~ Definition of the noun "sport" by the Oxford Dictionary.

 

People consider chess to be a sport, so I find that definition sketchy

 

 

You can say most e-sport pro's are fit but its not because of playing video games.  

 

Im glad that gamers are living healthier life styles then they used too in the 90's but that doesn't make them athletes which imho and many others defines a true sport. 

 

A physical Competition or game where someone has to be in great shape and often that factor leads to them playing better or worse then the other athletes in the competition. 

 

Now in a E-sport Id say as long as your players are somewhat healthy and not having debilitating health issues your probably going to be ok the rest is just up to their brains and finger coordinations. 

 

but its still not a physical sport. 

 

You can say most F1 drivers are fit but it's not because of driving cars. See what I did there? *insert picture of extremely overweight person driving 2 door hatchback here*

 

Again, the majority of people consider motorsports to be a legitimate sport, but whine about the lack of physical activity in e-sports. So it's ok for one but not the other then? And yes, F1 drivers need to be fit, for the ability to react quickly to the situations presented. And well in this example, there is a lot of strain being placed on the body through g-force, but regardless, F1 drivers aren't exactly pushing their cars across the line. So if they activity itself is driving a car, then it's hardly a "true sport", right? Wrong. F1 drivers are the best in the world, it's insane how hard those things are to drive, hell, they barely qualify for the title of a "car" consider how specific the conditions are that they can be driven under.

 

Look most e-sports guys are fit, some benching 85kg+ (I know Incontrol who plays SC2 for Evil Geniuses, although he looks kinda chubby, can bench press more than Machine did, and that guy looked like a tank)

 

But I think though we need to move past the physicality bit and look a little bit deeper here. The players themselves possess immense skill. Flash, who played SC:BW, when he switched to Starcraft 2 said it would take him potentially up to 2-3 years to reach a level that he achieved in Brood War. People watch it, and cheer for it in the same way as real sports. The production quality is crazy-good now. In some places in the world, it is on TV. And it's commentated in a very similar fashion to how "true sports" are commentated.

 

So with all these similarities drawn, why not give it the same label as a sport. Why dance around this "it's not physical" argument, when there are other examples of what we call legitimate sports where there isn't a huge amount of physical exertion

[solarflare]

are you so desperate for it to be called a sport when its not? its a E-sport inst that enough? 

and i dont feel racecar drivers are athletes either . the only people who are going to argue that are the fans of such events trying to make it something that it isn't. 

[Osmium]

E-Sport is as much as a sport as Email (E-mail) is as to mail.

 

That is the the best analogy I have heard on the matter in a long time.

 

     But the notion that esports is not a sport because it is easier to do than being a pro football player in my opinion is wrong. It is not easy at all to be a world class player in anything. People play Counter Strike, Starcraft, and Dota all their lives and never end up being a world class player. The same is true with regular sports so I don't see how you can say that playing any one of those games is not as difficult to master. No professional CS or Starcraft players are not athletes but CS and Starcraft in my mind are sports.

[T.Vengeance]

That is the the best analogy I have heard on the matter in a long time.

 

     But the notion that esports is not a sport because it is easier to do than being a pro football player in my opinion is wrong. It is not easy at all to be a world class player in anything. People play Counter Strike, Starcraft, and Dota all their lives and never end up being a world class player. The same is true with regular sports so I don't see how you can say that playing any one of those games is not as difficult to master. No professional CS or Starcraft players are not athletes but CS and Starcraft in my mind are sports.

Yup I completely agree. I think we should have Sports, and then branch it off to physical sports and E-sports. People associate sports too much with this physical side (as they should since it's been around for far longer than E-Sports). But that doesn't mean sports must be physical. 

[Lays]

God dang, it may not be an "official" sport, but that stadium + fans doe...

Being broadcast in 16 different languages all over the world

 

http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames

 

 

[LogicalDrm]

God dang, it may not be an "official" sport, but that stadium + fans doe...

Being broadcast in 16 different languages all over the world

 

http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames

 

 

Not to mention TI, Dreamhack, ESL One, IEM... And propably best what I heard. Some time ago (few years) when Barcrafts were new thing, some Finns arranged event on local bar. Owner didn't had anything against, games were played at times where there wasn't many other customers anyway. He put the SC2 fans into corner with small TV. They had 50+ visitors there and next day all matches played on big screen

[Lays]

Not to mention TI, Dreamhack, ESL One, IEM... And propably best what I heard. Some time ago (few years) when Barcrafts were new thing, some Finns arranged event on local bar. Owner didn't had anything against, games were played at times where there wasn't many other customers anyway. He put the SC2 fans into corner with small TV. They had 50+ visitors there and next day all matches played on big screen

 

 

Yeah I mean, "sport" or no "sport" the fan base is absolutely huge, there was over 300k people watching the allstars LoL stream yesterday, and it's not even the biggest event lol

 

I think last year during the world finals there was like 7.8million people watching across the world, freakin insane lol

[ShadowCaptain]

I see not problem with it being called "electronic sport"....because isnt that an accurate description?

 

E-mail is not called mail, it is called electronic mail. Sure on a fundamental basis it is mail but e-mail seems more accurate.

 

Same as E-Sport. If you explained that it was people/teams competing in something, it would be considered a sport, it just happened to be done electronically not physically.

 

So yes they are a sport but more accurately they are an E-Sport.....

[VulsaviiK]

are you so desperate for it to be called a sport when its not? its a E-sport inst that enough? 

and i dont feel racecar drivers are athletes either . the only people who are going to argue that are the fans of such events trying to make it something that it isn't. 

 

That's not my problem. The problem for me is people coming in with opinions that are completely misinformed. There are too many people who seem to think that esports is like, this new recent development pioneered by Riot and Valve. Which again, it's not.

 

E-sports is fine as a description, what isn't fine is people chiming in on a discussion who seem to think that challenger league (in LoL) or Grandmaster league (In Starcraft) both equates to a pro player (It doesn't) and think that it can happen overnight (It doesn't). At least that's the impression I'm getting.

 

Is the concept of an E-sport the same as a sport? Yes, it is. People train, practice, allow it to consume their life, so that they can compete, and it's spectated and commentated.

 

Does a lack of physicality = a lack of validity? Unfortunately, it seems some are jumping onto the "yes" answer, in doing so discrediting all of the aforementioned points and failing to understand the legitimacy being something, based on a really misinformed opinion

[iBrenty]

well. 2.9 million price pool for just a game. and still increasing. It just only out for 1 day

 

http://www.dota2.com/international/compendium/?sidebar

[solarflare]

If your going by fans as a arguement I guess playing a guitar is a sport now too? 

 

it is entertainment yes hence the fans if there was no fans it wouldnt be anything at all just some kids playing videogames way to much. 

[LogicalDrm]

If your going by fans as a arguement I guess playing a guitar is a sport now too? 

 

it is entertainment yes hence the fans if there was no fans it wouldnt be anything at all just some kids playing videogames way to much. 

 

When music is a competition then we can talk about sport. But not like Eurovision. Thats basicly comparing musical styles and performances. Like dancing is considered as sport.

[VulsaviiK]

If your going by fans as a arguement I guess playing a guitar is a sport now too? 

 

Playing guitar isn't competitive...

[solarflare]

battle of the bands is a competition . so is americas got talent . my point is you can blow anything out of proportion if you want to. even this conversation. 

[tbc]

People still call chess as a sport

 

that's because they're stupid.  just because monkey see, doesn't mean monkey should do.  calling esports a sport is just a way of 'fighting back' against common convention(at the expense of logic unfortunately) and to validate one's time spent playing games.

 

a sport has at least 2 of the following 3 points:

requires good cardio (heart and lung performance)

requires skill

requires strength (growing more muscle mass improves your performance)

 

esports only has skill.  so does golf.  so does poker.  that's why they're not sports.

 

all 3 of those can be made competitive very easily.  that's why they are games.

 

all sports are games, but not all games are sports.

[LogicalDrm]

that's because they're stupid.  just because monkey see, doesn't mean monkey should do.  calling esports a sport is just a way of 'fighting back' against common convention(at the expense of logic unfortunately) and to validate one's time spent playing games.

 

a sport has at least 2 of the following 3 points:

requires good cardio (heart and lung performance)

requires skill

requires strength (growing more muscle mass improves your performance)

 

esports only has skill.  so does golf.  so does poker.  that's why they're not sports.

 

all 3 of those can be made competitive very easily.  that's why they are games.

 

all sports are games, but not all games are sports.

 

Golf actually fills your definition of sport. For normal round of 18 holes you have to walk about 10km, swing avg. 8 times per hole, keep consentration etc. And thats just amateur/hobby level. On tournaments its double or triple that per day of event.

[tbc]

all walking is done over the course of several hours (unless you play golf REALLY fast?).  you don't need good lungs to do that; just working hips and knee joints.

 

maybe we watch different golf professionals?  I've never seen them actually carry their own clubs.  also, i always seen them in golf carts.

 

 

a half round of golf (w/e the term for 9 holes is) is commonly recommended for seniors that need physical activity during recovery from heart attacks.  I'm not sure that counts as high aerobic performance and golf sure ain't an anaerobic activity.

 

basically, golf and heart rate increase only occurs under a few circumstances:

1.  you don't handle sunlight/heat very well and you end up sweating cause of it

2.  you're already physically unfit and normal walking already causes a noticable increase in heart rate

3.  you're playing by yourself and trying to complete a round as fast as possible (this means you're RUNNING as you take a swing and then you're chasing the ball as it's still flying; aka, you're happy gilmore).

4.  you've been poisoned

 

 

 

look at it another way: no phase of golf requires speed, just skill.  that's why golf is a game.

[Sauron]

If chess and racing are sports, gaming is too. it's a different kind of sport from, say, basketball, but the core elements of a sport are there (most of the times): skill is involved, the conditions are fair and even, there is a gentleman's agreement to follow rules (although in games they are hard coded you can still cheat) and the competitors shake each other's hands in respect after each game regardless of the outcome.

it may not have the same benefits a "standard" sport has for your health nor does it claim to, but it's still exciting to watch and to play.

[LogicalDrm]

all walking is done over the course of several hours (unless you play golf REALLY fast?).  you don't need good lungs to do that; just working hips and knee joints.

 

...

 

Could you maybe quote me next time?

 

Anyway. To keep this somewhat in topic. I think both esports and golf are sports, not just playing a game. Sure both are for entertainment and each targets certain activity. Golf, as you said, keeping fitness of senior folk. Video games making consentration, reactions focus etc. better in age when you need to sharpen those skills. They both have pretty good skill measuring system too for new players to get into it. At low level its easy to succeed but as you get better, the competition, or in golf handicap, gets tougher. Thats gives always something to compete for.

 

I see that you haven't actually tried golf yourself. At pro level they don't carry bags themselves but nor do they all the time drive with carts. Does Usain Bolt bring all his own gear to field? Propably not, he has someone to do it for him. That is not why sports are sport. Pro gamers actually still carry their own gear into events and do setups themselves. But even they have coaches to help out. Sport isn't about gear or those supporting the athlete/gamer. Its more about their skill and consistency.

[tbc]

Could you maybe quote me next time?

 

Anyway. To keep this somewhat in topic. I think both esports and golf are sports, not just playing a game. Sure both are for entertainment and each targets certain activity. Golf, as you said, keeping fitness of senior folk. Video games making consentration, reactions focus etc. better in age when you need to sharpen those skills. They both have pretty good skill measuring system too for new players to get into it. At low level its easy to succeed but as you get better, the competition, or in golf handicap, gets tougher. Thats gives always something to compete for.

 

I see that you haven't actually tried golf yourself. At pro level they don't carry bags themselves but nor do they all the time drive with carts. Does Usain Bolt bring all his own gear to field? Propably not, he has someone to do it for him. That is not why sports are sport. Pro gamers actually still carry their own gear into events and do setups themselves. But even they have coaches to help out. Sport isn't about gear or those supporting the athlete/gamer. Its more about their skill and consistency.

 

 

the measurement is simple.  what is the increase in one's heartrate from a minimally active standing state over the course of a golf game extraneous of excitement and exposure to the elements?  how long are the spikes sustained?  it's no higher than someone shopping in the mall. that is WHY golf is recommended.  it does NOT cause a spike in heart rate, requires the minimal amount of physical(walking), is entertaining, and transportation is simple in case of injury from slipping (relative to being stuck halfway up a mountain).

 

you seem to think that calling something a game is demeaning.  not sure why to be honest.

 

you also seem to think that carrying a keyboard counts as 'requires strength' and 'going to the gym will make it easier for me to carry a keyboard to the desk so i can do better in the game'.  again.  not sure why.

 

 

 

i've actually played golf albeit nowhere near professional grade or i'd be on tv making big bucks.  personally is more boring than fishing, but if you oike it, no reason to stop because it's not rigorous activity that causes long term damage to joints.

[LogicalDrm]

 

you seem to think that calling something a game is demeaning.  not sure why to be honest.

 

Not really. I'm just saying that calling something sport just because it takes more from your physical condition isn't right way to cathegorize things. Something being a game seems in this thread to be same as just hobby style or amateur and shouldn't have anything professional or relations to "sport". Its more like people think calling something sport makes it more elite than other games/hobbies/entertainment.