Pro League of Legends players are professional athletes, says US government

[MeltyMoon]

Dota 2 officially came out, so once that gets bigger they should eventually be known as professional athletes as well. Guys, is this really a surprise? It's called ESPORTS

[Culligan Man]

I love gaming but Pro League of Legends players are NOT professional athletes.

[AraSarkisyan]

Wait for an FPS with Virtuix Omni, ARAIG and Oculus Rift. If the top players aren't "professional athletes" then, I wouldn't know what to call them...

Yes, this. 

[ShiverMePenguins]

What? I don't agree with the salaries of Pro Athelets either but it's true that real physical sports are a lot more skillful than a video game

no. go to a cs:go tournament, not a final, and try to 1v1 anyone. you will be creamed.

[Cypher32]

This rubs me the wrong way, I'm all for e-sports becoming huge but there is a reason its called e-sports and not sports maybe they should be called e-Athletes. I guess part of the reason this bothers me is the fact the LoL is so simple and while does require skill is no where near as skill dependent as something like counter strike and pros for those games are not considered athletes.

[Cypher32]

Also the people who are disagreeing saying that League does not take more skill or discipline than a real sport need to come back to reality. Gymnasts who constantly stay at the gym pushing their bodies to their physical limit every day for 8 hours and constantly reviving new injuries is a little different then sitting in a dam chair for 8 hours a day streaming on twitch.

Edit: And I bet if you were one of those gymnasts then you would find thsi very offensive to be put in the same class as them

[newbie]

I find this very stupid because, for me and for many other people, an athlete is someone who practices some sports (not quite the definition but you know what I mean) and it would be total bullcrap that eSports becomes a real sport since playing League of Legends requires strategy than anything

[newbie]

I find this very stupid because, for me and for many other people, an athlete is someone who practices some sports (not quite the definition but you know what I mean) and it would be total bullcrap that eSports becomes a real sport since playing League of Legends requires strategy than anything

[KikoHQ]

I for one am ecstatic that League of Legend is going to be considered as a sport. For those who disagree, have you ever played League of Legends competitively? Trust me, it is far more frustrating and challenging than you think. It is a TEAM game. Sure some people play it for fun, but when you get serious about it, the game becomes completely different. Any sport is the same. If you play basketball with your friends, are you considered a professional athlete? Same thing goes for LoL. If you play for fun, you're not going to be considered a professional athlete. But for the people who become extremely good at LoL worked just as hard as any other professional athlete, so why not give them the right of the title? To become famous enough to play international takes an incredible mindset and stamina.

In LoL, you are judged according to your rank. The lower your rank, the more you are looked down upon by players. But people who have achieved high rank are well respected because it takes countless of hours just to get your rank up. Just like in football, you train to get better and to be recognized by people. I been trying to get my rank up throughout this entire summer break, and I was only able to go up a tier. (I am Platinum 5 as of now). 

Professional teams in League of Legends do have to be able to live together and work together as a team. They play over 10+ hours a day for six days as a team. And on Sunday, they have that time to themselves, which most of them use to play by themselves in order to get better. 

I admire professional players in LoL because they are doing what they love for a living and are really gifted in it. And that is what all players in any sports do. They do it because they love it and they are gifted in it. So I don't know why people are saying "It's just a game". It is a game. But so is football, basketball, baseball, etc. They are all considered games. But when you get serious about it, it becomes more than a game. 

 

[KikoHQ]

For those of you who don't know the rank system of League of Legends I will post it here.

You are ranked and put into a division and tier according to your skill in the game.

Bronze V
Bronze VI
Bronze III
Bronze II
Bronze I

Silver V
Silver VI
Silver III
Silver II
Silver I

Gold V
Gold VI

Gold III
Gold II
Gold I

Platinum V
Platinum VI
Platinum III
Platinum II
Platinum I

Diamond V
Diamond VI
Diamond III
Diamond II
Diamond I

Challenger I

To be able to receive a rank, you have to be level 30, and own over 7 champions. To get to level 30 you have to be able to play over 50 games. Each game can last from 15 minutes to over an hour. 

Once you are level 30 and play 10 rank games (I believe) you are assigned a rank according to your win and lost ratio. Each section is a tier (Ex: Bronze, Silver, Gold etc.). Each smaller section is a division (Ex: V, VI, III). To move up a division you have to play and win games in order to earn League Points. You have to earn 100 league points in order to get in to series. Series is a set of matches that you have to win in order to move on to the next division or tier. When moving up a division, you have to win 2 out of your next 3 games. To move up a tier, you have to win 3 out of your next 5 games. Of course if you fail to win your series, you lose points and would have to work your way up to 100 points again. Every time you win a rank game you win an amount of lp (league points) according to your mmr. And if you lose your rank game, you lose lp according to your mmr (match making record). This can vary. Some people win 30 points for a rank game and lose 30 points. There are cases where you play a rank game that takes over 40 minutes and you only gain 1 point (happens to me). You cannot move down a tier, but you can move down a division if you either don't rank for a certain amount of days, or you go on a big losing streak.

When you are playing rank, you are teamed up with people you don't know who are around the same rank as you. This can be good or bad. It is a 50/50 chance because you might be teamed up with decent people, or people who suck so bad you just want to quit the game. You have to be able to work together in order to win. You have to discuss with each other on who plays what role in the game in the pre game lobby. In game, 90% of the time there will be an argument among your fellow teammates. This can lead to losing the game and losing precious league points. You have to tolerate your teammates attitudes and feelings because the LoL player community really suck.

Each rank game takes a lot of energy out of you because you are 100% focused on the game. After a few rank games, you will feel burned out and will not be able to play your best. That is a signal that you need to stop and take a break. But there are some cases where people keep playing because they end up on a lost streak. This is called tunnel vision. The name refers to someone looking down a tunnel and is only focused on one thing. This can usually end up you becoming more frustrated and mentally break you down to the point where you quit league ( I have seen this happened to many league players. They refused to play league because of the community and the effort of each rank game).

Most international players in League of Legend are players who are in the Diamond II - Challenger I rank. There are only a few handfuls of Challenger I players in the US. And being one shows that you are one of the best players out of all the people who play League of Legends. This is like being Usain Bolt in track and field, or Bruce Lee in martial arts.

I have been playing League for over a year now, and trust me, becoming better in league is not as easy as it sounds. You may think that playing league is not hard. That is because you have never experienced rank and have never played it competitively. The majority of the players on league are in the Bronze and Silver tier. To be able to become better in league takes countless of hours of playing, being able to tolerate the worst people on the planet, and having a mindset of winning. 

I hope this cleared up on how hard professional players in League of Legends work everyday in order to maintain their skills and rank. If you have any questions, please reply to this post and I will gladly answer them for you.

[_ASSASSIN_]

yay, stretching the term athlete all that much more :D
 

[Slinkey]

I think this is a great addition.

Well even though it does not define sports or what an athlete does physically.

 

But then again it is called eSports.

 

Guess many here are conservative, but to be honest, becoming a pro player requires effort in both fields. A professional football (soccer) player practices for hours and ends. The same goes for a eSports player.

 

One exercises the body, where the other the mind.

[RedSpade]

The only problem here is that the US Government created the pro athlete visa before eSports were even considered as a sport. It's merely just the government having outdated laws/regulations than anything else.

 

This is very good for eSports as it'll mean all pro eSports players will find getting this visa much simpler resulting in the eSports fanbase growing and such the whole industry will grow which is good for everyone.

[Esivo]

Inb4 US government files a report for LoL to become an Olympic Sport.