Do you consider gaming a sport?

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

Do you think gaming is a sport?

[Mug]

If I was to condider Chess a sport, then I must also consider eSports I guess.

[Burusutazu]

All sports are games, kinda a no brainer to me.

[Oberon.Smite]

Yes, I do think it should have its own dedicated subcategory, but no, I don't think it should be called a sport. Example would be chess. Both are mostly strategic, mind focused things. But no, neither of them should be called a sport. A sport is something that involves physical activity.

[Swndlr]

Why is this even a debate, its already made its own category, its called an eSport for a reason...

[QueenDemetria]

If professional, then yeah I do, but for casual then no.

[Yoinkerman]

Voted turnip because I don't give a good gosh darn, the question is flawed.

[BOT Edward]

No way! No gaming is a proper sport and neither is Chess IMO.

 

A sport to me is for promotion of physical activity not shitbuckets and doritos

[GoldSrc]

I would like to see programming as a sport, a bunch of dudes programming something as fast as they can.

http://webm.land/media/R6gV.webm

[Guest]

Well sport means - anything humans find amusing or entertaining.. so yes 

[as96]

It's not a sport, is it competitive? Yes. An actual sport? No.

But that's why they put that 'e' in front but people don't care about the meaning of that letter and melted eSports and sports together and started a war  :lol:

[Spookies_]

Its a "Sport" but not a "Sport" as we view sports like Baseball/Basketball/Football/Football

[Real_PhillBert]

Dictionary.com says the word "Sport" is defined as:

 

an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling,boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

 

I would argue that gaming misses the athletic requirement. Therefore, gaming is not a sport, neither is chess. 

[TheRisingMyth]

Competition is inherent in everything throughout life. The athletic distinction is IMPORTANT to set apart competitive activities with very little to almost no athletic prowess required and those who demand top-tier training to even hope reach that "professional status".

[dalekphalm]

Dictionary.com says the word "Sport" is defined as:

 

 

I would argue that gaming misses the athletic requirement. Therefore, gaming is not a sport, neither is chess. 

I would counter that the Dictionary.com Definition is outdated, and not internationally recognized.

 

 

The closest to an international agreement on a definition is provided by SportAccord, which is the association for all the largest international sports federations (including association football, athletics, cycling, tennis, equestrian sports and more), and is therefore the de facto representative of international sport.

 

SportAccord's own definition is as follows:

 

- have an element of competition

- be in no way harmful to any living creature

- not rely on equipment provided by a single supplier (excluding proprietary games such as arena football)

- not rely on any "luck" element specifically designed into the sport

 

They also note that:

 

They also recognise that sport can be primarily physical (such as rugby or athletics), primarily mind (such as chess or go), predominantly motorised (such as Formula 1 or powerboating), primarily co-ordination (such as billiard sports), or primarily animal-supported (such as equestrian sport).

 

So therefore, by the very definition provided by the International Authority on sports, SportAccord, eSports/gaming qualifies as a sport, since it meets the requirements of the definition.

 

As noted in the first quote, SportAccord is the association for all of the largest Sports Federations for all of the various sports in the world - SportAccord is pretty much the big daddy of international sports.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport#Definition

[Guest]

By definition, I guess it is a sport in the modern day. 

 

Would I personal consider it a sport? Not really, as it's not an athletic or physical activity. 

[minibois]

Dictionary.com says the word "Sport" is defined as:

 

 

I would argue that gaming misses the athletic requirement. Therefore, gaming is not a sport, neither is chess. 

I can't take a website that describes literally like this serious:

 

And I would argue it has an athletic requirement, especially at the top of the 'league'. You have to be able to press buttons really fast, move your hands really fast, etc. As opposed to Chess, which is a much slower activity.

[dalekphalm]

Competition is inherent in everything throughout life. The athletic distinction is IMPORTANT to set apart competitive activities with very little to almost no athletic prowess required and those who demand top-tier training to even hope reach that "professional status".

Those requirements exist for Pro Gamers though - how many people on this forum could ever hope to even get within the top 200 ranks for the next MLG Starcraft 2 tournament?

 

You can train for years, and still never reach the top of eSports. There is also the significant physical requirement of stamina and agility and reaction time. Sure, you don't need to be able to run 26 KM, but you need to be able to stay alert and have near instantaneous reactions for potentially hours on end in a tournament. Depending on the specific tournament style used, you could be playing straight for over several hours with only a few minutes break between games - each of which can sometimes last well over 30 minutes each.

 

A best of 7 Grand Finals championship series in Starcraft 2 - to determine who wins a tourney - can easily last 1-2 hours if both players are well matched.

 

It's not predominantly physical, but there certainly is a physical aspect to it.

[dalekphalm]

By definition it is, but just because you are in like MLG or soe DOTA tournament doesn't mean you are the best player.  mlg-xxxplayayamamaxxx-mlg, a camper who cries everytime ya kill him in cod.

Obviously anyone can join said tournaments, but that doesn't mean they'll rank at all. If you can beat the qualifiers, then you're at least half decent.

[dalekphalm]

To a degree yes, but that doesn't always mean you're decent.  Could just be not much good competition, and a meh so so player beat those terrible players.

Sure but that's a lot less likely, especially for any major tournament in NA or Europe. All the big teams usually attend them.

 

I'm not talking about MEGATOURNEY in Nowhere, Kansas. I'm talking about serious tournaments with prize pools in the range of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you make it into the finals, you're generally within the 1% skill of the player base.

 

Sure there might be the odd exception, but that would definitely be a rare thing.

[handymanshandle]

I don't see it as a sport nor do I play games that fall into the sport genre (I haven't played but am quite interested in Rocket League but that's different)

I see it as a pastime/hobby.

Though I guess I could see why one sees it as such.

[Akolyte]

No, because in my eyes sports require some athletics. But I do think it's an esport. Which is the same rank as sports in my mind. So yes.

[dalekphalm]

I don't see it as a sport nor do I play games that fall into the sport genre (I haven't played but am quite interested in Rocket League but that's different)

I see it as a pastime/hobby.

Though I guess I could see why one sees it as such.

So by that logic, Baseball isn't a sport if I like to play in my spare time as a hobby.

 

While 99% of us on LTT play games only as a hobby, there are professional gamers who get paid to play, and are at the very top of possible gamer skill.

[FatPenguin]

I would vote for turnip if I was that kid in the meetup video

[SteveGrabowski0]

It's about as much of a sport as arguing on this forum.