Are eSports "real" sports?

[Lili Birchflower]

Interesting question.

HBO debates if eSports are real or not, suggests competitors may also attend Star Trek conventions

19 December 2013 • Story by Matt Purslow

Oh jeez, here we go again. eSports have made it onto mainstream TV, being shown as a feature segment on HBO’s Real Sports show. You’d think being on a show called Real Sports that the presenters would have already deemed competitive gaming as a real sport, but no. Instead the main question was what kind of overlap was there between pro gamers and Star Trek convention attendees.

The opening feature section featuring League of Legends thankfully does present eSports as the exciting scene it is, but the follow up discussion is exactly what you’d expect. Former pro tennis player Mary Carillo exclaims “It’s still not a sport. It’s a game!” Fox News correspondent Bernard Goldberg demands to see the statistics on how many ‘cyber athletes’ go to Star Trek conventions. Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford goes as far as to call the twenty million LoL spectators as crazy people.

Yes Frank, watching people work as a team to score points is crazy.

Hosts Bryant Gumbel and Soledad O’Brien were more enthusiastic, with O’Brien explaining the physical movements needed to pull of the strategy requiring skill, and that competitors used sports visas to travel across the world. Grumbel notes that he gets why it’s a sport.

Not everyone’s convinced then over at Real Sports, but then again I guess they don’t need to be. Whilst we always hope that mainstream coverage will be kind to games, in this case there’s no need to be too upset over the reaction. Yeah it’s not nice to be thought of as crazy and insignificant, but no one will be breaking out the torches and rallying against us for corrupting children this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Box01YzekaQ

What do you think?  Are eSports "real" sports?  Are the 'professional gamers' athletes?  If not, how should eSports and its participants be classified?

[Urragra]

Heck, I have a very high bar for "sports" Golf and Baseball don't make the cut in my book... Basketball?  That's just organized cheating.  Sorry, but professional gamers are not athletes, they are umm, you know, professional gamers.

[Remi]

Word definitions drift.  People try to force change of meanings.  They wish inclusion, or some prestige of association.  They are the enemy of language.

Trouble is, it is likely too late for 'sport', as well as for 'athlete'. It's been co-opted and subsumed for so long it's traveling on inertia.  Notwithstandin g it is neigh impossible to define either sport or athlete without being able to weasel in Olympic Frogger as valid.  As long as luck isn't the deciding factor, any form of competition can be argued to utilise physical skills (even if just hitting a buzzer faster), practice, and mental planning.

It will only get worse as electronic games shift from keyboards to gloves and floorpads and vs goggles.  Is a Dance Dance Revolution Tournament that divorced from a dance competition?  At some point that electronic fencer might as well be holding a real saber.

The paradigm is shifting and the words dilute into meaninglessnes s.   So be it.  Then let me be an anachronism - I'll cleave to this as my truth: Golf is not a sport, and eGolf the less so.  
If there isn't an honest sweat worked up, it's not a sport.  If you have not bled^* and exhausted in pursuit of the win, you're not an athlete.



*paper cuts from opening the cheetos are not counted.

[Urragra]

Yeah, dancing isn't a sport to my mind either... nothing with "judges".  If golf was physically active, it would be more a sport than figure skating and dancing...

Well said @ Remi

[Remi]

Welll it isn't that judges are involved..I mean horse racing has judges, etc.

But you airquoted it..so I'm guessing you already have the intent meant: nothing where it's an arbitrary judgement. Judging on a rule violation or such is one thing, but anything with 'artistic score'..  well duh, you just admitted it's art didn'tcha?

Decathalon would be the hard science of physical activity.  Figure skating the arts major.  Golf would be basketweaving. .. and starcraft the campus pub

[Urragra]

exactly Remi.  Well said again!

[Lili Birchflower]

I'm wondering if it's not a case of the companies, with all the advertising, glitzy venues, live-streaming, merchandise, etc., aren't convincing (or trying to) us that egames are a sport.

If that is so, then who is to blame if they do, indeed, become a sort of 'sport' to replace actual physical prowess in an organized cooperative activity such as football or running?

[angrybunny]

We (by we I mean gamers) have leagues, we have organized competitions both solo and team. Although they are different altogether we have injuries inherent to our chosen pursuit. The average NFL player couldn't dive into a game I play with any proficiency anymore than I could his. So to my mind, yes, esports can be considered a "true" sport. However I don't see why anyone would get their panties in a bunch over whether or not anyone considers it a sport. If the concern is that no one takes it seriously then I suppose work needs to be done to change that, because people that compete in gaming on a professional level, while admittedly in the minority, dedicate vast amounts of time to being the best at what they do.