E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thoughts ?

[Nerevarine]

I've been watching this video by MatPat, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" ? Personally, Id say yes.. Modern e-sports have a lot of similarity with Chess but Chess isnt recognized as a "sport".. However, the Olympic foundation does include Chess as a "sport" in it's website .. This is all pretty confusing.. Should the modern definition of "sports" be changed to remove the aspect of Physical Exertion ?

PS: Wiki defination of sports : Sport (UK) or sports (US) are all forms of usually competitive physical activity which,[1] through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing entertainment to participants, and in some cases, spectators.

and the GameTheory vieo i was talking about

What are your thoughts guyu ..

EDIT : Modulators, please add a poll on the top, with appropriate options.. I dont know how to add a poll (is that possible ?)

 

[Anorion]

Re: E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thought

yup, gaming should get the respect it derserves, but it does not need to invade upon the space of traditional sport to do this at all. why the comparison, if you really respect it, do it for it's own sake, and acknowledge what new things brings to the table.
it should be televised with commentators, and it is fun to watch
but e-sports now means mostly a moba, an rpg or an established fps, but that is still a very narrow scene if you take "the respect it deserves" to mean the kind of audience that consumes e-sport as a spectator sport

gaming channels being right up there in the most subscribed youtube channels, as well as the amazing things going on at twitch, and the unintrusive way in which steam has introduced broadcasting has convinced me that this space will grow well beyond traditional sport

 

[kamikaz]

Re: E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thought

i think e sports is regulated by the general sports authority in China

 

[Nerevarine]

Re: E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thought

gaming should get the respect it derserves

Agreed, but it will never get that respect unless it breaks into mainstream media ..
Take our country for example, how many 30+ year old people do you think know that something like "competitive gaming" exists, something so massively popular that it easily rivals the popularity of cricket .. beats it too in terms of total viewership without any external promotion like TV channels etc

The points made by matpat in that video still stand, if "cup-stacking", poker, spelling bee are considered as "spectator sports" and have a right to be broadcasted on ESPN every year, there's no reason why League or Dota 2 or CS GO dont deserve that

 

[SaiyanGoku]

Re: E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thought

Agreed, but it will never get that respect unless it breaks into mainstream media ..
Take our country for example, how many 30+ year old people do you think know that something like "competitive gaming" exists, something so massively popular that it easily rivals the popularity of cricket ..

In India sports means Cricket >90% of the tme, everything else is just sidelined.

 

[Piyush]

Re: E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thought

China considers Dota2/LoL as a proper sport, Korea takes SC2 more seriously than soccer.
Just to give you an example, during 2nd last Football WC, Korean sports authority invited StarCraft 2 broodwars professionals into the locker room so that the football players could see their fans and get motivated by their presence.

Spoiler

Example taken from Dota 2 documentary "Free to play" by valve

 

[sggupta95]

Re: E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thought

esports are avery much a real sports,but i think it is quite new and still needs to develop somewhat more.in a few years time,it definitely should be viewed as a sports.

 

[Nerevarine]

Re: E-sports, should competitive gaming be considered as "sports" in the traditional sense ? Thought

La France va reconnaître l?e-sport comme un vrai sport