Pro Gaming Doesn't Need Balls To Be Considered A 'Sport'

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Call me juvenile, but I had to laugh when she said pro gaming doesn't need balls to considered a sport. :D

The excitement I feel while watching League of Legends is new, different and infinitely more visceral than anything I've felt while spectating hockey or football. Perhaps I relate more to a warrior princess or an eternally sad mummy than I do to Wayne Gretzky or Tom Brady.
 
Doesn't need balls, nope. It does need some sort of physical exertion. If you can play a game from a couch it's not a sport.
 
Running / sprinting is a sport, and it doesn't have balls.

What that bitch needs is some brains, and a dictionary. The dictionary explained in as many words that sports is a type of physical exertion. Sitting your scrawny/obese ass on a keyboard / d-pad hammering away doesn't exactly qualify as such. If that nerdfest is qualified as a sport, then me writing code all day is the Olympics.
 
Actually, most people DON'T consider running a sport. They consider it an event or an activity, not a "sport" per se.

I don't see why its important to even call it a sport, but I think what they are saying is that they are hoping that traditional sports channels would pick them up.

After all, they have picked up poker and the like for television with big money involved, why not games? The real challenge games have is that they don't last. Most people give two shits about games that were played 10 years ago.

But golf, tennis, poker, those games are timeless.
 
I think the real problem is trying to pigeonhole everything that isn't a sport into a game.
People think of games as something you do in your leisure for entertainment, and while Chess is a game, it hardly fits that description with the intense training, tactics and planning involved at the top competitive levels.
 
Confucious say:

"Without balls there is no life."

Book of Cfs. Chapter X, vs 4.

"Life without balls is like woman who fly in airplane upside down."

Book 2 of Cfs. Chapter 44, verse 9.
 
We redefine words all the time. If they want to say it's a spurt I don't have a problem with it.

It's hard for me to look at the sports channels seriously when they are showing the Workd poker tour.
 
Shooting sports don't have balls either. They have bullets though, so that's an automatic pass.
 
I agreed with this when I initially read the title and skipped over the word "balls".
 
Actually, most people DON'T consider running a sport. They consider it an event or an activity, not a "sport" per se.
,,,
But golf, tennis, poker, those games are timeless.

Track and field is often labeled a sport. Anyways I think it is silly to try and label gaming as an a sport if it is fun and money is to be made people will play the rest will follow.

It does not help from a PR point of view to keep trying to call it a sport. Regardless of what it is called it is simply a mater of economics. If there is enough money in it ...
 
Running / sprinting is a sport, and it doesn't have balls.

What that bitch needs is some brains, and a dictionary. The dictionary explained in as many words that sports is a type of physical exertion. Sitting your scrawny/obese ass on a keyboard / d-pad hammering away doesn't exactly qualify as such. If that nerdfest is qualified as a sport, then me writing code all day is the Olympics.

And most sports fans do exactly that, sitting their scrawny/obese ass on the sofa and watch TV. It's great how they defend what they watch as 'sport' but oh lordeh hepp when someone else has an activity and calls it sports! Mah sports label!

We aren't quite talking a cheetos eating WoW player here. Professional gaming is very fast and unrelenting. It requires constant training and long hours if you want to actually be good.
Since you know nothing about it, you could easily educate yourself within 1/2h to know that no, it's quite different from what you framed it as. Or of course stay ignorant, always a good choice.
 
What about motorsports? There's not much physical exertion there but people are fine with it having "sports" in the name.

Track and field is often labeled a sport. Anyways I think it is silly to try and label gaming as an a sport if it is fun and money is to be made people will play the rest will follow.

It does not help from a PR point of view to keep trying to call it a sport. Regardless of what it is called it is simply a mater of economics. If there is enough money in it ...

Do people not play basketball, football, baseball, etc. for fun? For a lot of professional gamers, gaming is exactly what the term implies, a profession. It's their job. They train and practice day in and day out to get better.
 
What about motorsports? There's not much physical exertion there but people are fine with it having "sports" in the name.



Do people not play basketball, football, baseball, etc. for fun? For a lot of professional gamers, gaming is exactly what the term implies, a profession. It's their job. They train and practice day in and day out to get better.
High end racing leagues, Formula 1, Le Mans (LMP class), do some pretty serious workout routines to stay fit enough to endure a race. It's often quoted that F1 drivers do daily neck work outs to keep their neck from giving out during the race due to intense lateral G's on turns. "Normal' people who have had the opportunity to drive F1 cars aren't comfortable enough to get anywhere near their limit and often report sore neck muscles after short drives.

Sitting in a very hot car with no insulation or AC, while in a full fire suit and helmet, and in a high stress environment can be exhausting.
 
Doesn't matter what you call it, all that matters is can you get it on major media networks and make a profit? While a lot of us might think it's silly to watch professional video games (I think it is) if the money shows up it's going to be inevitable. But that's a big if.
 
Do people not play basketball, football, baseball, etc. for fun? For a lot of professional gamers, gaming is exactly what the term implies, a profession. It's their job. They train and practice day in and day out to get better.

Just because it is a "profession" does not make it a sport. Chess is a game, people play it professionally and it is just called Chess. People practice day in and day out to get better and still it is considered a game. You do not see Scrabble players demanding that it be called b-sports when they compete. Poker/MtG players do not demand that it be called c-sports. Still it is shown and tends to make money.

I do not know many gamers who are demanding that it be called e-sports. Mainly it seems like various organizations are trying to find a superior marketing term.
 
High end racing leagues, Formula 1, Le Mans (LMP class), do some pretty serious workout routines to stay fit enough to endure a race. It's often quoted that F1 drivers do daily neck work outs to keep their neck from giving out during the race due to intense lateral G's on turns. "Normal' people who have had the opportunity to drive F1 cars aren't comfortable enough to get anywhere near their limit and often report sore neck muscles after short drives.

Sitting in a very hot car with no insulation or AC, while in a full fire suit and helmet, and in a high stress environment can be exhausting.

So doing finger, wrist, and arm exercises daily wouldn't be classified as the same thing?

Sitting in car with a full suit doesn't qualify as anything special. Football plays in all weather conditions and has to wear gear appropriate. Baseball wears gear appropriate...and for the money, they aren't really doing much work in the 9 innings... not like other sports. Basketball... bunch of pussies.. they play inside in shorts :D Hockey...

Anything can be high stress when you want to earn money to eat..... :D

You can make a case for most anything being a sport....

Hell some classify eating as many hot dogs as they can a sport
 
So doing finger, wrist, and arm exercises daily wouldn't be classified as the same thing?

Sitting in car with a full suit doesn't qualify as anything special. Football plays in all weather conditions and has to wear gear appropriate. Baseball wears gear appropriate...and for the money, they aren't really doing much work in the 9 innings... not like other sports. Basketball... bunch of pussies.. they play inside in shorts :D Hockey...

Anything can be high stress when you want to earn money to eat..... :D

You can make a case for most anything being a sport....

Hell some classify eating as many hot dogs as they can a sport
Alright. Let's see you drive an F1 car at 180mph+, don't brake until 50ft before the corner, only down to 100MPH through the corner, 3-4g's, in an 800BHP car weighing 1500lbs, while having faster than fighter pilot reflexes, during a live race where one slip up can end your life. Because there's no skill or intensity difference between this and being a keyboard cowboy.

Formula one something goes wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma0C2y7avjE

"Pro" e-sports something goes wrong:
Fuck, I have to wait to press space bar to respawn

I'll take a bet that getting tackled and breaking your collar bone is a less psychologically traumatic experience than spinning out of control in an extremely lightly built car and flying in to a wall at 100mph thinking you're probably going to be crushed in to pulp.
 
I think the term e-sport is fine, and they should stick to that rather than trying to put it into the same category as other sporting events.

I'd imagine if e-sport tournaments become huge enough, major sport network will pick them up regardless what you call it.
 
e-sports was fine until they also included electronic trading card games into the mix (Hearthstone).

Yes, league and starcraft and even CS require some sort of physical skill and exertion.

Card games though? C'mon, don't label that shit with "sports". It's a game of chance or a card game, no one labels poker as a "sport".
 
I'm actually surprised the usual peanut gallery didn't show up to thread crap.

As mentioned, the term e-sports its fine. At this point it's really to late to change anyhow. I doubt many if any gamers want to see it on networks like Espn anyhow, I certainly don't. Things like twitch work just fine. All that really needs to happen art this point is to continue letting it grow and increase production value.
 
Alright. Let's see you drive an F1 car at 180mph+, don't brake until 50ft before the corner, only down to 100MPH through the corner, 3-4g's, in an 800BHP car weighing 1500lbs, while having faster than fighter pilot reflexes, during a live race where one slip up can end your life. Because there's no skill or intensity difference between this and being a keyboard cowboy.

Formula one something goes wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma0C2y7avjE

"Pro" e-sports something goes wrong:
Fuck, I have to wait to press space bar to respawn

I'll take a bet that getting tackled and breaking your collar bone is a less psychologically traumatic experience than spinning out of control in an extremely lightly built car and flying in to a wall at 100mph thinking you're probably going to be crushed in to pulp.

At least they're in a roll-cage. Thousands of motorcyclists risk their lives even more every day.
 
I could not care less how you define a "sport". I do a considerable amount of running and I don't think of it as a sport but as a lifestyle. Running is not something you just do but something that becomes a part of you.
 
I could not care less how you define a "sport". I do a considerable amount of running and I don't think of it as a sport but as a lifestyle. Running is not something you just do but something that becomes a part of you.

Running professionally competing with others is slightly different, then running because you enjoy it. Yes often one who enjoys it tends to have the other part follow as well...it is insane how many local races are run. In the end the recent push for professional gaming decided to push the the e-sports label for marketing reasons only.

Mainly we have game companies pushing games to become professionally competitive for the most part. Hoping if they build it consumers/fan will follow with currency.
 
Alright. Let's see you drive an F1 car at 180mph+, don't brake until 50ft before the corner, only down to 100MPH through the corner, 3-4g's, in an 800BHP car weighing 1500lbs, while having faster than fighter pilot reflexes, during a live race where one slip up can end your life. Because there's no skill or intensity difference between this and being a keyboard cowboy.

Formula one something goes wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma0C2y7avjE

"Pro" e-sports something goes wrong:
Fuck, I have to wait to press space bar to respawn

I'll take a bet that getting tackled and breaking your collar bone is a less psychologically traumatic experience than spinning out of control in an extremely lightly built car and flying in to a wall at 100mph thinking you're probably going to be crushed in to pulp.

Different things have different risks... Is tennis just as risky as football? or F1? What about Ping Pong? Curling? Bad Mitten?

Is gaming just as competitive as any other activity?

It's all about the money in the end... I don't care if it is called a sport, or an e-sport, game or whatever. If it interests me I will watch it, but I also recognize that while it may not have some of the same "risks" associated with it that some other sports do.... It still has some risks if you get right down to it.. and it can be just as competitive.
 
I watched the match video and I have to say, even though I had no idea WTF was going on, it was at least more exciting than TV poker, which is quite successful. Otherwise, personally, watching it was like being dead in CS for a hour.
 
I watched the match video and I have to say, even though I had no idea WTF was going on, it was at least more exciting than TV poker, which is quite successful. Otherwise, personally, watching it was like being dead in CS for a hour.

To be fair, the target audience is going to be people who enjoy the game and have a basic understanding of it. I wouldn't expect anyone who doesn't know what the game is to enjoy watching it. I would equate it to any other sport/competition where really you need to at least understand what is going on in order to enjoy it. I'll use curling as a great example here, I know many people are huge fans of that. I've watched it and was just bored to tears and that is largely because I haven't the faintest idea what is going on.
 
And most sports fans do exactly that, sitting their scrawny/obese ass on the sofa and watch TV. It's great how they defend what they watch as 'sport' but oh lordeh hepp when someone else has an activity and calls it sports! Mah sports label!

We aren't quite talking a cheetos eating WoW player here. Professional gaming is very fast and unrelenting. It requires constant training and long hours if you want to actually be good.
Since you know nothing about it, you could easily educate yourself within 1/2h to know that no, it's quite different from what you framed it as. Or of course stay ignorant, always a good choice.

You sound as dumb as the cheetos you speak of. It is exactly as what I framed it as - NOT a sport. Sitting in front of a monitor. Ohhhh so intense. GTFO. But of course you wouldn't know what sport actually is or means because you're still hiding in the basement. By the way, I'm probably far more fit than you, but why would you assume that? I'm just one of those TV potatoes to you, right?
 
Back
Top