International Olympic Committee Comments on eSports Inclusion

AlphaAtlas

AlphaAtlas

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After Olympic representatives met in Lausanne over the weekend for the 7th Olympic Summit, the IOC published a summary of the issues the committee discussed, and they dedicated a fairly large paragraph to the topic of esports. While the committee reaffirmed that it won't work with games that are "not compatible with the Olympic values," they do note that esports are massively popular among the younger generation, and that the industry is rapidly growing and evolving. They also note that the industry is "fragmented in nature," and claim that its more commercially driven than traditional sports movements.

A number of these uncertainties do not apply to esports simulation games. Because of this, accelerated cooperation with regard to these kinds of esports is encouraged by the Summit. The Summit encourages the IFs to explore the potential benefits and applications of the electronic and virtual versions of their sports, while: ensuring they gain or retain appropriate control over the electronic/virtual versions of their sports; and restricting their engagement to activation in the e-versions and virtual forms of their traditional sports. It was decided that the IOC/GAISF will invite stakeholders of the esports/egames industry to a liaison group to explore jointly collaborative projects.
 
"More commercially driven than traditional sports movements"
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Remind me again, how much are traditional sports players paid to be olympic caliber in many national/international sports? How much are they paid to do commercials? To wear Nike / Adidas / Whoever?
 
Now I'll start this with, I'm a fan of eSports as I find them more in tune with what I enjoy vs traditional sports. While I never cared for the name "esport", in reality that ship has sailed and continuing to argue it is pedantic. That said, They in no way shape or form have any business at the olympics. I would argue that quite a few of the current olympic sports also have no place there. I fully agree with this.
 
How about no but entirely on the grounds that the Olympics already has too many sports, too much bullshit, too much corruption, too much security and costs too damned much.

They need to purge a whole shit load of sports before they start adding to the mess.
 
Gotta say, while yeah the illusion of the Olympics has definitely waivered quite a bit, eSports in no way have any place in the Olympics.

But also what TK said above, too much shit... table tennis? da fuck? geeze I wonder what Asian country super power is on the Olympic committee to get that in there. I mean I don't want to show a western bias any more, but 3 on 3 basketball is apparently a thing now, and I'm sorry but riding a fucking horse should not be an event either I get it takes skill, I get there probably is some level of athleticism to it but if there ever was an event who's participants are primarily the world's elite wealthy I don't know what is.
 
Guarana [BAWLS] said:
"More commercially driven than traditional sports movements"
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Remind me again, how much are traditional sports players paid to be olympic caliber in many national/international sports? How much are they paid to do commercials? To wear Nike / Adidas / Whoever?
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most commercial sports have been driven out of the olympics over the years.. baseball being removed, basketball trying to force out professional players, hockey no longer allowing professional players.. etc, etc, etc.

sfsuphysics said:
Gotta say, while yeah the illusion of the Olympics has definitely waivered quite a bit, eSports in no way have any place in the Olympics.

But also what TK said above, too much shit... table tennis? da fuck? geeze I wonder what Asian country super power is on the Olympic committee to get that in there. I mean I don't want to show a western bias any more, but 3 on 3 basketball is apparently a thing now, and I'm sorry but riding a fucking horse should not be an event either I get it takes skill, I get there probably is some level of athleticism to it but if there ever was an event who's participants are primarily the world's elite wealthy I don't know what is.
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there's a long list of sports/events in the Olympics that may not be popular in one region but popular in another or multiple other regions.. equestrian sports will never leave the Olympics they've been there since the beginning and while the horse owners might be rich the people riding them aren't. but yeah i agree that current esports don't belong in the Olympics although i do think there is a way to implement virtual sports into them at some point in the future.
 
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sfsuphysics said:
Gotta say, while yeah the illusion of the Olympics has definitely waivered quite a bit, eSports in no way have any place in the Olympics.
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Many people I know get practically livid when I mention the topic of 'eSports' being in the Olympics. I agree, they are two different things. Let someone come up with an Olympics equivalent for eSports if they want to.
 
But, wouldn't it be politically correct to have a way for a 700 # paraplegic 62 year old to win an Olympic gold medal ?
 
Guarana [BAWLS] said:
"More commercially driven than traditional sports movements"
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....
....

Remind me again, how much are traditional sports players paid to be olympic caliber in many national/international sports? How much are they paid to do commercials? To wear Nike / Adidas / Whoever?
Click to expand...

Are you intentionally missing the point or what? Of course there's a lot of money in the Olympics. And sure they corrupt. But all esport games are 100% commercial products, meaning they are all owned by companies.
 
AlphaAtlas said:
committee reaffirmed that it won't work with games that are "not compatible with the Olympic values,"
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That leaves out everything except Tetris, Candy Crush, and video games of existing sports.

sadsteve said:
About the only reason I can think of to watch some else play a video game is to see if I might like to purchase the game for myself.
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Me too, although some like to watch in order to listen to PewDiePie. Different strokes, and all that. You can bet that Olympic coverage of a video game would be about as fun as an insurance seminar.
 
How about making the contestants run for 50 yards then immediately play game for 10 minutes then run then play say until 1 hour game time, then tally their scores with weighting (say 80% on the gaming)...at least that way there would be some, 'ya know, sports involved. And, yes, I like the ski-shoot event in the winter Olympics.
 
We don't need the OIC in eSports, and people who think we do, don't get it.

This was built by us, from the ground up, without big entities like them.

I and many others don't give a shit that they aren't interested. We can build whatever we want, whenever we want.

eSports is ours. Not theirs.
 
kohl said:
Many people I know get practically livid when I mention the topic of 'eSports' being in the Olympics. I agree, they are two different things. Let someone come up with an Olympics equivalent for eSports if they want to.
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They kind of do, albeit for different types of sports, EVO is pretty well accepted as the Olympics for all fighting games, but the fact is there are just too many potential competitive video games out there that it would literally be a two week long event with games played near 24 hrs a day just to fit everyone in. I mean fighting games go relatively quickly, but what about something like an RTS? How many RTS games do you include? There's just too much
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
equestrian sports will never leave the Olympics they've been there since the beginning
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I dunno, wrestling was actually voted on to be removed for the 2020 games and you can argue that was at the actual first Olympics as well, it was only due to a massive backlash and some changes did they actually reinstate it. Bottom line is the Olympics have gone to a "25 core events" system now because yeah too many damn events and they don't want to completely bankrupt the host by needing all these different venues.
 
This is what happens when you start letting things like Curling and other bar sports / goofy games into the Olympics. I feel like the point of the Olympics was to be able to say, who is the fastest, who is the strongest, most agile, most endurance, jumps highest, throws farthest, etc.
 
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