Should Video Games be considered a Sport?

Should Video Games be considered a Sport?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 34 24.5%
  • No.

    Votes: 105 75.5%

  • Total voters
    139

Azureth

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Feb 29, 2008
Messages
5,323
With the rise of very large gaming tournaments there has been debate on whether or not Video Games should be considered a sport, how do you feel? The President of ESPN said it wasn't, yet at the same time ESPN shows poker tournaments, hell even Scrabble tournaments. Personally I think it should count.
 
Sure, but I think a better question is should video game players be considered athletes. :D
 
I went with no. I feel the same way about other competitive activities like darts, bowling, racing, etc.
Just because something is competitive and requires skill and coordination doesn't make it a sport...and there's nothing wrong with that. Just my opinion of course. To me, a sport is a full-body athletic endeavor. Anything else is a game of skill, a pastime, or whatever else you feel like calling it.
 
To me gaming falls right in-between "Sports" and "Mind Sports" (as per definition). It isn't strictly a Mind Sport such as chess due to all the physical coordination required.

In any case there is sport in there.
 
No, not a sport. I have nothing against pro gaming, but to me it's in a totally different category, like pro chess. But I also don't consider motor racing to be a sport either, to me motor racing is its own thing entirely.
 
Does it really matter what it is classified as ... It is making big money for the sponsors and competitors ... it has international competitions ... and it is getting lots of coverage on the new web based media (which probably aligns better to its fans) ... what would officially designating it a sport give it beyond that?
 
Its as much a sport as pro chess is a sport. Who cares, really.... it's a competition, and that is what really matters in the scene... competition with money involved.
 
"an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment."
You are not really physically exerting yourself by clicking a mouse.
 
Third option should be - "who cares"

Does it really matter what it is classified as ... It is making big money for the sponsors and competitors ... it has international competitions ... and it is getting lots of coverage on the new web based media (which probably aligns better to its fans) ... what would officially designating it a sport give it beyond that?

It's about validation (for either side).
 
Most sports that are today considered as such, should not be, let alone video games.
 
It's a competition. IMO a "sport" entails some sort of athletic ability. I used to compete pretty heavily in car audio competitions and never thought of them as a sport. You need skill and experience but that doesn't make it a sport or you an athlete.
 
I think the designation 'e-sport' is fine and more useful in communicating what it is. I don't see a reason to bastardize how the word sport is typically defined for most people.
 
Can't wait to see people getting their letter in Starcraft ... and now for Bob, in addition to being valedictorian, Bob lettered in Chess, Drama, Starcraft, and DotA ... Bob cannot be here as he was injured in his last match and is recuperating in his basement ... accepting on his behalf is his mom, Cheryl :cool:
 
I think the designation 'e-sport' is fine and more useful in communicating what it is. I don't see a reason to bastardize how the word sport is typically defined for most people.

I like the term as well but let's not pretend that the term "sports" is this holy thing that can't be messed with. How many non-sports "sports" do channels like ESPN air these days? Poker, cup staking, spelling bees, fucking eating competitions. I'd argue that the term sport has long since been "bastardized" as you put it.
 
I voted no but some video games could be considered sports like twitch shooters or motion control or some VR games, etc... basically anything that start to rely heavily on real world physical activity and precision, because that would actually fit the definition of the word.
 
I'm fine calling them E-Sports, just as the math competition kids were called mathletes, but to call video games true sports is an insult to athletes.
 
NO.

If you aren't sweating, it's not a sport.

clearly you've never competed in a competition setting before.

I'm fine calling them E-Sports, just as the math competition kids were called mathletes, but to call video games true sports is an insult to athletes.

Pretty sure it would be just as insulting to the competitive gamers, trying to lump athletes in with them, since those athletes lack the skills to compete with the competitive gamers. according to your logic.

But i don't see why someone that plays tennis or plays football or baseball any more of a sport than any other competitive team based game, they are all games just in different forms, and with different challenges or skills.
 
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The president of ESPN says it's not a sport yet they included them in the X Games this year?
 
clearly you've never competed in a competition setting before.



Pretty sure it would be just as insulting to the competitive gamers, trying to lump athletes in with them, since those athletes lack the skills to compete with the competitive gamers. according to your logic.

But i don't see why someone that plays tennis or plays football or baseball any more of a sport than any other competitive team based game, they are all games just in different forms, and with different challenges or skills.

Things can still be competitive without being a sport. Sports typically require great athleticism and the players must have tremendous discipline to be competitive at their craft. How much discipline is required to excel at video games? I would argue that for one to get skilled at video games it takes almost the exact opposite of discipline.
 
Obtaining skill at almost anything requires discipline. You can't just make arguments based on a distorted definition of the word, that would be like... oh wait, we are talking about the internet here, I forgot... nevermind :D
 
I have no confusion about how a mind sport differs from a physical sport, nor do I have any confusion about which category video games falls into.
 
Things can still be competitive without being a sport. Sports typically require great athleticism and the players must have tremendous discipline to be competitive at their craft. How much discipline is required to excel at video games? I would argue that for one to get skilled at video games it takes almost the exact opposite of discipline.

Clearly you have zero fucking clue what you are talking about. It doesn't take discipline to be good at a game? Really? So what do you call the teams living together? Spending up to 12 hours PER DAY training and reviewing their competitors matches? How about training their bodies to handle hundreds of clicks per minute without completely killing their fingers and wrists?
 
It's a competition. IMO a "sport" entails some sort of athletic ability. I used to compete pretty heavily in car audio competitions and never thought of them as a sport. You need skill and experience but that doesn't make it a sport or you an athlete.

Exactly.
 
Clearly you have zero fucking clue what you are talking about. It doesn't take discipline to be good at a game? Really? So what do you call the teams living together? Spending up to 12 hours PER DAY training and reviewing their competitors matches? How about training their bodies to handle hundreds of clicks per minute without completely killing their fingers and wrists?

I can't tell if your being sarcastic or not. What you described could very well be a full time IT administrator or accountant lol. I seriously hope your joking if you think real physical exertion and pushing your body to its limits is in anyway comparable to playing a video game for any length of time.
 
I can't tell if your being sarcastic or not. What you described could very well be a full time IT administrator or accountant lol. I seriously hope your joking if you think real physical exertion and pushing your body to its limits is in anyway comparable to playing a video game for any length of time.

It's different but let's not pretend the pro game teams aren't dedicated to their profession.
 
Negatory there Red Rider. Video gaming is not a sport. It's competive, and there can be money involved, you can even play on teams and wear uniforms, but it is not a sport. Like said in a earlier post, it's more like competitive chess.
 
Voted no. I consider it game like checkers, golf, or monopoly.
Doesn't mean I am against seeing leagues or competitive events, nor will I make a fuss if someone does call it a sport..
 
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Sport is a very diverse term today. Since the creation of technology, we've added competition involving technological tool into the category of sport, such as auto racing, shooting, etc. We also have bowling, archery, golf, etc being included in sporting competition. Therefore to say it has to be a purely physical competition, I think we've long past that point ever since we decided to race cars and stuff like that. (Some may be thinking of the physical requirement of F1, but IMO F1 is an exception rather than the rule as most cars are not that demanding).

Of course with that said, I don't think anyone is demanding that game competition be included in Olympic, just as car racing is not part of Olympic. Instead, auto racing is a different kind of sport, and they have their own championship.

Like wise, competitive gaming is a different kind of sport, and they already have their own championship, and it's fine the way it is right now. No one is saying any major sporting competition should include gaming. If ESPN or any other sporting channel wants to show these competition, there's nothing wrong with it either. Auto racing is part of their program and no one have any issues.
 
I still don't get the fight over nomenclature ... if gaming could not make money without the designation of being a sport then I would support that designation (but it can and does make money in its current designation esports) ... trying to classify every competitive endeavor as a sport seems like more of a dick measuring contest where a formula one racer wants to compare himself to a Chess Grand Master and vice versa ... or an Olympic sprinter to a DoTA team ... and that doesn't seem to make any sense at all
 
ESPN is a sad channel that is a shadow of its former self and they are not really a sports channel anymore.
Just like MTV doesn't show music videos anymore, ESPN is not the standard of what is to be considered a sport, and just because they air something(scrabble) that doesn't automatically make it a sport.
 
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