No Right Answer: Is Gaming A Sport?

Ishal

New member
Oct 30, 2012
1,177
0
0
I dunno if it's a sport, but it's definitely growing in popularity. I don't really like team sports, so I don't really follow LoL or DOTA that much. Same with Counterstrike. But I've only heard that EVO get's more popular each year. And the last LoL final tournament championship-thing had more viewers than the World Series.

It's a thing now. And honestly I'm okay with that.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

Alleged Feather-Rustler
Jun 5, 2013
6,760
0
0
Just because you can compete, that doesn't make it a sport.
You could compete with just about anything! That there is the tallest man in the world implies one could compete to see who is the tallest man. But being tall isn't a sport.
Likewise classmates may compete to see who gets the highest grade on a test, but calculus isn't a sport.
Likewise gambling, like Poker or Craps, is not a sport. Its a contest, sure. But a sport? Hardly. Why is Poker considered a sport but playing dice against a wall isn't?! Answer: Poker shouldn't be considered a sport.

Just because you can compete with someone that doesn't make you an athlete either. Sorry professional gamers, you're not athletes. You're just a gamer who Mountain Dew/Doritos/Wavebird foolishly gives money to.
 

mrdeclandeadly

New member
Feb 24, 2015
47
0
0
Silentpony said:
Just because you can compete, that doesn't make it a sport.
You could compete with just about anything! That there is the tallest man in the world implies one could compete to see who is the tallest man. But being tall isn't a sport.
Likewise classmates may compete to see who gets the highest grade on a test, but calculus isn't a sport.
Likewise gambling, like Poker or Craps, is not a sport. Its a contest, sure. But a sport? Hardly. Why is Poker considered a sport but playing dice against a wall isn't?! Answer: Poker shouldn't be considered a sport.

Just because you can compete with someone that doesn't make you an athlete either. Sorry professional gamers, you're not athletes. You're just a gamer who Mountain Dew/Doritos/Wavebird foolishly gives money to.

None of the competitions you mention except for poker requires skill, calculus requires knowledge not skill, so your comparison isn't really valid.

mrdeclandeadly said:
The word sport literally means: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
 

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
Legacy
Feb 9, 2012
18,466
3,005
118
Well they're not "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess", so no, videogames aren't sports.
 

RedDeadFred

Illusions, Michael!
May 13, 2009
4,896
0
0
Official definition of sport: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

They can be competitive video games that could draw millions of people for all I care and they still wouldn't be a sport. I don't think chess should be considered a sport either.
 

Ihateregistering1

New member
Mar 30, 2011
2,034
0
0
Yeah, if you want to go completely by the dictionary definition, then no they're not. You could be morbidly obese and confined to a wheelchair and still be the world's greatest gamer.

That being said, I really don't understand why people care so much. If I met the world's greatest chess player, I'd still be pretty impressed, even though it isn't considered a "sport". I've seen people get into arguments over whether Golf is a sport, but ultimately, my main thought was "does it really matter? It still requires skill and is something that not everyone can do".
 

Maxtro

New member
Feb 13, 2011
940
0
0
Nope, gaming isn't a sport. Neither is chess or playing cards.

For something to be a sport it requires some form of physical skill and training. Darts counts as a sports because it requires skill to physically throw the dart where you want it to go.

The key aspect of a sport is training ones body to move in a certain way and exert effort.
 

leviadragon99

New member
Jun 17, 2010
1,055
0
0
Depends entirely on how you define "sport"

Some will say it only covers activities of physical exertion, which would remove not just videogames, but a number of other activities from this amorphous category.

Others would define it as anything that can be played competitively, which just opens the floodgates.

Ultimately it comes down to pretty meaningless semantics, if an activity requires some level of skill then it is still deserving of respect, regardless of whether it can neatly fit into the arbitrary boundaries of something our society arguably obsesses too much over.

Oh, and Herman still rubs me the wrong way. Arrogant, dismissive and remedial in his debating tactics without the charm of Chris to back it up.
 

madwarper

New member
Mar 17, 2011
1,841
0
0
Lightknight said:
if you believe or don't believe in the athletics of competitive gaming is this: If you believe football is a sport, would you agree that football played by giant-mechas controlled by people is still a sport?
The Mechs playing football? Yes, they're playing a sport.
The people coaching the mechs? No, coaching others is not a sport.

As such, the pixels on the screen may be preforming a sport when you play Madden N[sup]+1[/sup], but you are not playing a sport.
 

JET1971

New member
Apr 7, 2011
836
0
0
Is gaming a sport? yes. Is gaming an athletic sport? No. Is racing a sport? Yes and it is called Motorsports. Is racing an athletic sport? No.

Just because athletic ability is not involved does not mean it cannot be a sport, only dumb jocks view the word sport to mean athletics only.
 

DSK-

New member
May 13, 2010
2,431
0
0
Gaming isn't a sport, but electronic sports are. It's the difference between a friendly kickabout in the park and a champions league final. It's the same game, at a massively different skill level, arena, stakes and money to be won.

The amount of effort and time some of the best e-sports players in the world, past and present, needed to put into being the best is most probably equal to that of olympic-level athletes, the only difference is they aren't physically training in the same manner, although muscle memory is incredibly important.

There have been Starcraft Brood War players who have required wrist surgery and had their careers cut short because of wrist injuries.

I will admit that some e-sports now being played take less skill than others, but may make up for it with a large emphasis on teamwork dynamics.
 

hermes

New member
Mar 2, 2009
3,865
0
0
Is poker a sport? Is chess a sport?

The answer to those questions is the same as to whether gaming is a sport...
 

Ihateregistering1

New member
Mar 30, 2011
2,034
0
0
JET1971 said:
Is racing an athletic sport? No.
Interestingly (and I'm by no means a racing fan), I've read a lot of stuff that says that professional race car drivers are actually phenomenal athletes. Driving at the speeds they go at for hours upon hours straight (with no real breaks), combined with the pressure it puts on their body and the fact that it's something like 120 degrees in their car (at least in NASCAR) requires these guys (and gals) to be in really good shape to be good at it.

Then, of course, it brings up the argument of whether something automatically becomes a sport just because you need to be in shape for it.
 

Tarkand

New member
Dec 15, 2009
468
0
0
Maxtro said:
That being said, I really don't understand why people care so much. If I met the world's greatest chess player, I'd still be pretty impressed, even though it isn't considered a "sport". I've seen people get into arguments over whether Golf is a sport, but ultimately, my main thought was "does it really matter? It still requires skill and is something that not everyone can do".
It's the quest for legitimacy.

Competitive gaming is getting really big, with some real prices pool for winners and some extremely wide recognition and appeal... but it is still being looked down upon by a signification section of the population and it just so happens that a lot of the decision makers in our world are part of the section of people.

Making it recognized as a sport, in the eyes of many, would make it much more respectable... it wouldn't just be a game for kids anymore.

It's the same 'Are video game art' debate, but with a different name.

What's funny however, is that at the rate things are going - with technology becoming more widespread and accessible, older non-tech friendly people eventually dying off, and an entire generation of gamer raising their kids and competitive's gaming meteoric raise in popularity - weither or not it is recognised as a sport, it is likely to completely replace them within a couple decade.
 

Lightknight

Mugwamp Supreme
Nov 26, 2008
4,860
0
0
madwarper said:
Lightknight said:
if you believe or don't believe in the athletics of competitive gaming is this: If you believe football is a sport, would you agree that football played by giant-mechas controlled by people is still a sport?
The Mechs playing football? Yes, they're playing a sport.
The people coaching the mechs? No, coaching others is not a sport.

As such, the pixels on the screen may be preforming a sport when you play Madden N[sup]+1[/sup], but you are not playing a sport.
Not coaching. Controlling. Let's say even from within.

Let's imagine that they aren't even sweating in the suits and aren't using any of their own strength. Just their knowledge of the game and their own reaction times.
 

madwarper

New member
Mar 17, 2011
1,841
0
0
Lightknight said:
Not coaching. Controlling. Let's say even from within.
Issuing orders for something else to preform. Coaching, controlling. Same thing. Neither a sport.
 

cynicalsaint1

Salvation a la Mode
Apr 1, 2010
545
0
21
1. Chess is considered a Sport by the International Olympic Committee
2. If Chess is officially recognized as a sport, then you can apply whatever reasoning for Chess's consideration as a sport to gaming in general.
3. Therefore gaming is a sport

QED
 

Areloch

It's that one guy
Dec 10, 2012
623
0
0
madwarper said:
Lightknight said:
Not coaching. Controlling. Let's say even from within.
Issuing orders for something else to preform. Coaching, controlling. Same thing. Neither a sport.
Well if you want to get into a semantical argument, one could argue that your brain is issuing controls to your body towards an intended outcome - coaching. Therefore all physical sports are invalid now because it's just your brain coaching your body.

Semantical arguments aside, if the mainline point of a sport is to demonstrate and compete via one's physical mastery, wouldn't stuff like fighting games still fall under that? It requires very precise(oftentimes single-frame executions, so 1/60th of a second) executions of command for prolonged periods.

Even if people at professional fighting game tournaments don't work up a sweat, you cannot claim there is not physical work or mastery being displayed.