Esports is an industry that may be worth up to $1.5 billion in revenue by 2020. It is competitive computer gaming. But, the question is: Is esports a sport? For many people, the answer is no. Other people argue that it is a sport. Let’s take a look at the arguments.
What is esport?
Esports is a broad term that refers to competitive gaming. This can range from roleplay games to shooters and racing. It can be played individually or in a team.
Players often spend a lot of time perfecting their skills. There are big games such as Quake, World of Warcraft and FIFA that attract a lot of players. These games are watched by big audiences, both live and online. Teams often have their own supporters.
It has been around for many years and is played professionally by millions of people worldwide. Esports players compete in multiplayer online matches against other players. They also compete in tournaments and leagues, which are governed by professional organizations like the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) or the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM).
Esports are being played worldwide and are very popular in the USA, Japan, and Korea. In these countries, you have a lot of professional players. They train every day to get better and work with coaches to improve their skills. Players can win big prices so they spend a lot of time perfecting their strategies.
Esports are quite new as it has only been played for a few decades. For this reason, we will see a lot of evolution in the coming year. This will range from rules to what games are being played. At the moment there are no esports at the Olympics but this can change in the coming years. The challenge is that the games that are being played often change so we will have to find a way to pick the best games for esports.
Esports requires a lot of concentration as matches can last several hours. This can be quite challenging for players as they have to sit still and focus on the game. Sometimes there is a pause during the game to let players have a snack and rest. Players can be exhausted at the end of the match.
When teams have to work together to win, they often spend a lot of time training together and getting to know each other. Teams are often international and players with different skill sets work together to win the matches.
Esports are typically played in big arenas so that an audience can watch and support their favorite team. In some countries, players are local celebrities and their matches are covered on TV and in news outlets. Esports can be very spectacular and they can be fun to watch. Professional players have very advanced skills and watching them in action can be a special experience.
What is sport?
Sport in the general definition means a physical activity that requires certain skills. Esports are often performed by sitting. Moving a mouse around is often not considered a physical activity. Some games require that you walk around and with the advent of VR games and new input methods, we might see that esports becomes more physically demanding. The Omni is an example of an input method that requires a lot of physical. You have to walk, run and crouch to provide input to the game. It can be very exhausting to play for a long time as you have to move back and forth a lot. We can expect to see more of these in the future as gamers seem to love it. These setups can be challenging but given that big sponsors are entering the esport world, it should be possible to organize events that use this equipment. It might be possible that athletes to start to join esports. Trainers might help players to get in better shape. If this trend catches on, we can start to consider esports as a sport as it has a physical element.
More specific definitions also demand that sports have a competitive element. Esports clearly have a competitive element. Players or teams compete to win the match. This can be capturing a flag, scoring points, finishing first or completing an objective. All of these provide a clear winner at the end of the game. Often there is a time limit that decides who wins.
Given that the physical element that we discussed before is not often present, we can state that both in the general and in the specific definition, esports is not really a type of sport. For this reason, the name is not really covering the activity that well.
Esports are often considered games instead of sports for this reason. One can argue that a lot of activities are not sports because they don’t have a competitive element. Esports have another problem in that it often can’t be considered as having a physical component.
Conclusion
Many people argue that esports is not a sport. However, many more argue that it is a sport. In this article, we have argued that esports shouldn’t be considered a sport as there is not really a physical aspect if people are sitting down. If other input methods are used, we could consider esports as a sport as you need to use your body to move around in the game. Esports has become very popular in the past few decades as computers have become more powerful and internet connectivity has improved. This has allowed players to practice more and get better. There is a wide diversity of games available and each of these requires different skills. From strategy, racing to shooting there is a wide range of games on the market.
