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Do you consider "Gaming" to be a Sport?


Beyondthegrave07

Do you consider playing video games (competitively) as a sport?  

98 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you consider playing video games (competitively) as a sport?

    • Yes
      15
    • No
      67
    • I don't know (on the fence)
      6
    • Depends (explain in comments below)
      10


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1 hour ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

I'm sure curling takes some sort of balance and finesse, similar to archery or shooting a gun. It's easy to judge on those sort of sports when you never tried it imo.

 

I'm probably the only one who thinks this, but I think NASCAR (or car racing) is as much of a sport as baseball (so yes). The people changing tires in pit stops are insane and people don't realize this, but driving for a few hours at a time is physically painful for your legs, neck, etc. Drivers have to be physically fit to perform well in races. In other words, they have to physically train themselves outside of their sport to perform effectively. It might sound crazy, but I have a lot of respect for those who are into competitive racing. I'm physically fit and I don't think I could last driving 500 laps at 60 MPH, let alone 100 MPH and the focus required for that.

 

Fair point about curling.. I suppose there are quite a few sports that are much more fun to participate in than watch.

 

I can tell you from first hand experience that rally racing is very intense on the arms (not so much the legs as you'd think) the first few times, but the body adapts incredibly quickly so if you were doing it as a hobby or profession you wouldn't notice any of the strain after a little while. It's not like bodybuilding for example where you are continuously ramping up the strain, so your body has to keep rebuilding the muscle tissue. I would imagine other driving sports to be similar. The focus and mental fortitude on the other hand is a completely different matter for sure.. for me personally it's the curvature of the tracks that require the biggest amount of concentration as I have to make constant split-second decisions. I've never found the speed to be that much of an issue, even at 130-150mph because most, if not all rally/sports cars these days are designed incredibly well and don't feel as fast behind the wheel (the difference as a co-driver is insane, it feels a hell of a lot faster because you're not in control and imo is a 100x harder role) and the engineering behind the braking these days is phenomenal. I've always thought the mechanic teams were the most impressive when it came to F1 and so on; amazing how quickly they work and the engineering that goes into it to make that possible.

 

Back on topic, I think the distinction should remain between Sports and eSports. Correct me if I'm wrong but one thing all sports have in common is that they don't involve sitting behind a virtual screen.

 

EDIT: I also teach Taekwondo & run half + full marathons so actually you might be right about the external training that drivers need to do. I just never thought about it before as it isn't something that affects me.

Edited by Zolkovo
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58 minutes ago, Zolkovo said:

 

Fair point about curling.. I suppose there are quite a few sports that are much more fun to participate in than watch.

 

I can tell you from first hand experience that rally racing is very intense on the arms (not so much the legs as you'd think) the first few times, but the body adapts incredibly quickly so if you were doing it as a hobby or profession you wouldn't notice any of the strain after a little while. It's not like bodybuilding for example where you are continuously ramping up the strain, so your body has to keep rebuilding the muscle tissue. I would imagine other driving sports to be similar. The focus and mental fortitude on the other hand is a completely different matter for sure.. for me personally it's the curvature of the tracks that require the biggest amount of concentration as I have to make constant split-second decisions. I've never found the speed to be that much of an issue, even at 130-150mph because most, if not all rally/sports cars these days are designed incredibly well and don't feel as fast behind the wheel (the difference as a co-driver is insane, it feels a hell of a lot faster because you're not in control and imo is a 100x harder role) and the engineering behind the braking these days is phenomenal. I've always thought the mechanic teams were the most impressive when it came to F1 and so on; amazing how quickly they work and the engineering that goes into it to make that possible.

 

Back on topic, I think the distinction should remain between Sports and eSports. Correct me if I'm wrong but one thing all sports have in common is that they don't involve sitting behind a virtual screen.

 

EDIT: I also teach Taekwondo & run half + full marathons so actually you might be right about the external training that drivers need to do. I just never thought about it before as it isn't something that affects me.

 

I remember reading about Jeff Gordon saying that he wanted to retire partially because staying in shape to drive the car was physically demanding.

 

That is a fair point too about Sports vs Esports. I think most people make a large distinction between sports vs eSport. They segregate the two into different categories to show the difference between the physical nature of one vs the sedentary nature of the other. Therefore, in most peoples' mind they don't consider gaming a sport even though it does take some of the same qualities (attention to detail, reflexes, hand-eye coordination, etc). Not to mention there are games that take actual physical exertion such as Dance Dance Revolution (though I am not aware of any DDR tournaments, nor would I like to see one... OK, that's a lie, maybe I would just out of pure fascination). I'm not saying your wrong by any means. I probably lean more towards the side of "It's not a sport." strictly by this distinction. That doesn't mean it doesn't make for a good topic to discuss. :)

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1 hour ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

[...] OK, that's a lie, maybe I would just out of pure fascination [...]

 

Image result for dance revolution gif

I stand corrected; this is more physically intense than most sports lmao.

 

Also, I completely agree this is a great discussion topic. I'm especially interested to hear the thoughts of those who do consider this a Sport, ideally with some elaboration as to why.

Edited by Zolkovo
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  • 1 year later...

Games can be competitive and they can be spectator events, like Chess or Magic: The Gathering, but I couldn't consider them sports because there is no physical activity involved. I think the desire to call competitive games a sport comes from the same reason games used to be so oft compared to cinema: because some people make the assumption that sports (or movies) are legitimate forms of entertainment, and games are not.

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  • 2 years later...

Personally, I don't think it can be defined as a sport. But I don't think it's possible for me to care any less if someone does want to define competitive gaming that way, it kind of already is with "E-sports". I just see sports as being more of an activity involving your entire body, rather than just your arms/hands (in most cases), which is why I don't view gaming as a sport.

 

I've witnessed some absolutely asinine slapfights over people being insanely anal over genres and definitions before. I still remember watching someone trying incredibly hard to convince people that Super Smash Bros is a "beat 'em party game", not a fighting game, and getting so offended by anyone that said it was a fighting game, they'd fling some pretty choice insults their way.

 

I really don't understand getting that invested in drawing such distant lines in the sand about what genre X game is or whatever, or if games are art or a sport or a "waste of time that only rich privileged kids in mansions get to enjoy" (yes, I've heard someone in real life tell me this once). A lot of genres are just general descriptors for games, not a strict 1-to-1 guide on how that game MUST play. I still don't really even know what the RPG genre really means after all these years, since it's such a loosely defined genre, especially nowadays. Action and adventure are both pretty vague genres as well.

 

So I think whether or not competitive gaming is a sport really all comes down to perspective, like many things in life, and that's okay.

Edited by MercilessWaffle
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I think the designation "eSports" is fitting, because I don't think gaming falls under the category of traditional sports. Since there isn't really a significant amount of physical exertion. That doesn't mean it's not competitive or doesn't require skill.

 

At the end of the day, I don't really think the label really matters though. Gaming doesn't need to have the label of "sport" in order for it to be competitive and entertaining to watch.

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7 hours ago, ExHaseo said:

I think the designation "eSports" is fitting, because I don't think gaming falls under the category of traditional sports. Since there isn't really a significant amount of physical exertion. That doesn't mean it's not competitive or doesn't require skill.

 

At the end of the day, I don't really think the label really matters though. Gaming doesn't need to have the label of "sport" in order for it to be competitive and entertaining to watch.


I’ve watched plenty of eSports in my time and I decided quite some time ago that it simply isn’t for me. 
 

It can be very entertaining to watch. Those people play at a skill level and level of commitment that I couldn’t ever hope to match.

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  • 1 year later...

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