Should We Really Play Videogames A Sport?

Whether it’s playing video games or watching video games, we get filled with an intoxicating feeling to play or watch more. Throughout generations, there has been an increase of people playing video games and about half the population in the United States plays video games. Since 1980, video games are taken to a different level with eSports, which is competitive electronic gaming tournaments with other competitors. In 2000 to the present , eSports grew in popularity and became known worldwide because of the game “League of Legends”. In 2011 “LoL” tournament ranked over 1.6 million views worldwide and during a “LoL” championship in 2015 over 36 million people were viewing the game. ESport raises this question: “Do video games counts as sports?” Video games do not count as a sport because it does not match the criteria of a sport,video games are luck-based, and are unhealthy.

“Should video games be considered a sport?” Well believe it or not, there’s are kids out there who actually claim it as one. And there is many reasons to why it should be called a sport. Video games is the only thing some kids are good at because not everyone is physically capable of playing sports such as basketball or football. So if they want to say it’s a sport, then why not? It consists of lot’s of competition at games, right equipment, and lots of hard work and dedication.

Should Gaming Be Considered A Sport Throughout modern history Video games have been significant to most people’s lives as it is a way for them to escape from their boring and dull lives. The Esports gaming community has been experiencing a huge number of audience for the past few years making it the most popular gaming tournaments. Even Though there is a huge global audience watching the competitive esports tournaments, gaming is still not considered a sport among most people. Some might argue and believe that gaming is not a sport as it requires no physical movement or athletic ability which makes it no different from chess which is considered a sport by most people even though it requires no movement. Nonetheless most competitive gamers practice for a long time in order

Video gaming is something anyone at any age level can do and requires very little physical activity and therefore should not be considered a sport. It also does not take a lot of effort to play a video game; all you need is two hands, sometimes one depending on what game console you’re using. (Lauren) A real sport consists of human activity involving physical skill and exertion. (What is A Sport?)

Video games are not a sport because they can be harmful to one’s health. Video games are usually played for hours on end in the comfort of a game chair, using hand-held controllers. For example, even in many gaming competitions, the competitors sit down while they play. An article written by Terence J. Munoz states that, “According to the Oxford Dictionary, a sport is an activity involving physical exertion.” For example, many famous gaming consoles, such as X-box, use hand-held controllers as the primary source of interaction for the game. The same article from Terence states that “Unless you count moving fingers as physical exertion, games don’t fall under this definition of a sport. If left unmonitored, excessive gaming could lead to serious

Should video games be a sport? The article I used is by Jessica Ravitz (CNN). I will tell you about University of Illinois’ video game program. In my opinion video games should be a sport. I will talk about the rooms they practice in, how parents react to their kids playing video games and how you can still get an education.

Can you imagine growing up in a world where video games are a sport. Everyone sitting down in a chair with their team, while the enemy team is across from them. Loud communication noises coming from both sides of the room. The room now in a very competitive atmosphere. The audience watching to see who will outsmart the other in this mental sport. Watching or playing video games will be like watching or playing any sport. This is why video games should be a sport.

Video games are great entertainment for all ages, however they shouldn’t be considered a sport as they don’t provide any type of real effort of training and skill. Anyone can play a video game, all you need a pair of hands, maybe one if you have the right console, rather than traditional sports like football, basketball, soccer, and so on. These sports actually require intense physical exercise, skill, and training, while video game players just sit there and twiddle their thumbs to score points. You may believe this to be true but nevertheless video games actually require the same amount of skill as traditional sports. “A sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in

Allen Guttman's definition of a sport being “activity where rules are accepted just because they make possible such activity.” While he makes the distinction that a sport is a clearly physical contest, clarifying that while chess is a contest it isn't a sport because it lacks physicality. The most popular competitive games played by the E-sports community do have a physical aspect differentiating it from chess. Good hand-eye coordination, a good sense of timing, and endurance. A casual game of chess doesn't have a time limit to make the correct move while in first person shooters, MOBAs, and fighting games you have to quickly react to what the opposing team or player is doing. Not unlike a pitcher in baseball who has to throw the right pitch at the right time. If you aren't able to react quickly enough to an opposing player in a fighting game you quickly lose the match. Being able to endure long games without making mistakes in play is a necessary skill in a fighting game where exhaustion can quickly lead to misplays that can cost you the

However, there are multiple definitions of sport: ‘an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing

Pro video gamers exercise in various ways which includes, running, swimming and weight lifting, according to Sutter. These exercises are for better performance in their gaming competitions just like traditional sports. Pro gamers, as an athletes, balance their physical health and mental toughness and practice for extensive amount of time. These factors can be used to compare the similarity of both the video games and the traditional sports. Video games comes in various types and form; some common exercisable types are Xbox Live or Wii, they have video games which you need be physically involved in order to proceed the game plays. Types of video games that was released late 1940s to early 1970s makes video games seem impotent, however, present

However, the lack of physical skill is made up by mental skill. Viramontes describes that by saying, “...video gaming requires so much mental training, focus, and the ability to read what your opponent’s next move is going to be” (Can Video Gaming Be Considered an Actual Sport?). A sport like chess is exactly interpreted as this; thinking about strategy and other major key points to win. Along with improving in the mental side of things, video games also increase hand-eye coordination. Robin Burks, an editor for Tech Times expresses that sensorimotor skills and hand-eye coordination improve while actively playing action games (Burks). Likewise, almost everything in life, including all the sports, require great hand-eye coordination to play. Furthermore, video games fall under this category. The term ‘sport’ can be differently interpreted among the general audience. Cerrudo stated that a professor, Dr. Ingo Froböse, explains, how just physical movements do not explain a general sport (Should “eSports” Be Considered As a Sport?). Different people think that a sport does not need physical effort for example, gold or chess. Therefore, video games are a sport.

While E-Sports do meet some of the requirements of being a sport, I believe that instead of being a sport, they are just competitions. Even though they have the team and skill aspect of a sport, they still lack the physical exertion of a real sport. Maybe someday video games will reach the true definition of a sport, but that day is not

Competitive gaming, also known as e-sports, is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. With huge events and tournaments that are watched by millions of passionate fans, many people are beginning to question whether playing video games can be considered a real sport. Even though e-sports may not be as physically demanding as traditional sports like football and basketball, the structure, strong fan base and the requirements to seriously contend in the competitive gaming scene legitimize it as a “real” sport.

A sport is defined as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. Competitive. Competition is a rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser. Something to argue would be if a competition could legitimately be considered a sport. The word ‘compete’ is in the definition of sport after all. So, should eSports, or Electronic Sports, be considered a sport?