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Video Gamers Should Not Be Considered A Sport Essay

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A rather new debate in the world of sports is, “are video gamers considered athletes?” There has been a massive increase in the amount of people playing video games in recent years. The games themselves have evolved to demand much more attention and skill than required than in the years of pong. Video game tournaments are becoming more popular than ever. The number of competitors can extend into the thousands with even more in attendance. Monetary prizes have also reached millions of dollars to the winner. ESPN, the nations most viewed and trusted sports network has in the past partnered with video game developing companies to air tournaments live. Despite the massive increase in popularity, many still refute that video gamers are athletes and the games can’t be considered a sport. “It’s not a sport — it’s a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition….Mostly, I’m interested in doing real sports,” said ESPN President John Skipper when asked about esports. In a 2013 episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, columnists …show more content…

To answer these questions I ask myself what criteria is required for an activity to be considered a ‘sport’? Or somebody an athlete? According to Dictionary.com, sport is defined as, “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.” Playing video games is indeed a physical motor skill, and the activity requires finely tuned and trained fine motor skills, reaction times, vision, and mental acuity. But does this make gamers ‘athletes’? Well also according to Dictionary.com, athletes are defined as, “a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical

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