Sports have been a important part of our society and have been around for hundreds of years. Sports have the power to bring thousands and sometimes millions of people together to socialize and interact in ways that in other cases would never happen. The definition of a sport is defined as, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment” and although there are some controversies with certain sports being considered a sport around the world, eSports can arguably be the most controversial. But with the exponential growth of eSports and it’s dedicated pro players, eSports should finally have its recognition as a true sport.
The main problem individuals have with eSports is that they believe there is no physical toll or exhaustion associated with playing video games but that statement is flawed. Professional gamers, “have learned to quickly and precisely chain together complicated in-game movements and attacks, which is only possible with a high level of dexterity”, said writer Chris Lowe from The Reflector. Although this level of physicality is not comparable to the physical requirements of sports like soccer or football, the type of physical activity gamers do is physical nonetheless.
Players spend countless hours practicing and preparing for massive prize pool competitions that take place around the world. The Chicago Tribune interviewed 22 year old Derek Micheau, a professional “League of Legends” player for America’s first varsity eSports team, “During the season, we practice from 2 to 9 p.m. every day on weekdays. It’s strenuous, but it helps keep you on track,” Micheau said. “It’s definitely been a good thing for me.” Players like Micheau are not uncommon in the gaming world, there are many other mainstream games that have their own eSports community and pro players. Another eSports intensive game, Counter Strike Global Offensive is a first person shooter in which two teams, have the objective of either planting the bomb (Terrorist team) or defending and eliminating the Terrorists (Counter-Terrorist team). This game released back in 2012, now has 31 professional eSports teams world wide that compete year long in many eSports tournaments. But it’s not just the players and teams who make the competitive scene so noticable.
The eSports industry has been booming as of lately and is said to make millions and reach millions of new viewers in the upcoming years. Millions of fans watch these gaming competitions just as die hard fans do for soccer. In past years huge gaming championships have attracted millions of viewers, “One major tournament, the 2016 League of Legends World Championship finals, attracted 43 million viewers”, this viewership is only growing and major companies have already taken part in this new industry. ESPN has already added an eSports section to their repertoire . Syracuse University came out with a article at the being of 2019, With Viewership and Revenue Booming, Esports Set to Compete with Traditional Sports, which stated that,
“In the U.S., esports will have more viewers than every professional sports league but the NFL by 2021”
this includes the MLB, NBA, NHL and the MLS. Since competitive gaming and video games in general have not been around for nearly as long as these older sports industries, the increase in eSports popularity is very impressive.
In our society today the things we do and say no matter how controversial, in most cases, are given the chance to come forward and give their side of the story. eSports although may not be seen as a sport in the eyes of many people, the physicality, dedication and determination required of pro eSports players cannot go unnoticed when determining if this passionate game should be a sport. Our society is ever changing and with the speed at which our technology is advancing it is not long until it makes its impact in the sports world. Why not start now?
Cam 