If you had told people approximately thirty years ago that video games would one day be considered a sport, there would probably have been a lot of very rude responses and very few people agreeing. In fact, in 2022, your experience if you tell people about eSports could still go either way. Even though gaming as a sport and a career has certainly reached a level of acceptance, the atomised nature of how we consume media and follow sport has meant that it’s possible for eSports to simultaneously be hugely popular and still attract skepticism.
Among the most common responses you’ll hear from skeptics, the one that still stands out is “video games aren’t a sport”. For some people, there is a mental picture they call up when they hear someone is a professional sportsman or sportswoman, and a separate one that arises when they hear the word “gamer”, and the two do not look alike. Nonetheless, eSports has a fanbase and plenty of money behind it – but there are arguments that people still dredge up to argue against its status as a sport. Here are some of the most common, along with reasons that they’re simply wrong.
“Sport involves physical exertion”
This, really, is a mistaken statement on both ends. The suggestion is that if you’re not getting out of breath or raising your heart rate, then it’s not a sport. OK, well, golf? Darts? Sure, golfers will walk great distances while playing a game, but they’re only going to break a sweat if they’re out of shape or it’s hot outside. Also, given the heightened levels of tension that arise in a competitive eSports contest, and the raised heart rate that results, this argument ends up defeating itself.
“Anyone can play video games”
Yes, that’s absolutely true. And if it excludes eSports as a sport, then it probably also means that soccer isn’t a sport, as parents and kids kick a ball around in gardens across the world. Same goes for baseball, and pretty much all of track athletics. Yes, anyone can play video games. A lot of people aren’t very good at them and will never reach the point where they’re able to do it professionally, just like every other sport. The number of people betting on eSports is clear evidence that there’s a hierarchy of ability. That’s pretty much the definition of competitive sport.
“Video games are a solitary pursuit”
Yes, they can be. A lot of kids also like to hit a tennis ball against a wall and have rallies – which improves their hand-eye coordination and makes them better at tennis against an opponent. As well as ignoring that many video games are multiplayer, and designed to be better the more people are playing, this argument really doesn’t even begin to make the case it thinks it’s making. The top eSports events see thousands of people crowding into arenas to watch teams play against one another. That’s a long way away from being solitary.
A life spent only playing video games and not getting involved in more physically active outdoor pursuits is not one to aspire to. However, if you read up on some of the dangers of overtraining in athletics, you’ll see that, again, this is not a problem that is solely confined to the eSports world.