Is e-sports a sport?
Published: September 24, 2019
Currently, e-sports is considered a sport by ESPN. However, the controversy of it being an actual sport still arises. So to answer those question marks, let us first define both sports and E-sports. Sports are sets of activities that include skills, entertainment, professionalism, team work, physical activity and competitiveness. Whereas, E-sports is in simple terms a video game championship such as League of Legends. So where is the common ground between them? When you read what E-sports is, the automatic reaction is to claim that it is not a sport. After all, where’s the physical activity in sitting around a computer with a bunch of friends and competing? But if you get into the main pillars of the definition of sports, you would notice that E-sports includes all of them! Simply put, the game needs a strategy, which requires team work, skilled players, and is driven by competitiveness and the motivation to win. E-sports is a professional multi-million dollar business that turned its players into celebrities. You see in E-sports the replacement of physical activity is the mental agility. Let's dig deeper and actually see why it sounds so much like your regular basketball tournament:
COMPETITION
There is no denying, video games' competitiveness is at its peak. No matter where you are and what game you are playing, the drive to succeed and defeat your opponent is shinning bright in your eyes. That same spark is found in an Olympic runner's eyes.
TEAMWORK
The most essential attribute in group sports is team work. In basketball, a player getting greedy and working alone could cost the team points or even the whole game. Competitive gaming (E-sports) is all about co-working: Game teams or 'clans' require the same approach to follow through on tactics.
MENTAL AGILITY
Meet the e-sports version of physical abilities. In traditional sports, if a team neglects coordination and synchronization then they open the gateway to a big loss with their own hands or feet, depending on the game. So coordination, synchronization and responsiveness to fast movement are essential to traditional sports. But wait a moment, we actually need all of those attributes while gaming! Yes, maybe we are not using our physique to be a harmonious team but we are using every inch of our mental agility instead to reach the same end results.
BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY
The reason why sports in general generates a large amount of money is mostly due to it being one of the most entertaining pass times ever. People from all around the world would pay millions to sit in an arena and watch a grand slam final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. In the case of E-sports, people from all around the world ARE paying millions to watch championships for the soul purpose of entertainment. According to Influencer MarketingHub, Esports' market size is forecasted to reach 1.6 billion by 2020 with big brands such as Redbull and Microsoft sponsoring the events allowing its prizes to increase over the years.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Another possibility for E-sports to be a sport is in fact technology! Shocking isn’t it? In the E-sports case, technology could take the games to another level. Remember the tennis Wii game we used to play ? Imagine that on an E-sports level using VR!! The amount of games that could be competitively played through VR opens a wider variety for an already diverse field of gaming.When a comparison as such occurs, it is hard for E-sports critics to deny the fact that it is indeed a sport. After all, if Chess is a Sport recognized by ESPN, why can't E-sports be one?
References:Top 10 Most Anticipated eSports Events for 2019. (2019, March 26). Retrieved from https://influencermarketinghub.com/top-10-esports-events-2019/
Bann Haidar
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