http://www.gamespot.com/news/us-gov...ue-of-legends-players-as-pro-athletes-6411377 Wow, I want to play League of Legends, I might be paid more, if I injure my knee lifting my PC, does that count as a sport injury? Okay, okay... All joking aside, I think this is stupid, but noted... Very funny. Sorry if it's in the wrong spot.
I don't see what's so stupid about it. E-sports is becoming more and more popular as time goes on, and they play at a competitive level just like a lot of other athletes. Most of the "pro" teams can play well enough to be recognised as some of the world's best players, as well as putting in time and effort into their profession. For a lot of them it's much more a job than a hobby. Taking this into account, why shouldn't it be recognised as a sport?
Apples and oranges, I am a researcher and even though many researchers will dedicate their lives to their works and some will find amazing new things, even them will not be "called athlete" , because research isn't a sport, though is more important even a nobel prize will not make you an athlete, by the same logic win the olympics won't give you a nobel prize (maybe the peace one). I don't have a problem in calling them "competitors" or pro-gamers , and stuff like that... but banalizing a word to describe something else takes the importance of it, just like all "doctors" of medicine that aren't real doctors, because they didn't get a PhD, but all over the world people started calling them doctors, and the real doctors are called "professor"
There's no need for any e-sport to be on par with an actual sport. The reason that pro athletes are stars is because they put themselves out there, and in most cases risk serious injury at one point or another. The most you'll get from being an e-sports pro is Repetitive Motion Injury. There's no real need for it to be so glorified.
Well this is... interesting. I honestly don't know what to think about this. I'm not really into LoL or eSports, but this seems like this is a step in a good, futuristic direction since eSports are only gonna' get more popular.
I'm not surprised at this at all. And to be honest, what's wrong with video games being a sport? There are major tournaments held every year and many people compete. I knew this was gonna be in the news sooner or later. A month ago, I went to Korea. When I entered a PC room, EVERYONE was playing LoL. Back then, it was Starcraft. I think this is an awesome thing for people to recognize video game as not only a fun activity, but also something that people can compete in officially.
Because it's a bad game that's poorly maintained. If you want a real E-sport, try EVO, which pulled more viewers than the Super Bowl last year. The only saving grace is that League has opened the door for better, more entertaining games to become recognized sports. That's...really not why athletes are stars though? :\ That's how Jackass gets ratings. Athletes are stars because they compete in a contest of skill that others find entertaining. My only complaint about League is that it's not that entertaining. But if Poker is a sport, E-sports definitely deserve it too. I'm just waiting for the long-suffering FGC to get that recognition now.
I feel that just because you compete in something that requires skills doesn't make you an athlete. We dont call people that compete in spelling bees athletes even though it is a competition and requires some form of skill we call them competitors. If the criteria for being an athlete is that you compete in something that requires skill than businessmen should be considered athletes because they are competing for their team (Company) to help them win ( make more money than the competitor) and it does require some skill, but no we call them businessmen because thats what they are. I think Pro Gamers should be called Pro Gamers because that is what they are.
Don't want be an American idiot!!! Welcome to America. Land of the free, home of the brave and virtual professional athletes. I wonder if you can get a good scholarship if your KD is good (I don't play the game so I don't know if there is a KD or not). You know, I play a lot of Call of Duty. Maybe that means I should be a decorated war veteran. Seriously, wake up! Never in my life have I been, this isn't true I have been, more dumbfounded than in this instance. A game. An online game. An online multiplayer game, and you're considered a professional athlete. I ... I can't even think of how exactly to word this. I suppose I'll just say that, while kind of funny, this is a big blow to all of the actual professional athletes. They're out there, working their posteriors off to do what they do best. Some thirteen year old gets to be under the same classification while he or she sits at home and clicks away on the computer. I'm not trying to sound like I'm for professional athletes or anything. In fact, I pretty much detest the entire pro sports thing. So, take into account my feelings towards professional athletes (the real kind) and my view on this subject. I think you'll see that the impact increases exponentially.
This is one of the most ignorant posts I've read in a while, and I say that with the utmost of emotional detachment. This is not strictly nor is it originally an American notion. For one, Starcraft players have been recognized as athletes in Korea for years, and some of the champions make six figures. You openly admit you don't know the basest of elements about the game, such as whether it collects a kill/death ratio. How can you judge its worth as entertainment? "Some thirteen-year-old" who "sits at home and clicks away on the computer" is going to get trounced playing these games at the professional level. Just because the competition isn't physical doesn't mean it's not rigorous, and just because it's a game doesn't mean it's for kids. Gaming has been a perfectly adult hobby for decades now, get with it. People seem to be under the impression that a sport's a sport if and only if it's physically taxing. If that's true, then war should be a sport. No? How about juggling? The fact is, there are other factors. While a sport in the past has traditionally been viewed as a test of fitness, the term has always encompassed tests of wit. All sports are competitive by definition. Further, recognized sports are entertaining to watch; they draw a crowd, they incite cheers and jeers. E-sports check all these boxes. If you must be outraged, be outraged that a game so unstable, so poorly constructed, so subservient to trends and popular opinion, and with such an ill-behaved following was the first competitive game to be recognized as a sport. If you have an antiquated view of what constitutes a sport, well, be outraged at yourself.
But the point is a gamer isn't an athlete they are a gamer just as an athlete is not a gamer. We put labels on things to make them easy to understand, we call milk a beverage and not a food because its not a food, we may ingest them both for energy but it doesn't make them the same thing . We dont call a cheeseburger a beverage because it's not a beverage, it's a food. While videogames and sports both entertain us and require skill they are not the same thing. I'm not questioning the talent and effort it takes to be a pro gamer, I'm just saying that they are different things.
...Well... you're wrong. As of this past July, you are 100% incorrect. "Athlete" is beginning to grow apart from its old definition, "one who is gifted in a contest of physical fitness," and "sport" hasn't meant simply "A contest of physical fitness" for a long, long time, as I said. Besides, this wasn't just a snap decision made so that greasy, pockmarked teenagers could laugh it up in front of their jock peers; it was done so that grown men and women with a passion for a particular team competition can do what they love all around the world. If you read the article, you'd know that one of the points of celebration for Riot was the ability to get international players visas to play in America. Point being, it wasn't done for no reason. "Gamer" is a ridiculously broad term, and we all should know this. It encompasses many age groups, target demographics, any cultural minority you can think of, and hundreds of play styles. Is it so far-fetched to believe that one of those play styles could encompass the attributes of a professional sport? Besides, football's a game. Technically, we could call football players gamers, if we wanted to. Again, point being, the definitions are less technical and more psychological, and we should be able to recognize that and be willing to restructure the definitions as we go along. If you want things to be easy to understand, call every competition that's physically OR mentally taxing, and fun to watch, a sport; and call everyone who plays them an athlete. Don't nitpick.
I see your point and i understand the good this is doing for these players but as a sports fan I don't want to wake up in the morning and see League of Legends highlights on sportscenter (I understand that this most likely won't happen but if more and more games become "sports" and the community for these games becomes large and vocal enough than ESPN will have to atleast give them some sort of acknowledgement) . Maybe I'm just a little stuck in my ways but I don't want to see this happen.
I'm mixed on this. As you can tell by my theme alone, I'm a big fan of League and play somewhat frequently, so I'm really glad to see the top players getting recognition. However, the term "athlete" is something that I (and many others) prefer to be used when discussing people who participate in more physically-oriented activities. If there was another, better-suited term, I'd prefer that. However, if there isn't, I'm fine with "athlete" being used then. It just rolls off the tongue oddly when it's spoken in context for video games. Maybe...e-athlete? I dunno. Also, these players ABSOLUTELY deserve the recognition, just as those competitors in EVO tournaments, and whatnot. I'm not a Ranked player, but I've played a Ranked team before, and it is VERY CLEAR just how much better they (tend to) be: lightning-fast reactions and decisions, shifting formations, synchronized teamcalls, knowing the timings for monster respawns, etc. To say they don't deserve recognition at all is to not understand the game at all. There is a clearly recognized difference between traditional sports and esports. You'll never see online games on Sports Center. Maybe on something like, say, SyFy, but not a network that's known what to show its audience for over 3 decades and has no need to change in order to keep up ratings.
In Korea they have channels set up specifically for that, they seem to love it and I imagine there'd be a lot of people that would enjoy it if it were set up elsewhere. Although, I doubt you're going to see that done anytime soon, seeing as how, like Hayabusa pointed out, there are still channels that have been playing more traditional sports for a very long time and I don't think that's going to change.
