Poll: Can video games be sport?

[Nata-chan]

On the back of Free to Play by Valve, I was having this debate with my friends if video games can be sport? So I throw it out to you Escapists and I apologise if this has been done before.

We were split on all sports - some said that only games with mutliplayer could be 'sports' (like DOTA 2 was in the movie), others that if a multiplayer game could be a sport, so could a single player game because it still required the same skill set. Another view could be it was dangerous to call games a sport because then kids would get fat and never do any exercise, until they make Occulus Rift: Body Edition.

I don't know about single player games, but I think if you are doing a mutliplayer game as a competition it is a kind of sport (well it's recognised as an eSport). I don't know if I would say that an MMO is sport... being hunted down by the enemy might be like a blood sport...

So what do you think?

 

[Vault101]

I'd say something more like Chess

but then if bowling can be a sport then sure, why not games?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well Chess is a recognized sport of the Olympic Committee so you really can't say video games couldn't be.
And there are plenty of sports where you do not compete against a team directly but against a score which makes single player also legit for consideration.

However you do need a solid set of rules (none of that RNG nonsense), and you need an impartial judge to oversee every game because in complex systems as video games it is incredibly easy for people to find exploits and cheats.

 

[tm96]

I don't know if it can work for games. It works for games like Starcraft and League of Legends both of which I have never played and will probably have my backside handed to me on a silver platter in the first 5 seconds. If they do become a sport I will join if arcade racing games like Burnout are included otherwise it will become another sport I will ignore. Also Fifa Street included in this possible sport.

 

[Nata-chan]

I don't know if it can work for games. It works for games like Starcraft and League of Legends both of which I have never played and will probably have my backside handed to me on a silver platter in the first 5 seconds. If they do become a sport I will join if arcade racing games like Burnout are included otherwise it will become another sport I will ignore. Also Fifa Street included in this possible sport.

Haha, a sport that is a simulation of a sport! Driving games, football, baseball games, etc!

 

[Ubiquitous Duck]

Why not?

That's what I say.

Do people still think that sport by definition has to be some sort of athletic display?

Have people ever watched, as already mentioned, chess or different example, darts? These people in no way need to be athletic. They 'can' be, but it isn't needed for the 'sport' or even a bi-product of it.

To be able to be in the Olympics or other Competitions, games need to be considered as a competition. This doesn't mean it necessitates multiplayer, but it needs a way for games to be scored/evaluated to be able to ascertain a winner.

You couldn't have a room of people each playing Skyrim and call it the Skyrim World Cup, because they aren't competing against each other. There are no victors, no losers, no scores, no nothing. Just a group of people enjoying a game. However, you could consider it casually enjoying the sport - like friends having a 'kick-around' with a football (soccer ball, Americanism).

I think competition is the key. So one person by themselves playing a single player game is not a sport. But compare their, for example, end level scores on DMC with the person sitting next to them throughout the game and the competition element has been included.

 

[Timmaaaah]

I think it'd be quite good to see a game of CoD of Battlefield when a team runs as a team, rather than just everybody going "every man for himself". Then you'd have different leagues, free for all comps, capture the flag... I imagine people would start using real military tactics. No country would be disadvantaged either, it would be cheap to broadcast, and anybody regardless of physique could play it. I'd watch it if it was on TV... Nerds like me could grab some beers with their friends and watch the team they support play another team. They're competitive games the same as any sport. Except you don't have to be an athlete...

And there wouldn't be any of the annoying things about online video game culture that we've come to know... 8 year old kids shouting insults, people trying to do 360s, and just general fuckwittery, so we might actually grow some respect for the game

 

[antidonkey]

For me, the term "sport" implies some sort of athleticism. Anything that can be done while smoking, drinking, and being out of shape, isn't a sport. This includes things like golf, bowling, darts, and video games. This doesn't mean that a high level of skill isn't involved. After all, it general takes lots of practice to get good that the examples above. It also doesn't mean that I wouldn't enjoy watching video game tournaments. Hell, I had a blast watching some starcraft 2 and WoW PVP tournaments at Blizzcon several years ago....but calling it a sport just doesn't seem right.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I'm going to say Yes to multiplayer only because, to me, there's an element of direct competition that needs to be in a sport. That said, despite being a huge proponent of competitive gaming (particularly fighting games), I'm a little iffy on calling videogames a sport in the first place. To me, a videogame is only a sport if you use the sort of ESPN style extended definition of "sports" that includes things like darts, poker and billiards.

 

[Raikas]

It depends on the definition of sport that you're using.

In the strictest sense, I think the answer is yes, because chess is a sport.

But in the general social sense where (depending on your location), "sport" is synonymous with athletic activity, then I suppose not. Unless it's a DDR-type thing, I suppose.

 

[CaptQuakers]

They would be surely be skill games ? Sport has to involve a certain amount of physical activity I believe.

Also isn't chess a game not a sport ?

 

[Radeonx]

Yes. Games like League and Starcraft require immense skill, muscle memory, and training to be able to play well at all let alone at a top level, and the competitive nature of those games (same with Counterstrike, now, to a degree) would very much allow them to be considered a sport in my opinion.

 

[DoPo]

They would be surely be skill games ? Sport has to involve a certain amount of physical activity I believe.

Also isn't chess a game not a sport ?

For me, the term "sport" implies some sort of athleticism.

Both chess and bridge are a recognised sport [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_sports#Recognized_sports], so I believe your definitions would be incorrect.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Let's check the dictionary.

It defines sport 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".

So while sports aren't necessarily exclusively competitive, they're defined as an "athletic activity".

What is athletic? Befitting of athletes. Who is an athlete? "A person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength".

Pushing buttons in accordance to visual stimuli doesn't require great stamina or strength, and a rather minimal modicum of agility. So if you really, really, really wanna make the case of VIDEOGAMES ARE A SPORT, you would have to stress the "physical agility" part of the activity. Which I don't particularly care to do.

 

[Nata-chan]

Let's check the dictionary.

It defines sport 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".

So while sports aren't necessarily exclusively competitive, they're defined as an "athletic activity".

What is athletic? Befitting of athletes. Who is an athlete? "A person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength".

Pushing buttons in accordance to visual stimuli doesn't require great stamina or strength, and a rather minimal modicum of agility. So if you really, really, really wanna make the case of VIDEOGAMES ARE A SPORT, you would have to stress the "physical agility" part of the activity. Which I don't particularly care to do.

It seems we have a predicament, sports are defined in the dictionary as athletic, and yet a game like chess or bridge is also considered a sport... Maybe it depends on the muscles being used?

 

[clippen05]

Confused as how to most people have expressed the view that at least some games are a sport, yet 'no-to-all' is leading in the polls. Guess a bunch of lurking 'its just a game!' people came to this thread lol... I guess I should be thankful that at least they didn't post.

Anyway, I picked other as I think singleplayer games and multiplayer games both count, but not ALL singleplayer and multiplayer games should count. I look forward to the day when watching DOTA championships will be just as popular as the Champions League Finals; it may be a long ways away, but I think it'll happen within my lifetime.

 

[DoPo]

Let's check the dictionary.

It defines sport 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".

So while sports aren't necessarily exclusively competitive, they're defined as an "athletic activity".

And if you check the etymology of the word "sport" you would find out it started out as something more akin to a "leisure activity" and it did not require athleticism. Point is, don't trust the dictionaries for everything. As I pointed out in the post immediately preceeding yours bridge and chess are recognised as sports. You can check here, too [http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/index.php?idIndex=32&idContent=14881] - you would notice these two listed there, and after a quick glance I noticed Go also on that list. Which is appropriate, seeing SportAccord (who are sort of the sport federation of all sport federations) recognise mind sports [http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/definition-of-sport/] which these fall into. For the record, they also recognise "motorised" for another example of non-athletic based sport.

 

[Nata-chan]

Let's check the dictionary.

It defines sport 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".

So while sports aren't necessarily exclusively competitive, they're defined as an "athletic activity".

And if you check the etymology of the word "sport" you would find out it started out as something more akin to a "leisure activity" and it did not require athleticism. Point is, don't trust the dictionaries for everything. As I pointed out in the post immediately preceeding yours bridge and chess are recognised as sports. You can check here, too [http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/index.php?idIndex=32&idContent=14881] - you would notice these two listed there, and after a quick glance I noticed Go also on that list. Which is appropriate, seeing SportAccord (who are sort of the sport federation of all sport federations) recognise mind sports [http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/definition-of-sport/] which these fall into. For the record, they also recognise "motorised" for another example of non-athletic based sport.

I think we can all agree that competition is the key definition for something that is "sport" and the consensus seems to be that games that have a level of measurable competition (either a race or a points system) can be counted as sports, regardless of if they are physical, mental or motorised.

What do we classify non-competitive sporting activities (are there really such a thing?) like kicking a ball around with mates or playing hand-tennis against the wall by yourself, or playing Skyrim by yourself? Are they just needing a competitive aspect to measure to be counted the same as a football match, a tennis match or a speedrun?

I'm loving how much debate this thread has! Thanks guys!

 

[Maxtro]

Sine apparently, chess is a sport..... video games can also be called sports.

Do I believe it and chess ,and anything that doesn't require a level of fitness to play should be called a sport? No.