US government recognizes League of Legends players as pro athletes - Polidicks

[url]http://www.gamespot.com/news/us-government-recognizes-league-of-legends-players-as-pro-athletes-6411377[/url] [quote=GameSpot]The United States government now recognizes League of Legends players as professional athletes and awards visas for them to come to the country to play. Riot Games eSports manager Nick Allen told GameSpot in a new video interview (below) that the "groundbreaking" decision came about after much back-and-forth between the developer and the government. "So the United States government recognizes League of Legends pro players as professional athletes and award visas to essentially work in the United States under that title," Allen said. "This is groundbreaking for eSports; now we can start looking at international players when they come over. It's a much easier process because they're actually recognized by the government. This is a huge thing."[/quote]

I'll still never understand the appeal of watching people play a video game...

[quote]"So the United States government recognizes League of Legends pro players as professional athletes and award visas to essentially [B]work[/B] in the United States under that title[/quote] If they're coming in because of a game and are that serious about it, I doubt they'll be doing much [i] working[/i]

[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;41431051]I'll still never understand the appeal of watching people play a video game...[/QUOTE] Anyone could say the same thing with anything else - I could (theoretically) never understand why people bother watching football instead of playing it, watching hockey instead of playing it, etc.

[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;41431084]It's like sports, but no one usually dies.[/QUOTE] Or gets life-altering injuries.

What about Dota players?

[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;41431051]I'll still never understand the appeal of watching people play a video game...[/QUOTE] I'll never understand the appeal of watching people play [b]any[/b] game, be it sport or video.

[QUOTE=psyjill;41431103]What about Dota players?[/QUOTE] I would have to imagine that if Riot managed to get LoL classified as an esport by the US government, Valve would probably follow suit because of TI3.

I choked.

America.

[QUOTE=woaka;41431156]America.[/QUOTE] south america?

[QUOTE=woaka;41431156]America.[/QUOTE] This was done ages ago in southkorea, but sure have your head up your ass.

[QUOTE=psyjill;41431103]What about Dota players?[/QUOTE] Nah, only scrubs play DOTA.

LoL players... No no that's okay lawmakers Starcraft has only been around more than a decade.

I don't see what the problem here is. Just because you hate LoL or whatever's popular at the moment doesn't mean this isn't right. They play games competitively, what makes it any different from any other sport like football or soccer?

I hope other eSports games follow soon.

[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;41431051]I'll still never understand the appeal of watching people play a video game...[/QUOTE] it's entirely subjective really. I personally have entirely no idea how people can watch golf for any longer than 5 seconds without collapsing into a coma. same goes for a few other sports that I know of.

I hope eSports bars open up in a couple of years.

[QUOTE=Take_Opal;41431516]I hope eSports bars open up in a couple of years.[/QUOTE] south korea has those i think? well shit they have like 2 channels dedicated to the videogame playing so i'd assume so

[QUOTE=SockFC;41431379]I don't see what the problem here is. Just because you hate LoL or whatever's popular at the moment doesn't mean this isn't right. They play games competitively, what makes it any different from any other sport like football or soccer?[/QUOTE] Starcraft never semt to got this as far as I know, and that has been played professionally for.. over a decade? To be honest, feels a bit weird for LoL to get this while SC still havnt :v:

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;41431360]LoL players... No no that's okay lawmakers Starcraft has only been around more than a decade.[/QUOTE] Tencent has cash that they are willing to splash around in massive amounts

[QUOTE=Take_Opal;41431516]I hope eSports bars open up in a couple of years.[/QUOTE] Well there's barcraft where you basically rent a bar and get drunk while watching competitive starcraft. I don't know if its still big but it wasn't a rare occurrence in 2011-2012.

I don't see the issue. One of my coworkers got picked up by a professional team an he puts in something like 20+ hours a week in on team training and competition. In all honesty it's as much work as any other job and if people are willing to pay and sponsor, not my place to judge. I don't get it, but whatever.

Good news,hopefully other countries and other games will follow.

This is pretty cool news. Hopefully dota gets this treatment in the near future.

I don't see the appeal

[QUOTE=Zambies!;41431832]I don't see the appeal[/QUOTE] You have to understand the game to enjoy it for the most part. Though I can agree that LoL isn't very hype, it can still be fun to watch.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;41431380]I'll still never understand the appeal of watching people play a sports game...[/QUOTE] Gambling

I'll never be able to get into esports or competitive gaming. The whole concept just rubs me the wrong way.

[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;41431051]I'll still never understand the appeal of watching people play a video game...[/QUOTE] I actually prefer watching Dota 2/LoL Live streams than actually playing them.