• ESPN president says eSports is "not a sport": "Mostly, I'm interested in doing real sports"
    53 replies, posted
To be fair though, Dota is incredibly boring to watch to the average person, unlike a physically demanding sport which you can actively see the payoff. It also helps that no newcomers are going to understand the meta and gameplan immediately upon entry, unlike American Football, Football, Basket Ball, Hocket, ect, where it's very readily apparent what people are doing and why. In part, this is because there's been decades of integration with our respective communities, but at the same time, physical sports are simply easier to "get" than a game like Dota or LoL
[QUOTE=Cuon Alpinus;45926867]To be fair though, Dota is incredibly boring to watch to the average person, unlike a physically demanding sport which you can actively see the payoff. It also helps that no newcomers are going to understand the meta and gameplan immediately upon entry, unlike American Football, Football, Basket Ball, Hocket, ect, where it's very readily apparent what people are doing and why. In part, this is because there's been decades of integration with our respective communities, but at the same time, physical sports are simply easier to "get" than a game like Dota or LoL[/QUOTE] To be fair though. I have watched around 20+ games of american football with my dad but all i ever know is happening is dudes running with a ball in a lot of protective gear whereas I almost immediately knew what to do when I started playing moba games.
Have different word to describe sport, but which doesn't include doing anything physical with your body. That way we could end these "Is Chess a Sport?" arguments entirely.
Finally I found someone who shares my opinion.
They have like 4 channels. They can show esports every once in a while
[QUOTE=kill3r;45923294]How is it not a sport!? Most of the people that have this mind-set are those that think that because esports are on a PC, it means that it's easier than things like football, and if it's easy to be good at it's clearly not a real competitive sport. Let me tell you, being a professional at CS/DOTA 2/LoL is not easy, it is very difficult and very strenuous. They are games whereby you compete with a team or by yourself at a game for money and entertainment. Football is a game where you compete with a team for money and entertainment. The only real difference between these two examples is that one is mentally strenuous and one is more physically strenuous, so doesn't that make 'real' sports easier than esports because your average potato can do it? Whereas with esports you have to have a degree of intelligence to be able to be good no matter what. You could have the best aim in CS in the whole world, there's no way you could be professional without being smart. People relate esports to computers, and people in the sports industry seem to have that 90s thought of "people that play on computers are fat nerds and fat nerds can't be athletes", but I think that it is not the physical appearance of an athlete that matters, it is their physical contribution and ability to do said sport/esport, people are too quick to dismiss new things like esports. But that's just my opinion so whatever[/QUOTE] Mind you, he didn't say it wasn't hard or complex. He merely said it wasn't a sport and equated it closer to chess. No one is going to say top level chess isn't incredibly taxing, but he called it a competition as well. ESPN has a traditional customer base watching traditional sports. Which is were their focus lies and it's also kinda why he goes on to call non traditional sports competitions.
Why would people want esports in ESPN, the guys right, esports are not real sports, they are esports, that doesnt mean they are worse or less important. Id rather take the wider range of streams and casters than something on ESPN for esports anyways.
IMO, this is kind of like saying email isn't mail. "I'd rather go out to my mailbox to get my mail. And hand write my letters. Email is not mail. I'm interested in having the mail in my hand, not on a screen!" Mail is a form of communication. So is email. Sports are a form of competition and activity. So are eSports.
[QUOTE=Pikablu07;45923495][url]https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Asport[/url] the [i]definition[/i] of the word sport contains "physical exertion"[/QUOTE] because playing video games arent physical exertion? unless your playing the game only by thinking then you are using your body. And if ESPN doesnt want to cover ESports, somebody else will regardless
[QUOTE=Swiket;45926841]That's the most ignorant reasoning ever.[/QUOTE] How is it ignorant? It's actually the truth, many people will disagree that DotA is a sport (ex if you asked bystanders on the street). Its a competitive video game, and most people will only see it as a video game.
Translated it for you guys: "Lebron doesn't play eSports. Therefore eSports are not interesting to us. All hail Lebron."
[QUOTE=AJ10017;45931491]because playing video games arent physical exertion? unless your playing the game only by thinking then you are using your body.[/QUOTE] You're using your body very minimally. I personally think that sport is anything that requires physical training. Yeah I don't think chess or poker is sport, they're competitive games. You can be a weak skinny man to play those and succeed. Can't do that in archery or football. As for ESPN not covering eSports, that's their choice to miss on good opportunity.
[QUOTE=itisjuly;45931696]You're using your body very minimally. I personally think that sport is anything that requires physical training. Yeah I don't think chess or poker is sport, they're competitive games. You can be a weak skinny man to play those and succeed. Can't do that in archery or football. As for ESPN not covering eSports, that's their choice to miss on good opportunity.[/QUOTE] Most professional gamers are actually pretty fit just so that they can manage to sit for long sessions of playing. It isn't running for 20 minutes straight tiring to play but it is still really fucking exhausting to sit for hours and play.
[QUOTE=Madtoker;45931557]How is it ignorant? It's actually the truth, many people will disagree that DotA is a sport (ex if you asked bystanders on the street). Its a competitive video game, and most people will only see it as a video game.[/QUOTE] I meant that his reasoning of not wanting games to be considered sports because of "dumbass dudebros" is stupid.
People are seriously kidding themselves if they think eSports will ever be any more of a sport than pay per view WWE wrestling, and ever be anything more than that WWE/x-games/other-niche-competition in popularity [editline]10th September 2014[/editline] Especially since eSports aren't defined by a specific sporting activity, they rely on very specific brands and specific games that change all the time and wane in and out of popularity. Its a commercial product that happens to become popular in a competitive scene. Its just like assuming Magic the Gathering tourny's were going to take the entire world by storm. It isn't and it never will. And there's nothing wrong with that. eSports are cool niche fun slices of competition that appeal to a niche crowd and have grown in popularity recently. It largely has gotten where its at BECAUSE its not "Football 2.0". Why do you want it to be?
I really doubt that more than 5% of the viewers of ESPN would want to watch video games. Why? Because it's incredibly boring to anybody who has not played the game, and they would not have a clue what's going on. Doesn't really seem like a great opportunity to me.
[QUOTE=Toyhobo;45937270]Most professional gamers are actually pretty fit just so that they can manage to sit for long sessions of playing. It isn't running for 20 minutes straight tiring to play but it is still really fucking exhausting to sit for hours and play.[/QUOTE] I have no fucking idea what you're talking about. You don't need much physical fitness to sit and play for long. Unless you were sarcastic, in that case good job.
[QUOTE=Pikablu07;45923495][url]https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Asport[/url] the [i]definition[/i] of the word sport contains "physical exertion"[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbpCLqryN-Q[/media] Looks like it can get pretty tiring to me.
[QUOTE=kill3r;45923294]How is it not a sport!? [b]so doesn't that make 'real' sports easier than esports because your average potato can do it?[/b] Whereas with esports you have to have a degree of intelligence to be able to be good no matter what. [/QUOTE] I'd like to see you have this opinion after actually playing a match of soccer or football with a professional and see if your intelligence makes you win. Also you CAN be a complete fucking moron and excel at video games, take it from me. And personally I don't see why people would want, need or care for their eSports to be in the same place as hockey, football and that sort of shit. It is different. Just because you're calling it eSports, doesn't make it sports related. You really think your game of Counter-strike is relative at all to physical activities? because that's what sports are and I don't understand why you'd want to try to force it in, when like darkgodmaste said, eSport isn't Sport. eSport is eSport.
[QUOTE=itisjuly;45942870]I have no fucking idea what you're talking about. You don't need much physical fitness to sit and play for long. Unless you were sarcastic, in that case good job.[/QUOTE] Not just sitting there and slack playing. you need to play as good as you can maybe for several hours and keep focus on everything that happens. just because you aren't running laps doesn't mean you cant get tired. also keeping fit helps with ergonomics which is also really important when your job is sitting in a chair.
Also, professional gamers move a lot faster than normal gamers do. Normally after a couple matches, they're tired out and sweating like crazy.
[QUOTE=kill3r;45923294]How is it not a sport!? Most of the people that have this mind-set are those that think that because esports are on a PC, it means that it's easier than things like football, and if it's easy to be good at it's clearly not a real competitive sport. Let me tell you, being a professional at CS/DOTA 2/LoL is not easy, it is very difficult and very strenuous. They are games whereby you compete with a team or by yourself at a game for money and entertainment. Football is a game where you compete with a team for money and entertainment. The only real difference between these two examples is that one is mentally strenuous and one is more physically strenuous, so doesn't that make 'real' sports easier than esports because your average potato can do it? Whereas with esports you have to have a degree of intelligence to be able to be good no matter what. You could have the best aim in CS in the whole world, there's no way you could be professional without being smart. People relate esports to computers, and people in the sports industry seem to have that 90s thought of "people that play on computers are fat nerds and fat nerds can't be athletes", but I think that it is not the physical appearance of an athlete that matters, it is their physical contribution and ability to do said sport/esport, people are too quick to dismiss new things like esports. But that's just my opinion so whatever[/QUOTE] I agree with you on just about every point. I'm glad these tournaments get more coverage, and saying it isn't a sport but a competition doesn't relegate any of the effort put into it. There is a distinct lack of physicality that classifies it as a sport though.
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