Shmackem: Video Games Are Not Real Sports
April 11, 2018
So let’s get this settled, once and for all, video games are not sports, I repeat they are not sports–yes I’m talking to you Fortnite-addicted players.
Video games should not even be mentioned in the same breath as the words sport or athlete.
According to Oxford Dictionary, the definition of the word sport is “An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.”
Physical exertion is the key phrase in the definition of a sport, there is no real physical exertion in video gaming.
The only physical exertion used when playing video games is with your thumbs and hands using the controller or the keyboard and mouse of a computer.
As for the word athlete, Meriam-Webster Dictionary says it is defined as “A person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.”
Just because you spend hours playing NBA 2k, it does not mean you are trained or skilled in exercises, requiring physical strength, agility, stamina.
If you’ve been like Patrick from Spongebob, living under a rock, then “eSports,” might be an unfamiliar term. Electronic video gaming or pro video gaming, is what eSports claim to fame is.
A so-called video game sporting industry that’s poised to eclipse a billion dollar industry in some time.
They are using the sports theme to generate money and viewers.
The pro-leagues of video gaming teams even pose for photo shoots with jerseys like actual sports teams, it’s comedy.
Fortnite is the hit game on the market right now, Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite describe the game as “The Action Building game where you team up with other players to build massive forts and battle against hordes of monsters, all while crafting and looting in giant worlds where no two games are ever the same.”
Imagine a kid playing Fortnite all night and his Mom telling him to go to sleep and the kid replies, “No, Mom, I’m an athlete.”
My issue is when people use the term “sport” to refer to people playing video games in a competition.
If it really was a sport, would the people competing in video game competitions be called athletes?
No one in their right mind would call people with controllers in their hands an athlete.
You can’t sit on your ass and be an athlete, just keeping it real.
It is merely competitive, with no physicals involvement, therefore eSports is not an actual sport.
As long as players of these professional video gaming teams are still sitting down and only using mental strategies and not physically moving their bodies actively, then don’t call it a sport–and don’t you even try and bring up chess!
Anderson Socia • Feb 28, 2020 at 12:08 pm
so what about people that are disabled and have to sit in a wheelchair, by your logic they are not athletes right? Yeah good joke dude
Elon Musk • Nov 25, 2019 at 7:05 pm
Calm down there Mike.
Mike Oxlong • Nov 8, 2019 at 6:28 pm
Ok boomer. Why are you being so harsh? Times have changed from when you were a kid. You’re probably just a triggered little libtard who was never considered an athlete as a kid because you were trash at everything you did. But then when you saw a pro gamer getting fame and you weren’t, you got your feelings hurt.
Kelly Pankow • Jul 8, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Not sure how I came upon this article, but I really don’t see the need to write an article about the way people are phrasing things. And technically race car drivers sit on their ass, so…….
Bill Anderson • Apr 16, 2019 at 6:49 am
I agree with Joe Honcho
Joe Honcho • Apr 16, 2019 at 6:47 am
YES
Dillon • May 11, 2018 at 10:25 am
I think you need to calm down first off and secondly I think you need to look at the bigger picture. People who go throw the ball around back when they are 12 aren’t athletes. Nether are the kids playing these video games. But those high school, college, and pro football players? They are. But so are these players that no matter how hard you tried no matter how lucky you were would never be able to beat in these games.