By Ho Qingxiang
Childish Pastimes or Worthy Profession?
People can get very smug about watching sports. We would greatly scoff at the sports we dislike while feverishly defending the sports we love. One of the most common patterns of mockery is saying, “How can this [insert target of insult] be considered a real sport?” We see this happening whenever some uncommon sport becomes part of the Olympics or any major sports tournament.
Esports, a relatively new form of competition that has slowly crawled into the mainstream media limelight, is no stranger to such questions of legitimacy. This is not helped by the fact that even the spelling of the term has been problematic. Capital ‘E’ or small ‘e’? Capital ‘S’ or small ‘s’? Hyphen or no hyphen? (For now, I am just sticking to the spelling from the Associated Press.)
Furthermore, the use of the term is lost on many onlookers. Does it refer to a game genre or an activity? Does it refer to the competitive status given to a game? At what point does a game become an esport? The confusion around these perceptions can also make some game enthusiasts doubt the sport’s validity.
Having participated in competitive sports in the past, I will try my best to explain how you can determine your own defence or insult about the subject for use in future arguments against naysayers.
Go gamers! Make your parents proud! (Comic: By True Butt False)
How does a Sport begin?
Some may criticise esports as children’s entertainment, but so is a game about running around and kicking a ball. So when does a leisure activity morph into a sport? Historically, competitive sports are defined as all forms of physical activity which, through organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and at obtaining improved results in competition at all levels. So with this definition, would you consider competitive eating a true sport?
To me, the main defining factors are not about the physical or competitive elements. Rather, it is the social constructs around the activities.
Firstly, the activity showcases a display of skill that is entertaining and yearned by others. There are many activities that require unique skills, but only some are entertaining to watch and makes you think ‘I want that skill’. Traditionally, these are physical embodiments like running faster or jumping higher. In modern times, appreciated skills also include mental prowess like calculating faster and improvisation.
Secondly, there are rules and governing bodies around the activity. When an activity is deemed socially lawful and given a strict set of rules that is regulated by an organisation, it becomes a sport. This means the sport needs to be promoted by a legal entity and constitutionally approved by the government. Hence, boxing is a sport while competitive sadism is not.
Thirdly, there needs to be a sizable spectatorship. Having a large audience gives more weight to an activity being appreciated and broadcast, thus getting more sponsorship and recognition to be pushed for legitimacy by a government. Even the Olympics make decisions to include or exclude certain sports based on spectatorship. Generally, a sport that is more exciting has a larger audience size. This can be why certain activities like Bridge and Tug-of-war are not recognised as sports in many countries.
The esports audience is estimated to grow to 495 million people globally in 2020.
Physical Athleticism
Many opposers to esports will claim that the activity has little physical exertion since players mostly sit in a chair and stare at a screen like couch potatoes. While this is true for the postures of the players, the physical stress imposed on them is similar to the sport of shooting. Quick reactions, fast thinking, stable composures and tremendous stamina are a must to become a professional esport player. In order to achieve these attributes, players have to go through training regiments similar to any other sport. It is not enough to just play games all day. Players need to maintain the discipline to exercise, practice, nourish and rest properly to hone their senses and attain peak performance. Junk food, contrary to popular belief, is not the diet of professional esport players.
A clear indicator to me that esports is a physically demanding activity is that there are numerous doping cases in esports akin to most professional sports. Players often turn to stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall and Vyvanse to improve stamina and performance. Tournament organisers continue to include appropriate provisions and revisions in their regulations to curb such violations for the sake of fair play.
However, if you compare the benefits of leisurely playing games against leisure running, playing games will definitely not give you the exercise needed to stay healthy as compared to traditional exercise.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is one of the most common injuries for esport athletes.
Esports as a Job
Winners of esports have been known to collect huge amounts of prize money, sometimes in the range of millions of dollars. So why shouldn’t everyone aim to be an esport athlete as a career? The answer is the same reason for all sports: not everyone wins. Players who pursue this ambition as a career have to accept the fact that even after spending loads of resources and time training to be the best, they will likely not win. While the odds are nowhere comparable to winning the lottery, the sense of loss is amplified by the effort spent.
This is further made more depressing when you realise that what was once a passionate hobby of fun gets sacrificed to become a painful routine of work. It takes a special kind of dedication and maturity to follow this path. Sure, it is possible to earn a salary through esports like that of a soccer player, but the rate of burnout is much worse. Most esport athletes retire by the age of 25 and many suffer mental health issues and repetitive strain injuries.
Thus, years before their retirement, esport athletes have to carefully consider the next stage of their careers. Streaming and coaching are popular options, but these roles require a particular type of personality to succeed. Further studies in other non-game academic subjects are recommended in order to survive in their later years.
In addition, esport athletes have to contend with the whim of the game publishers. Publishers can make decisions for their games that clash with the priorities and profitability of the esport teams and leagues. For example, when Activation Blizzard announced in 2018 that it was scaling back work on Heroes of the Storm (its cross-franchise MOBA), many players quickly lost their careers. This rapid collapse of an industry is not seen in other traditional sports.
I can imagine future parents forcing children to go for game tuition instead of music classes.
Seeing the Big Picture
Understanding esports is very much like understanding Track and Field. Both are sports that are comprised of multiple smaller events of different categories that require specific skills from unique individuals. For esports, game genres are like the ‘track’ or ‘field’ components while the multitudes of competitive esport games form the events like the 100m Dash or Long Jump. Alternately, you can view esports in the same format as the Olympics where the individual esport games form the list of sports regulated by a committee.
In the end, whether you believe esports to be a true sport, I have no doubt that the activity will continue to gain momentum. All the social and emotional learning developed through traditional sports can be replicated in esports. Governments and schools are beginning to embrace the medium and set up curriculum to further grow the activity.
Eventually, esports will include more diverse genres beyond MOBA and FPS. This will also influence the way developers look at game development and change the landscape of game design. This is something I am excited for in the future.
See Also
The Sweat behind Streaming Games
What does it mean to Cheat in Games?
References:
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2018/0326/950164-when-is-an-activity-classified-as-a-sport/
https://www.britannica.com/story/how-are-sports-chosen-for-the-olympics
https://www.viewsonic.com/library/entertainment/is-esports-sport/
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/07/league-of-legends-study-cardio-improves-video-game-performance.html
https://cms.law/en/sgp/publication/doping-is-damaging-esports
https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gamers-plight-why-e-sports-players-retire-by-25-1242628
https://www.matthewball.vc/all/esportsrisks
https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/14/18141331/heroes-of-the-storm-canceled-hgc-blizzard-community
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