Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[strangenova]

I disagree with this entirely. E-sports are only not real sports because of Websters definition of the word sport.

The players absolutely have to train and work hard to succeed. It takes skill, commitment and a lot of time spent practicing to be a good e-sport "athlete". Moba teams will even start living together just to practice everyday as a unit.

Sure there is less wear and tear on the body, but that's a good thing. These people can be competitive and show off there skills for a public audience without extreme risk to their health.

In my mind they are just two different branches of sports, one with physical contact being prevalent and one without. Either way at the end of the day, they are both about people getting paid to play a game competitively for our entertainment.

[marurun]

Hey, physical reflexes are absolutely part of the game, so yeah, it's a sport. Besides, dictionaries (like Websters) don't proscribe the English language. They describe the language as it is used.

[ElkinFencer10]

If fucking target shooting and NASCAR are considered sports, then eSports definitely counts.

[strangenova]

If fucking target shooting and NASCAR are considered sports, then eSports definitely counts.

This entirely. I have to argue this point more than I like to. Guys I know will shut down the idea of an e-sport because it's not physical enough and then praise car driving for being a sport. I'm like they both feature people sitting down using their reflexes....? Like really.

[ElkinFencer10]

I mean, truthfully, I don't really think of eSports as a "sport," nor do I think of NASCAR or shooting as sports. I think of "sports" has an athletic competition. That's not to say that there's no place for other competitions, like target shooting or eSports, but I don't think of them as "sports." I mean, I learn things from museum tour guides, but I don't consider them teachers. Half of my day is spent keeping children from screaming at the top of their lungs and throwing shit at each other, but I don't consider myself a babysitter (unless I'm bitching in a sarcastic manner, but never seriously).

[strangenova]

I mean, truthfully, I don't really think of eSports as a "sport," nor do I think of NASCAR or shooting as sports. I think of "sports" has an athletic competition. That's not to say that there's no place for other competitions, like target shooting or eSports, but I don't think of them as "sports." I mean, I learn things from museum tour guides, but I don't consider them teachers. Half of my day is spent keeping children from screaming at the top of their lungs and throwing shit at each other, but I don't consider myself a babysitter (unless I'm bitching in a sarcastic manner, but never seriously).

That's all subjective though. A teacher is someone who teaches, if you learned things from a tour guide then they are a teacher, albeit not a recognized one by any board of education. And if you are watching children while their parents aren't around then you are technically babysitting. So in my mind it's easy to say that if I'm watching professionals compete, then it's enough to call it a sport.

Now I don't wish to detract from the globally recognized sports like soccer, baseball, track and bobsled teams, but I do wish that people would just accept that eSports are a new type of sport

[ExedExes]

I've been competing in 3 major MAME competitions for the past few years (Yolympics in February, Crap Tournament in May, and the Internet Gaming Bash of the Year in July), these are all sanctioned and sponsored by the Twin Galaxies organization. During their bi-weekly Settle It On The Screen streaming broadcasts that cover the world of competition gaming (and the competitions I participate in when they're going on), I wouldn't be surprised if they called these tournaments a form of "eSports". Granted, it's not big enough for something like ESPN but I think it can easily qualify as a sport.

[ElkinFencer10]

I mean, truthfully, I don't really think of eSports as a "sport," nor do I think of NASCAR or shooting as sports. I think of "sports" has an athletic competition. That's not to say that there's no place for other competitions, like target shooting or eSports, but I don't think of them as "sports." I mean, I learn things from museum tour guides, but I don't consider them teachers. Half of my day is spent keeping children from screaming at the top of their lungs and throwing shit at each other, but I don't consider myself a babysitter (unless I'm bitching in a sarcastic manner, but never seriously).

That's all subjective though. A teacher is someone who teaches, if you learned things from a tour guide then they are a teacher, albeit not a recognized one by any board of education. And if you are watching children while their parents aren't around then you are technically babysitting. So in my mind it's easy to say that if I'm watching professionals compete, then it's enough to call it a sport.

Absolutely. That's why I said I don't think of them as sports, not that they aren't. There are disillusional people who see Legend of Zelda as an RPG, but that doesn't make it one.

[Segata]

If fucking target shooting and NASCAR are considered sports, then eSports definitely counts.

Driving in ovals isn't a sport and Nascar is a total joke. I can never consider playing video games a sport not more than making a movie or acting singing or reading and writing a books a sport.

[Sarge]

I disagree with that assessment. I'm not a NASCAR fan, but there's a lot more to it than just driving in an oval. Those guys have serious skill and reaction time, which ironically puts them into a similar category as eSports.

They're not "athletes", though, so I'll get that out of the way now. It probably is a "sport", though. Or at least a competition, and we often use "sports" as shorthand for "competition" these days anyway.