Why I don't grok e-sports

[godslabrat]

Had a great discussion about e-sports on the latest episode of my podcast (video link below, or go right to the relevant part here).  In short, to me, a sport is a contest with rules that have been defined for years, if not generations.  People learn to play baseball at five years old, and compete professionally in their 20s and 30s.  But with e-sports, the games being played are only a few years old... often only a few months.  I don't think it's truly a "sport" when the competition environment is so untested.  Does anyone else follow this line of thought?

 

https://youtu.be/BfeDcOiiHtE

Edited October 3, 2019 by godslabrat

[Austin]

I don't follow that at all, no. High level competition is high level competition, regardless how long it has been around.

[Punisher5.0]

Check out CTWC on YouTube

[godslabrat]

But can three months of practice really compare to 30 years?

[Austin]

10 minutes ago, godslabrat said:

But can three months of practice really compare to 30 years?

If you can manage to calculate how much actual real-world "practice" is involved in that 30 years, maybe we can draw some meaningful comparisons. But last I checked, it's a little difficult to practice a physical sport for eight hours a day, seven days a week like you can with a competitive videogame, so it's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison.

 

It should be noted that there aren't many popular e-sports titles that have only been around for three months. Fortnite has been around for two years. Overwatch, three. Dota 2 has been around for six. League of Legends, ten... the list goes on. If we need larger arbitrary thresholds to determine what's legitimate or not, StarCraft and Counter Strike competition has been around for two decades and both are still relatively popular.

 

Even if a game has only been around for a few months, it could be argued that's a positive aspect of e-sports. New games can be introduced and audiences can witness the evolution of a game and the strategies involved over the course of a few years as opposed to an entire lifetime.

 

At the end of the day it's about high level competition. That is what people are there to see regardless of the "sport", and that is what matters.

[xenomorpher]

I think the giveaway that e-sports isn't a real sport is the fact it has the letter "e" in front of it. Whenever you do that to a word, you modify the meaning, and it becomes its own thing. The same goes to some other popular words that usually spark arguments.

 

Anyways, if you can't refer to the participants as athletes, I don't consider it a real sport. Auto racing, for instance, is referred to as a motorsport. Even though F1 drivers really have to watch their weight and such, so it's not "the car does everything" necessarily, I don't think I'd consider them athletes. They're their own thing, F1 race car drivers. E-sports participants are not athletes, I believe they're called pro-gamers which sounds fine to me. Let's just hope "e-athlete" doesn't catch on.

Edited October 3, 2019 by xenomorpher

[DragonGrafx-16]

12 hours ago, xenomorpher said:

I think the giveaway that e-sports isn't a real sport is the fact it has the letter "e" in front of it. Whenever you do that to a word, you modify the meaning, and it becomes its own thing. The same goes to some other popular words that usually spark arguments.

 

Anyways, if you can't refer to the participants as athletes, I don't consider it a real sport. Auto racing, for instance, is referred to as a motorsport. Even though F1 drivers really have to watch their weight and such, so it's not "the car does everything" necessarily, I don't think I'd consider them athletes. They're their own thing, F1 race car drivers. E-sports participants are not athletes, I believe they're called pro-gamers which sounds fine to me. Let's just hope "e-athlete" doesn't catch on.

I played a racing game using a force feedback wheel... that is intense. It sure is a workout for your arms... many real race cars forgo AC (to save weight) so you can guarantee you'll be sweating buckets in one. 

[Newsdee]

There was a video as to how the world champion of a F1 videogane was given a free trial to drive a real F1 car on a real track.

 

He was technically good... but he had serious trouble with the physical demands of it, stopping a few times to throw up. He did continue and loved it. Video concluded that he is now part if a racing club for regular practice, but he is nowhere close to be able to compare to real F1 champions (and he does not seek that either)

 

If anything e-sports are sports of the mind, but not the body. Watching it is bit more like watching Jeopardy, perhaps. 

Edited October 14, 2019 by Newsdee

[carlsson]

Several of the top e-sports players keep mentioning how important some physical exercise is to endure those long tournaments. At first it might seem chill, sitting in a chair playing computer games for hours but when there is a lot of money at stake, your sponsors expect you to be competitive.

 

That said, we have this TV show where former sports champions meet eachother and compete in various events to determine which is the allround best. The other year a former CounterStrike player was invited to the show after several years of lobbying. Despite a background of being an icehockey player in his youth and continuously working out during his gaming career, he was placed in the bottom of every event except for one where almost all the other participants were disqualified so he remained the only one with a score. He was eliminated from the TV show quite early on.

[JeffVav]

Surely someone who uses the word "grok" can understand that something doesn't have to be traditional to be legitimate?