MLG columnists Brick and blandestk write a regular series on major topics in the gaming and technology world, where the pros and cons of different views clash to expose the complexities of today's issues.
Recently ESPN featured Major League Gaming on "Page 2" – the section of their site where writers discuss all sorts of topics that are relevant to their audience. The coverage of professional gaming sparked a debate on the ESPN forums: Is gaming a sport? Now that a major sporting medium has covered competitive gaming, the debate has never been more relevant.
It's important in life to maintain a broad palette when it comes to culture and the arts. Hideo Kojima agrees, as he continues to use video games like Death Stranding to introduce people to music and other elements they might not otherwise discover.
Mojang has partnered with Merlin Entertainments to build the world's first Minecraft theme park in the UK.
A three-episode live-action adaptation of the first two Yakuza video games will debut Tuesday, March 17 exclusively IGN. Each episode is about an hour long and will stream on IGN.com and IGN’s YouTube channel.
Since anything competitive is already called sports, I would say yes. Now the questions is do people want to watch Video Game competitions?
I say yes. People that are interested could see multiplayer games as fun to watch. I mean, people find golf, cricket, baseball, and other sports that a lot of people find boring fun to watch. So why wouldn't gamers like watching professionals play? I would get a kick out of watching people get destroyed at games that I play.
I have fun just watching some crazy sh!t that goes on in Halo 3 or a Gears match. Those aren't the only examples either.
Halo 3 could lend itself to a very cinematic experience to thrill people that are watching.
It's more recreation than anything. Though there are people who take it way to seriously... but then again if someone wants to pay you to play against someone else then go for it.
If there is competition with a defined time or score, but with no sweating. Its a game (eg. Snooker, golf, darts)
If there is competition with a defined time or score, and sweating. Its a sport. (eg athletics, football, tennis)
If there is competition with interpretation by judges, even if it includes sweating. Its an art form. (eg Gymnastics, Diving, Ice Skating)
Therefore video games aren't a sport, they are games.
And there is nothing wrong with being a game.
The basic of any sport is that you need to perfect your thinking and analysis skills and controlling precisely your movements and posture. And you have to do it at the same time. Gaming is all about that: quick reflexes, strong tactics skills, perfecting complex manipulations in a short amount of time. A sport pushes human limits to the edge. This why everybody does become not an exceptionnal athlete even with practice, only the ones with the right athletics traits for the rigth sport succeed. Pro-gamers are people who benefits faster than usual hand-eye coordination and thinking skill. If you need to think AND move better/faster/stronger than an opponent than you have a sport.