Has gaming become an official sport?

Our Featured Poll of the Week at Gamertag Nation

With the introduction of the Olympics in Beijing this past Friday, a few have debated about the potential for new and modern events. While it may take some time for the Olympics to adapt gaming-related events, do you believe that gaming should be introduced as a sport?

The general definition of sport is "an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition". Since we all know that gaming can be competitive, is it at all physical? Here in North America, we all know that poker has made quite a splash on ESPN and ESPN2, so what exactly qualifies poker as a sport? If gaming received the amount of attention that sports receive on a daily basis, would we all be considered athletes? And where exactly does one draw the line between competitive gaming and competitive sports?

Do tell, do tell.

If there was agame that taxed player skill and stamina then yes. Something like the Wii games but much more advanced. Maybe using that new gaming device which has actual tension. something like this thing. Gametrailers.com - New mouse revolution! Novint! by Setsu

theres an official movie which you could probably find with more searching but the idea is there. But still there needs to be a real challenge. Something more than an FPS.

I'm pretty sure it's a sport now... E-Sports is a huge industry nowadays, with players raking in huge amounts of cash for just fragging people in Unreal Tournament or Counter Strike. Starcraft is pretty much the National Sport of Korea, and WC3 has a huge tournament base.

The most outrageous is how Blizzard had a "WoW Arena Tournament" at Blizzcon. WoW isn't a very skill based game, it's all about gear and set-up, and at all times the RNG (Random Number Generator) working in your favor. If you watch some of the games at the competition, all of the finalists are using the same set-ups (the same classes, they all have the same equivalent gear) and the RNG is the major difference between how well the teams do.

We just have to hope that at some point, people will how stupid they look crying because they lost a match versus someone (even if the cash prize was $5k, I'm looking at you SweetSaint). Or just embrace it, Counterstrike requires a lot of teamwork, which is important in any sport/activity.

I just feel that it has to "fit in" so to speak. All the athletes have worked to get themselves where they are. Putting on Unreal isn't exactly testing your strength. The foundations for it being a sport are there it just needs to be stepped up a bit. I mean at some point we have all had a streak of coming first in COD4 or whatever the game is, it's not that hard. Maybe get an extra difficulty curve on the games to make it harder so the elites and the casuals can be separated so you dont accidentally get a team of casual players who just got lucky a few times.

I don't know if you have ever been to an MLG or an XL but they are both really amazing places to be.

Most people are looking at this all wrong people see "eSport" and all they see is the "Sport" bit when that "e" makes all the difference. The truth is its not a sport its an eSport at these events the people who win spend just as much time to get good! Its not like you can just pick up one and be good and consistent. Sure you can pick it up and be good but not consistent.

It takes time and money and training to get good in the eSport world just like in the real sport world so NO i don't think gaming is a sport i think its in a whole other class (eSports)

*Edit*

Damn me for picking the yes option then thinking about it.

I don't know if you have ever been to an MLG or an XL but they are both really amazing places to be.

Most people are looking at this all wrong people see "eSport" and all they see is the "Sport" bit when that "e" makes all the difference. The truth is its not a sport its an eSport at these events the people who win spend just as much time to get good! Its not like you can just pick up one and be good and consistant. Sure you can pick it up and be good but not consistent.

It takes time and money and training to get good in the eSport world just like in the real sport world so NO i don't think gaming is a sport i think its in a whole other class (eSports)

Originally Posted by Autonamus

I think this was very well said. In fact, that is exactly how I feel. While researching the different views on this topic, a large number of those were identifying gaming as an electronic sport. With research, it seems that both MLG and CGS identify their competitions for electronic sports. Anyway, very well put there.

I agree on the eSport aspect. Gaming can't honestly be included in most mainstream, athletic sports but on its own gaming has a very large and needless to say dedicated fan/playerbase and is becomming a larger industry every year. Even more so with its recent ties to the msic industry as music is becoming more important in games like GH,RB and even ones like Madden.

Hopefully over the years it will become intergrated into society more and more. Maybe one day we'll have gaming fitness clubs (for want of a better phrase). Like gyms but with gaming focus, daily comps, "training" for new players. It would be a great way to improve and meet new people that share your interests.

It would also make joining/forming clans or guilds easier as you could meet the people in person. In games like WoW or any MP game asking for invites can turn good or bad but at least this way you could be sure.

OR.

You can simply say Gaming has become a new discipline in sport.

Speed, Strength, Agility, Skill, Electronics.

Not the old "Sit around with a control pad", but ALL electronics, from lightguns, to maybe even VR in the future.

so right now all we have is Laser Quest...

Basically, but with More advanced. It also doesn't have to have any physical effort. Like... in a cockpit that moves and stuff. Like those arcade machines you get in and used to play Wip3out in! That, but multiplayer.

It baffles me how RNG games can be played competitively, a game where the most obvious game mechanic is blind luck can't be used so that people can win money from it.

Games like CS require you to be aiming at you're opponent, then being lucky with the reticule and where you're bullets go. But any MMORPG that has tournament-like aspects (like WoW arenas) are pointless because all of the damage is based on the rolling of invisible dice, not on the inherent skill of the person playing who's clicking buttons to roll different dice with different effects.

That's why I suggest racing Games. Where teams are assigned like... 1000 points and use it to tone their perfect balance of speed, strength, steering, stability and so on, to make their own model and formula, then race for the gold!

teams are assigned like... 1000 points

Originally Posted by Killak

They should do that with real racing but instead of 1000 points it be £/$1000

Then you'll get like a stolen Golf GT winning Gold in some Grand Prix.

They've done that in top gear LOADS of times with HILARIOUS results.

You'd need more than racing or it will get tired pretty fast. A Twisted Metal formula would work well. I think that it's best to use consoles that are out/coming out. I mean if you wanted to practice at home not everyone would have room for a cockpit style machine.

And if there were PC based tournaments then all PCs would have to meet certain system reqs to achieve maximum performance depending on the game. If they have the reqs they can bring thier own or they rent one for the day.

You'd need more than racing or it will get tired pretty fast. A Twisted Metal formula would work well. I think that it's best to use consoles that are out/coming out. I mean if you wanted to practice at home not everyone would have room for a cockpit style machine.

And if there were PC based tournaments then all PCs would have to meet certain system reqs to achieve maximum performance depending on the game. If they have the reqs they can bring thier own or they rent one for the day.

Originally Posted by Blank Planet

Yeah, but it's the same as all other sports. People spend thousands of pounds preparing themselves for the olympics, and a lot of money on other sports. In the end, e-athletes will have sponsorship from companies like Sony and so on, which is where the hardware budget will come from.

thats a long way away. before that gaming has to become recognised officially so to speak. It is getting there but it needs a more diverse range of tournaments and events and with greater frequency at more places so many more people can become involved.

Sports have events for olympic and amature athletes and its more of those that gaming needs, right now all I've heard of are events for the pros, nothing for the more casual. Its quite daunting to go from nothing to something, its good to have a few starting blocks.

Its on its way but it has some big hills to climb first.