Should Video Games Be Considered A Sport?

Superior Essays
Video games are known to most of the general public as a leisure activity, but many people rely on gaming as their dedicated source of income. For professional players, it is their job to attend tournaments and compete for the prize money. Sponsors pay for major events, and they even pay their players to attend tournaments. The competitive gaming community is currently known as “eSports,” and it is widely debated as to if competitive gaming should be considered a “true sport.” Some may argue that video gaming does not require physical exertion, but video gaming should be considered a sport because it requires a demanding amount of skill and practice to be successful, and it attracts large crowds of spectators.
Video gaming should be considered
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Most games require players to play against others to improve their own skill. Players must learn to properly adapt to their opponent’s habits and strategies, while eliminating their own bad habits and learning new tactics. Certain games, like Super Smash Bros. Melee require lots of technical skill and muscle memory, as well as adaptation. This is a fighting game involving characters on a battle stage. Each character has their own set of moves, and when characters attack each other, their damage is measured by increasing percentages. As a player’s character gets hit, their damage percentage increases. As this percentage increases, the player’s character gets knocked further after each successive hit. Once the percentage is high enough, a player can lose a life, called a stock, by being knocked off of the stage. To win the game, players must deplete all of the other player’s stocks, and avoid having their stocks depleted. Players must learn the proper moves, timing, and positioning for given situations, and they must also learn to do certain moves in succession to create combos and inflict enough damage to end the other player’s stocks. They must also become familiar with what to do when they are attacked. When an attack hits a player, the player hit by the attack can influence the direction that the move launches them in relation to the …show more content…
Many people enjoy watching the top players and rooting for their favorites. League of Legends, one of the most popular eSports in the world, is a multiplayer online battle arena video game. In this game, there are two teams of players that control “champions” with unique abilities. The goal of each team is to destroy the opposing team’s “nexus” at the center of their base, which is guarded by defensive structures. The League of Legends World Finals attracted 43 million viewers in 2016 (Clavio). The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California was filled with fans attending to watch the game played by top players such as Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho. This is very similar to traditional sports such as football and basketball, as people can enjoy the game even if they do not play. Also, similar to traditional sports, eSports allow for product merchandising and advertising, generating millions of dollars from fan support. These merchandising companies include Controller Chaos, a custom controller purveyor, and DXRacer, producing chairs designed for gamers. Also, eSports gaming has attracted big-name brands for sponsorships such as Arby’s, Audi, and Coca-Cola to name a

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