The UP’s sports editor argues video games aren’t sports
Go back to your fantasy world, nerds
By Ryan Cortes
Every Friday, I walk into the Student Union and make my way to the second floor (as hundreds of girls follow me) to the UP’s newsroom.
And every Friday, before I hit the stairs, there are 15-20 people gathered around a TV, twiddling their thumbs and yelling about (I think) Harry Potter. Or something.
I never gave them much thought, until one day, while I was doing some bicep curls (One day? More like everyday), our features editor, Mark Gibson, made me laugh.
The young grasshopper tried to argue, seriously, that playing video games was a sport. You know…like baseball and basketball. Real sports.
Instead of just putting the little guy in a headlock, I did Gibson one better and consulted with Joe Schwerdt, a sports editor for the Sun-Sentinel. I asked what he made of this sentence: Video gaming is a sport.
“It’s not true,” Schwerdt said. “I don’t know how I would characterize it beyond that.”
Maybe Schwerdt was just like me. Maybe he believed twiddling thumbs and playing pretend wasn’t enough to qualify for a sport.
So I asked Israel Gutierrez, a columnist for the Miami Herald, what the reaction would be if he tried to write a column on video games.
“It would very likely have to be a strong personal interest type of story,” Gutierrez said. “Because the video games themselves wouldn’t be appropriate for a sports page.”
Just to be safe, I asked Omar Kelly, the Miami Dolphins beat writer for the Sun-Sentinel, for his take. Kelly is young and cool. Maybe he would agree with the nerds.
“A sport is something you play that’s physically exerting,” Kelly said. “Physical activity that makes you sweat.”
Or not.
And I’ve heard all the arguments for video games being a sport. And yes, you need skill to be good at video games. But needing skill doesn’t mean it needs to be called a sport. You need skill to knit clothes and you need skill to have hundreds of girls follow you through the Student Union.
“I guess the overriding factors for me would be strength and endurance,” Schwerdt said. “Video games require none of that. It’s more about twitch reflex, remembering patterns and some timing. There are no major muscles involved. And the only endurance is how late you can stay up at night playing.”
Schwerdt is right. There are no major muscles involved, mainly because all of the major muscles belong to … me.
And let’s be honest here. Those girls weren’t following me because they thought I was going to go play video games.
They were following me because I wasn’t.
The UP’s features editor argues competitive gaming is a sport
Wake up to reality, jock heads
By Mark Gibson
In today’s society, we’ve developed this idealistic way of thinking of athletes as people who are big, strong and can do things physically that most of us can never do.
By that mentality, we forget activities like golf, tennis, swimming and even competitive gaming. They have commonalities with is the same as any sport: We can all do it, but not everyone is good at it. With the handful of people who play video games on a competitive level, only a few can master the hand eye coordination, quick reflexes and team leadership skills required for success.
Major League Gaming, one of the most well known competitive gaming leagues, is like the National Football League of the gaming world. If you were to compare the life of an NFL athlete to that of an MLG gamer, there would be great similarities. Both spend countless hours practicing, both get endorsement deals and inflated salaries, both participate in team competitions where the top athletes battle for a title in front of a live audience and both are idolized by their respective communities.
To argue that competitive gaming is not a sport, you would need to prove that gaming is an activity that can be perfected by anyone. A sport can be recreational and professional. Everyone can play football or play video games, but not everyone can play football or video games in front of thousands of people everyday, and then get scrutinized by critics.
“We’ve got the same global reach as the Super Bowl,” said MLG CEO, Sundance DiGiovanni, in an interview on thealistdaily.com.
Some people argue that gaming is all about reflexes, remembering patterns and timing. Aren’t those skills what football players need? Football is also about patterns, quick reflexes and a lot of timing.
The bottom line is that pro gamers should be considered athletes because of the similar characteristics that they share with other “pro” athletes. I challenge anyone to spend a day with a professional gamer and play against them, then argue it’s not a sport.
Grant R. • Oct 5, 2011 at 9:50 am
I would call it a sport, for a few simple reasons. By literal definition and likely by origin; sports mean physical activity. But there is more to it than that; as the word has become figurative for the base meaning of competition and good sportsmanship towards rivals and teammates, in any activity. Take a look at Racecar Driving, Billiards, or Poker. I know for sure many people who wouldn’t call Gaming a sport, would indeed call one of those activities one instead; simply because it may tend to their interest. Regardless however, sports have grown from just a word to describe physical activity, to something that means competition. I am an artist, and just as I used to be perplexed by those who would call everything art; I soon realized that art is the expression of human nature; emotional or conceptual. So from this perspective I can understand why alot of folks who are physically active in the sporting world would be hostile towards the idea that a sport is the expression of competition; but that all comes down to how open you’re willing to be to the ever-changing English vocabulary.
Joshua S • Oct 4, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Granted video games might not be the most physical thing in the world, but it is one of the most mentally draining sports. Not only do you need to just “remember patterns and some timing,” there is more than one thing to think of at a time. You need to know where the enemy is at all times, be able to take map control, and formulate strategies all on the fly. Gaming is just as much of a sport as Football, Soccer, and any other physically demanding activity.
Paul C • Oct 4, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Also not physical, but just mentally taxing sports include Magic the Gathering, whos world championship is showed on espn every year and each event they host world wide bring out thousands of players, and it also features a fan base in the millions. Also chess. What athletic nature is needed to play that game. Both are called sports. Welcome to the new age meat heads.