Are eSports Real Sports? Con

Video games are a great pastime and it’s fun when you are good at them, but a sport is much more than something you play.

Electronic sports have become a sleeping giant in the arena of games. They have built a

substantial audience and have even been covered by ESPN. But they lack a few key elements to

truly be considered a sport.

Esport competitors are sitting back pressing buttons while traditional sport athletes are pushing themselves to their physical limits.

A game of chess may be an extraordinary battle of skill, technique and brain muscle, however much like eSports, chess players lack dire physical consequences that professional football players, soccer players, or fighters find prevalent in their sports. Physical consequences give sports a sense of danger and separate athletes much more from the average Joe. It’s hard to argue for Esports when a teenage boy can do the same things a so-called elite competitor can do.

Athletes represent an elite group of individuals who have trained through intense muscle strain and mental fatigue continuously to do things the average person could not fathom. Most people could not go 49-0 in boxing like Floyd Mayweather, but everyone can probably get a 3.65 kill to death ratio in at least one online game of Call of Duty. Traditional sports feature the one percent of one percent athletes who spend their entire lives striving for physical dominance, the key word being physical; eSports ignore this critical factor.

Traditional sports build powerful teams through overcoming adversity; adversity that Esports have no real equivalent to match, aside from possible carpal tunnel syndrome. Through struggling during training, tedious drilling and constant criticism, an athlete and their teammates build a bond similar to that of military brothers in arms.

At the end of the day, gamers can build strong friendships that can last a lifetime, but the lack of a physical struggle with teammates means a college football team would most likely sacrifice more for each team member. Professional gamers may not even be willing to risk their own comfort.

Even Nascar drivers are sweating, moving over 200mph, in a steel box of death. The stakes could not be higher for Nascar drivers, and even Nascar is targeted as not being a real sport. So while eSports may have a vast audience, elite gaming competitors and some physical activity, they are simple lacking in legitimate physical challenges, dire physical consequences and powerful team building.