Is gaming a professional sport?

Don
Joined
17 May 2004
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Telford, Shropshire
America seems to think so:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/23321595

Personally, I think it's border line; Gaming takes so much skill and ability and knowledge of the engine that it's a high skilled (potentially) profession. If it is indeed a profession and the best can make it so, then why shouldn't it be classed as a sport?

Does a sport have to include exercise, can it be mental? Is Chess a sport for example, some would say so.

Now games like LoL are taking off, along with CS, BF, CoD, what are the main examples for you, of "Professional Gaming sports?"
 
Soldato
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4 Jul 2012
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16,911
I don't see an issue with it in the way they've issues Visas for it, but it isn't really a sport.

Following the logic of skill and knowledge, then playing guitar to a very high standard would be a sport too.

Not to take away from the whole event and what not, whether people class it as a sport or not doesn't really change anything.
 
Permabanned
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3 Oct 2009
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I looked it up and it means something that demands physical exertion and skill.

Computer games demand skill but do not demand physical exertion so they can't be sports?

Also is this different from calling them "ESports" or not?
 
Associate
Joined
29 Dec 2004
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London
I am pretty certain that chess players and poker players are already eligible for P1 visas. If this is the case then why not LoL players too? I don't see why they would need to have separate categories for pro athletes wanting to enter the US to take part in an event and professionals in other competitive games wanting to enter for the same reason.
 
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Soldato
Joined
15 Jan 2004
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10,185
It is a physical sport, you have to use a keyboard and mouse, or a control pad.

It's not.

If you look up the current definition and origins of the word then yes it definitely can be regarded as a sport.

Playing games isn't really physically demanding.

If gaming is a sport, so is drawing.

Really I'm not sure why people want it defined as a sport? IE the whole "e-sports" scene. It's a form of competition, but not everything competitive is a sport.
 
Associate
Joined
17 Jun 2008
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Its not a physical sport obviously. Definitely a sport though as it requires a set of skills that you have to practice and once good enough at the pro level there is a large audience that watches it.

I don't see how you could define a sport as anything other than that.
 
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