There has been a lot of debate and controversy surrounding this question. Both sides of the argument is rather stubborn about their view - but, I have a word for both sides.
eSports
Surprise!
It's nothing too special.
- also known as electronic sports or pro gaming
It is a form of competition using video games. There are professional video game players.
A lot of people don't agree with gaming being part of the sporting world. At some point though the growth and popularity of eSports is justification, others still contend that video games will never reach the status of "true sports."
However popularity is not the only reason identified:
some have argued that
1. Careful Planning
2. Precise Timing
3. Skillful execution
Classifies an activity as sport, and that physical exertion and outdoor playing areas are not required by all traditional or non-traditional "sports." Video games are sometimes classified as a mind sport.
In 2013 on an episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel the panelist openly laughed at the topic.
In a 2014 technology conference, when asked about the recent buyout of popular game streaming service Twitch, ESPN president John Skipper described eSports as "not a sport – [they're] a competition."
In the 2015 eSports World Championship hosted by the International e-Sports Federation, an eSports panel was hosted with guests from international sports society to discuss the future recognition of eSports as a recognized, legitimate sporting activity worldwide.
Going off of that, the streaming service Twitch has really opened more people's eyes to the gaming world and eSports.
Recently the big buzz is around the game Fortnite, a lot of streamers get views due to their epic shots or just their skill at the game. One Twitch streamer has been getting bringing pretty popular people to his streams. As of May 2018, he is the most popular streamer on Twitch with over eight million followers and an average of over 90,000 viewers per stream. His name is Tyler Blevins but his online name is Ninja. This kid earns over $500,000 per month from streaming Fortnite. In March 2018, Blevins set the record for a single individual stream on Twitch while playing Fortnite after he hosted a game with Drake, Travis Scott, and Juju Smith-Schuster (WR for the Steelers). After that the floods gates opened. Multiple athletes and music artists have started showing their love for games. Steven Adams of OKC posts a picture of every one of his wins on PUBG and Fornite on his Instagram. Post Malone tweets about what he's playing, who he wants to play with and his favorite games/consoles.
With all this recent popularity and the fact that YouTube, another streaming and video service, it thinking of making a separate site just for gaming because that's what brings in the most viewers, retention rates and subscribers. I think gaming will become even more accepted than it is and eSports will be accepted more.
Lil off topic:
I speak from experience, I grew up playing games unlike a lot of girls I guess and I've always enjoyed using my free time to play a new game with a story-line and enjoy the graphics and how evolved they've become. Last summer is when I got involved with Twitch, watching my one of my favorite YouTube gamers play. From there I followed other people he played with and found myself a community within Twitch. I've joined in a few games with them and joined their Discord (Discord being one of the most popular communication tools for online gaming and streaming).
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