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Should computer gaming be an olympic sport?

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Avatar for Maker
Maker
20
Original post by Fango_Jett
71 Million people were willing to watch people click at buttons last year. 32 Million of those watched LoL, and around 20M watched Dota's TI4. Not to mention that around 75% of Dota 2's 10 million dollar prize pool was funded by fans themselves, and was broadcast on ESPN as well. The teams who played have the sponsorship of some of the biggest companies in the world. Yeah, I would say quite a few people are willing to watch "pasty pudgy gamers move their hands around a keyboard). I'm willing to bet that more people watch MOBAs than some of the more unpopular olympic sports.


I assume nearly all the audience for these contests were also pasty faced and not too athletic themselves. If there is already an appreciative audience for these things, why bother with the Olympics and open themselves to ridicule?
Original post by mackemforever
How many nations officially recognise professional gaming as a sport? How many countries recognise people entering for the sole purpose of playing in a video game tournament as athletes?

I'll give you a hint, it's somewhere between zero and two.


There's Sweden, USA, Germany, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, France, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China that has a big focus on E-sport / cyber athletes.

That's more than you think...
Original post by cmdrhomer
There's Sweden, USA, Germany, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, France, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China that has a big focus on E-sport / cyber athletes.

That's more than you think...


There's a difference between it being something which has a big following within a nation and that nation officially recognising it as a sport and those who compete within it as sportsmen/women.
Computer gaming is an immensely different type of sport (if it can even be called that) to Olympic sports. So no.
DreamHack might be able to make it a special edition in the Olympic Games someday, trust me, I know the guys who works there, and that's what they're aiming for!

E-Sport in South Korea is already bigger than regular sports, so it might be even more possible over there!
(edited 9 years ago)
Yes I'm sure millions of people around the world would love to watch some geeks playing a game that they've never heard of or know how it works
Original post by Zander01
Yes I'm sure millions of people around the world would love to watch some geeks playing a game that they've never heard of or know how it works

If we're going to be totally honest, some games are going to be almost as popular, maybe more so, than some of the Olympic sports and easier to follow and understand how scoring works and ****, especially given some of the sports have more subjective scoring elements, and as time goes on that figure is only going to increase.

For the time being at the very least, it shouldn't be part of the actual Olympics, but it could have it's own similar event.
Original post by Zander01
Yes I'm sure millions of people around the world would love to watch some geeks playing a game that they've never heard of or know how it works


I'm certain that more people watch MOBAS than a lot of of actual olympic sports. Around 20 Million for Dota 2, and 32 Million for LoL. I'm sure that a significant portion of people who watch certain olympic sports who have no idea how the game works, but simply watch to support their team.
Original post by Fango_Jett
I'm certain that more people watch MOBAS than a lot of of actual olympic sports. Around 20 Million for Dota 2, and 32 Million for LoL. I'm sure that a significant portion of people who watch certain olympic sports who have no idea how the game works, but simply watch to support their team.


And how are you certain of that? Olympic Games are open to billions of people. In 2012, games had viewing figures ranging from 4 million to 12 million (and this is bbc alone, therefore is a small percentage of the number of actual viewers).
Original post by Zander01
And how are you certain of that? Olympic Games are open to billions of people. In 2012, games had viewing figures ranging from 4 million to 12 million (and this is bbc alone, therefore is a small percentage of the number of actual viewers).

Is that 4m across all sports being shown, since most, if not all, of the time there are multiple things at once, so you could have 10 people watching one sport and the other 4m watching another?
Original post by Jammy Duel
Is that 4m across all sports being shown, since most, if not all, of the time there are multiple things at once, so you could have 10 people watching one sport and the other 4m watching another?


No the 4 million was simply the peak viewing just for archery which was one of the lowest I think. Other events like 100 metre mens race had a peak of 12 million. (For BBC)

The event you were talking about reached a peak of 8 million people viewing at once I believe which is still impressive. But not compared to the worldwide scale of the Olympic Games.
Original post by Zander01
No the 4 million was simply the peak viewing just for archery which was one of the lowest I think. Other events like 100 metre mens race had a peak of 12 million. (For BBC)

The event you were talking about reached a peak of 8 million people viewing at once I believe which is still impressive. But not compared to the worldwide scale of the Olympic Games.


The growth in competitive gaming viewership is almost certainly going to grow a hell of a lot faster than most sports, so it wouldn't be at all surprising if within a decade the viewership argument break down

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Avatar for xenon7
xenon7
9
Original post by NJA
It is athletic enough?
e.g. compared to the least athletic alternatives (archery?)

If so, how do you decide which game?
How do you avoid commercial bias?

News report.

Are you calling my Archery weak like the idea of 'computer games at the olympics'? And no, I want to watch people sweat and jump around, get nervous holding a gun, and fall on skates. Not some skinny guy in jeans quickscoping with an AWP on Dust.
Original post by Zander01
No the 4 million was simply the peak viewing just for archery which was one of the lowest I think. Other events like 100 metre mens race had a peak of 12 million. (For BBC)

The event you were talking about reached a peak of 8 million people viewing at once I believe which is still impressive. But not compared to the worldwide scale of the Olympic Games.


Archery certainly wasn't the lowest in 2012. There were plenty of articles stating how unusually popular it was. The lowest must surely have been dressage or something like that.

To be fair, I don't know why people are complaining about esports not being athletic enough when you have dressage as an olympic sport. The fact that there are 71 year olds competing for it speaks wonders about how athletically demanding it is (it's not)
Original post by Fango_Jett
Archery certainly wasn't the lowest in 2012. There were plenty of articles stating how unusually popular it was. The lowest must surely have been dressage or something like that.

To be fair, I don't know why people are complaining about esports not being athletic enough when you have dressage as an olympic sport. The fact that there are 71 year olds competing for it speaks wonders about how athletically demanding it is (it's not)


Hare you done dressage, or for that matter ridden at all?

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Original post by Jammy Duel
Hare you done dressage, or for that matter ridden at all?

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Ridden yes. Done dressage no. Regardless of what excuses people make for it, it's not an overly athletic sport. For the horse perhaps, but certainly not the people. Considering that most of the arguments against esports being included have been about how people want to watch people in peak physical condition or slamming esports players as pasty or skinny and not being in tip top shape, it's certainly fair to include esports if you have dressage.
No, though I think darts should be.
Original post by Fango_Jett
Ridden yes. Done dressage no. Regardless of what excuses people make for it, it's not an overly athletic sport. For the horse perhaps, but certainly not the people. Considering that most of the arguments against esports being included have been about how people want to watch people in peak physical condition or slamming esports players as pasty or skinny and not being in tip top shape, it's certainly fair to include esports if you have dressage.


To be honest, the Olympics is a joke with some of its sports. Dressage is currently an Olympic sport but squash isn't? Even golf being an Olympic sport is questioanble because there isn't too much athleticism required, just look at John Daly. Even if you have little upper body strength, you can make up some ground on distance with the short game, which is what I do.
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
Chess is a sport apparently. So is darts for ****s sake, you know, the sport for fat blokes who drink and eat crisps in a pub :facepalm: Such athletic prowess.


Lots of professional chess players have strict workout regimes apparently
Original post by yo radical one
Lots of professional chess players have strict workout regimes apparently


Well being it physical shape will help with your mental faculties.

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