Esports is massive... and growing

[Vibe]

Thought it was a pretty cool article, with charts and shit. It's pretty amazing to see such numbers.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/13059210/esports-massive-industry-growing

Charts never lie - BADPLAYER

[Christo]

HURR DURR ESPORT IS NOT SPORT CHESS IS NOT SPORT EITHER ONLY FIZIKAL EKTIVITI EZZ SPERT EMERHGERD

There, I concluded this thread before it even started.

[Molly]

So called Dramaturge blew it.

I blame Christo.

[Christo]

 

[[ptx]]

Goddamnit, Christo, this thread had potential

[Christo]

Oh come on, been there, done that.

Was beaten to death already, shit comes up each time there's a dota 2 international or something.

[Casimir]

Lets get it back on track.

This is just an excuse for nerds to tell people they do sports when people ask them though isn't it.  The dictionary literally defines a sport as 'a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job:'.   I don't personally believe that clicking a mouse and keyboard counts as physical effort. Just call it what it is, video games.  Its a competition, a challenge, a league, but it sure as hell ain't a damned sport.

[Leesin]

The only 'sport' where a 300lb blob of fat with the motor skills of a retarded toddler can be competitive, virtual athletes, what a joke  .

[jtobiasm]

thats why its called Esports not just simply sport

[IR_Kuoin]

We have sports, and then we have Esports. EEEEE-Spoooorts.

[Vovka]

too many niggas on dat channel
I demand equal time finding on the screen for all races
for now niggas on screen for 90% of time

[Teeth]

You must be one massive twat anyway to answer yes if someone asks whether you do sports, if you do e-sports. I still think e-sport is an okay term though. It clearly describes that the activity is electronic and thus non-physical, so it is a sport in everything but the physical part. Guess the term pro-gaming would be less pretentious, but to me it just seems like the whole discussion is firmly rooted in a backwards stigma that gaming is nerdy.

The only 'sport' where a 300lb blob of fat with the motor skills of a retarded toddler can be competitive, virtual athletes, what a joke  .

First of all, gaming obviously requires very good motor skills, and second of all there are tons of questionable sports, for some of which you can easily be a fat blob. Darts, cue sports, chess, motorized sports, shooting, fishing, curling, sailing and so on.

[Vibe]

Lets get it back on track.

This is just an excuse for nerds to tell people they do sports when people ask them though isn't it.  The dictionary literally defines a sport as 'a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job:'.   I don't personally believe that clicking a mouse and keyboard counts as physical effort. Just call it what it is, video games.  Its a competition, a challenge, a league, but it sure as hell ain't a damned sport.

I don't think anyone really thinks esports require the same amount (or even close to) of physical effort compared to real sports. As tobi said, esports =/ sports. As for the general/overall effort and skills required (from chess-like thinking skills to motorics/precision skills), it's pretty much on the same level though. And the same goes for rewards and viewers. It's not quite there yet, I think, but it's getting very close, and it's rising with an alarming rate, which is what the article shows.

I think more and more people are recognizing this, that's why you see big names such as Mark Cuban (billionaire, owner of NBA team Dallas Mavericks) try to cash in on the esport train with betting:
http://www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/mark-cuban-unikrn.html?cid=sf01001

This years International (Dota2) prize pool is going over 15 million dollars, that is some serious money. As soon as you have such amounts of money, you will see all kinds of people trying to cash in on it. Teams, trainers, managers, player training schedules, team houses, sponsors, it's all here already, very similar to real sports.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if esports goes over sports once the 'gaming' generation gets older. Heck, looking at the charts I think it might happen sooner than we realize.

[Xant]

Lets get it back on track.

This is just an excuse for nerds to tell people they do sports when people ask them though isn't it.  The dictionary literally defines a sport as 'a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job:'.   I don't personally believe that clicking a mouse and keyboard counts as physical effort. Just call it what it is, video games.  Its a competition, a challenge, a league, but it sure as hell ain't a damned sport.

Do you move your mouse with your mind?

[IR_Kuoin]

Here we go ...