You say you never claimed to be an athlete while playing video games, but skeet/trap shooting doesn't take any more "athletic ability" than playing a video game does, and some video games take just as much hand-eye coordination. Because one is outside and one is on a screen, that makes one a sport and the other not?

 

Video games are no less a sport, and no less valuable. I don't buy that being able to shoot water fowl is a "valuable" skill. I've managed to put plenty of food on my table in my life without the need to shoot it (although I have hunted, and did so pretty regularly in my teens until I realized I wasn't cut out for shooting and butchering animals...I'd much rather someone else take care of that for me).

 

It's really easy to be critical of things we don't understand.

It's really easy to be critical of things we don't understand.

 

This.

Just seems like playing video games is entertainment. Kids play enough at home. I know I am old fashioned but I don’t think this should be promoted at school. To say it gets kids encouraged to participate in something when they don’t do anything else is lame IMO.

Just seems like playing video games is entertainment. Kids play enough at home. I know I am old fashioned but I don’t think this should be promoted at school. To say it gets kids encouraged to participate in something when they don’t do anything else is lame IMO.

 

I agree gaming is entertainment, but isn't that all sports are too? Outside of the very very small % of kids that can get a free college education from sports, it's simply a form of entertainment.

I agree gaming is entertainment, but isn't that all sports are too? Outside of the very very small % of kids that can get a free college education from sports, it's simply a form of entertainment.

 

Good point!

 

At least with most athletics you are getting a physical fitness benefit. To encourage kids to sit on their butts more (when childhood obesity is on the rise), seems wrong.

 

I know I am probably too short sighted on this, but I think kids need to be less engaged in video games and more engaged with real life people and face to face competition, no matter if it is on the football field or on debate team.

The "paper" :lol2: only two months behind.

 

Some papers may continue to be behind forever.

Video games are no less a sport, and no less valuable. I don't buy that being able to shoot water fowl is a "valuable" skill. I've managed to put plenty of food on my table in my life without the need to shoot it (although I have hunted, and did so pretty regularly in my teens until I realized I wasn't cut out for shooting and butchering animals...I'd much rather someone else take care of that for me).

 

It's really easy to be critical of things we don't understand.

 

Exhibit A is your post. I don't buy that playing a video game is a sport. It is a game, not a sport. Some video games simulate a sport which is the only reason they are called an "esport." Pacman, mentioned in an earlier post, is not a sport. Yet it is, in essence, the same type of activity as Madden. Video games are animated, participatory, cartoonish, games. Sports are not cartoons. Video game participants are not athletes. A video game is merely a glorified form of watching TV.

 

Holy cow! Pretty soon Monday morning quarterbacks will be considered athletes.

Brent Musburger will tell boys in his TV audience that they don't need to start throwing a football in their backyard; all they need to do is sit in an easy chair, drink beer, eat snacks, and learn to argue about yesterday's game and they'll get the hottest chicks in Alabama!

@TheDeuce, your plan worked like a charm, you got me to go off on this ridiculous topic again! :deadhorse: :ohbrother:

I agree gaming is entertainment, but isn't that all sports are too? Outside of the very very small % of kids that can get a free college education from sports, it's simply a form of entertainment.

 

So anything that provides you with an entertainment value is a sport? Music is a sport, watching movies is a sport, etc., etc. Sport provides entertainment but that isn't the essence of what a sport is.

Exhibit A is your post. I don't buy that playing a video game is a sport. It is a game, not a sport. Some video games simulate a sport which is the only reason they are called an "esport." Pacman, mentioned in an earlier post, is not a sport. Yet it is, in essence, the same type of activity as Madden. Video games are animated, participatory, cartoonish, games. Sports are not cartoons. Video game participants are not athletes. A video game is merely a glorified form of watching TV.

 

Holy cow! Pretty soon Monday morning quarterbacks will be considered athletes.

Brent Musburger will tell boys in his TV audience that they don't need to start throwing a football in their backyard; all they need to do is sit in an easy chair, drink beer, eat snacks, and learn to argue about yesterday's game and they'll get the hottest chicks in Alabama!

@TheDeuce, your plan worked like a charm, you got me to go off on this ridiculous topic again! :deadhorse: :ohbrother:

 

First, no one is telling kids they don’t need to start throwing a football in the backyard in order to play football. The whole second part of your post is all hyperbole, and pure misconception that gamers are fat, lazy, and unmotivated. That’s simply not true, and is a perfect example of “not understanding”. Are they different from traditional “sports”? Absolutely. But it takes refined skill (in other words lots of work and practice) and score is kept (thus a form of competition), and there are winners and losers. There are plenty of other activities that people call sports, that similarly blur the lines...auto racing, golf, bowling, competitive fishing ( some of which can easily be done while eating snacks and drinking beer). You don’t have to run, jump or throw a ball in order to compete.

So here's me in a nut shell.

 

Extremely athletic and fast going into high school. Any time coaches saw me play a sport they asked if I played sport A, B or C.

I was just about every coaches dream scout team player because i was fast and aggressive when i felt it suited me.

 

I broke my right arm freshman year of high school. My mom, realizing how much not playing sports was killing me, got me a Playstation. It helped a lot, was just something to keep me competitive and anxious to get back to sports.

 

I tore my ACL and some more my sophomore year. I then separated my shoulder six months later. I never lost that drive to play and compete because I was always playing against my friends and teammates and was always saying, just wait til we can take this outside.

 

Junior year tore my ACL in the other knee, but I was gaming my butt off. Stayed competitive and loved gaming. I was good, really good. For a while I was ranked in the top 500-1000 world wide, in a couple of different games.

 

I ended up having two more knee surgeries before I left high school. About to have a shoulder surgery here soon. Games truly kept me competitive when I probably would've been defeated as hell.

 

I get why some folks are worried but if you have any competitive drive outside a controller, IMO the game just builds it up more. Absolutely nothing better than saying let's go play outside and knowing you're gonna make people look silly. Gaming isn't taking athletes out of sports. It may supplement them in times of despair, but the true competitors will always be ready to play outside.

So anything that provides you with an entertainment value is a sport? Music is a sport, watching movies is a sport, etc., etc. Sport provides entertainment but that isn't the essence of what a sport is.

 

Yeah, we're never going to agree about anything on this topic. Entertainment is ALL a sport is. That is the most basic breakdown of sports....A form of entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

IMO, if a sport is more than entertainment to someone (unless you're a professional athlete or getting your education paid for from it), that person takes it way too seriously.

First, no one is telling kids they don’t need to start throwing a football in the backyard in order to play football. The whole second part of your post is all hyperbole, and pure misconception that gamers are fat, lazy, and unmotivated. That’s simply not true, and is a perfect example of “not understanding”. Are they different from traditional “sports”? Absolutely. But it takes refined skill (in other words lots of work and practice) and score is kept (thus a form of competition), and there are winners and losers. There are plenty of other activities that people call sports, that similarly blur the lines...auto racing, golf, bowling, competitive fishing ( some of which can easily be done while eating snacks and drinking beer). You don’t have to run, jump or throw a ball in order to compete.

 

No implication that a gamer is necessarily fat. Lazy and unmotivated is most likely a matter of perspective. I do know video games become very consuming and sitting for long periods of time in front of a TV putting off chores, homework, etc. may fairly be considered lazy and unmotivated whether the person is watching movies or playing a video game.

 

The use of hyperbole and boatloads of sarcasm are to make a point that defining playing video games as a "sport" stretches the definition so much that it becomes meaningless. I don't know how else to express it at this point. Nothing that has been said earlier in this thread has dissuaded the idea that video gaming is sport, so sarcasm is where I went.

 

Skill, practice, competition are all things that describe games. But not every game is a sport. Chess requires everything you state in your post but it is a game, not a sport.

 

Finally, I agree whole-heartedly with your final statement.

Here's an article from Forbes magazine that takes up our discussion concerning what activity/game qualifies as a sport. Sometimes the author of the article seems to agree with me and sometimes he does not.

 

However, the concluding sentence is probably something with which we all can agree, and in fact, have sort of proven.

 

"What qualifies as a true sport may be the grist for endless arguments, and the only certainty may be in the eye of the beholder."

 

Amen. :lol2:

 

Link: What Defines A "Sport"?

I, for one, am done insisting on my opinion regarding this subject. I think I am right, but there is room for other opinions.

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukkah, and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Why practice in 90 degree heat when you just compete on Madden Football. Maybe have the State Fortnite Championship.