Are video game competitions a sport? (1 Viewer)

[guidomerkinsrules]

My criteria for sports

1) Do physical attributes such as strength / endurance / agility / hand-eye coordination etc. come in to play?

2) Do these physical attributes, along with individual or team skill, primarily determine the winner, or are there other factors involved?

3) Are there objective criteria for scoring, or is it partly subjective (i.e. judges ) ?

Board and card games, such as chess and poker, only fufill the last criteria. Therefore they are not sports.

Figure skating fulfills 2 out of 3, but fails on the last criteria. Although figure skaters are athletes, figure skating is not a sport.

NASCAR along with most auto racing, fulfills 2 out of 3 criteria, but fails the second criteria because there are variations between the cars, which affect the outcome of the race to a significant degree. Yes the drivers are athletes, but most auto racing is not a sport. It would be a sport, if all the cars were the same and the winner was determined solely by the drivers skill (and maybe some luck). I think NASCAR or some other racing association tried this once, but apparently the races were "boring" so they went back to the driving teams being able to custom engineer the cars, at least within certain parameters

Bowling and darts fulfill all three, therefore bowling and darts are sports. But the participants aren't athletes, at least not because they bowl or play darts.

Some e-sports would fulfill all three, as long as the rules are the same for all participants, and winning does not rely on knowledge which is secret/not pubic and known ahead of time, such as knowledge of maps, weaknesses in certain characters, etc.

Not a bad list and I think I agree
My only hiccup is with ‘judges’
Can you draw a sharp distinction between judges and referees?

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

Not a bad list and I think I agree
My only hiccup is with ‘judges’
Can you draw a sharp distinction between judges and referees?

Yes, referees do not award different amount points based off how well the player executes a feat. They either award the points or not.

Of course, there is some subjectivity in how the rules are interpreted (is this a catch or not, was that pass interference or not, was that charging or not) but a touchdown is always worth 6 points, its not sometimes worth 5 and sometimes worth 7

Like in figure skating, if you execute a a triple axle followed by a triple toe loop, its not necessarily worth X points. I realize they recently changed the scoring system to be more objective, the program is submitted ahead of time and the judges know exactly what the skater intends to do, and there is some "base score" which then goes up or down depending on how well the skater executes. But there is still a substantial component, which is subjective. Because figure skating is partly an art, which has more in common with dance, than it does with sports like track and field.

 

[wnelson]

it is hyper competetive
it takes practice and skill
it takes hours of dedication
it is now rewarded financially bigly
it offers kids an alternate route to fame and fortune
it allows old farts like me to be practice fodder for the 13 yr old grand champion

all of which I think makes it a sport. as much as any other recreational non-contact sport is