Should eSports actually beSports?

Even though there are many similarities, some argue that there is still too much of a difference to place eSports in the category of traditional sports (Jenny et al., 2016). There are two major aspects in gaming that prohibit eSports to carry the name of a real sport. One is that eSports lack the physical aspect that requires gross motor skills, meaning the trained hand-eye coordination and quickness of movements necessary to thrive in games is not enough. The second aspect is not really related to the game itself, but its government and the requirement to be institutionalized. Two debatable aspects, but what good is it actually to transform the eSports towards the definitions of real sports? 

In the study of motivation for eSports, Lee and Schoenstedt (2011) found three significant factors that influence the playing of eSports. The biggest effect is actually a negative effect: the desire to acquire skills that can be translated to the real world. The specific questions were:

Playing sport video games helps me learn skills for real games
I play sport video games to build real game skills
Playing sport video games can be a good way of learning skills for real games

From this finding, it can be argued that eSport consumers actually like games because it doesn’t require the real life skills for games or sports they might lack. If games would be adapted such that the physical aspect of the game requires gross motor skills, the current group of gamers may not feel much for this and quit their engagement with the game. At the other hand, it may create a market for “hybrid athletes” that are into exploring new real skills and get attracted by virtual or augmented reality to do so. But by doing so, a new type of eSports arises and the current eSports and their players won’t fit in this category anyway.

Another need for a sport, that sounds quite strange, is the requirement of institutionalization. To me it seems nothing to do with the sport itself. Of course the standardization of rules is important to compare progress between individuals or teams, but those are already widely adopted in many eSports. Nevertheless, stricter agreements between players and organizations could be beneficial for both parties. Regarding the game of League of Legends, Bayliss (2016) argues that the acknowledgement of professional players as employees would benefit the status of the game towards a real sport. This would be beneficial to both the organization for its popularity and of course for the certainty of professional players. This is however not facilitated by giving monopoly to one organization.

There exist different competitive organizations for the current popular eSports, but the need for one big formalized organization remains the hard requirement that a real sport seems to characterize. Maybe this need for one big formalized organization is a bit old-fashioned and a more contemporary approach of multiple organizations is beneficial for the overall quality of the organizations and players. For example, the soccer institution FIFA showed a lot of notorious issues because there is so much power and money in play. There is no competing organization which forces the FIFA to be more transparent for that matter, which has a negative influence on the overall quality of the organization in soccer.

References

Bayliss, H. A. (2016). Not Just a Game: the Employment Status and Collective Bargaining Rights of Professional ESports Players. Wash. & Lee J. Civil Rts. & Soc. Just., 22, 359-411.

Lee, D., & Schoenstedt, L. J. (2011). Comparison of eSports and traditional sports consumption motives. The ICHPER-SD Journal of Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport & Dance, 6(2), 39.

Jenny, S. E., Manning, R. D., Keiper, M. C., & Olrich, T. W. (2016). Virtual (ly) Athletes: Where eSports Fit Within the Definition of “Sport”. Quest, 1-18.