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HBO's 'Real Sports' panel laughs at eSports segment

Have they cancelled golf and pool coverage then? Or darts in the UK.

the term "sport" has always meant contest first.

eAthletes would be laughable however.
 
Vigilant Walrus said:
One of our biggest problems as a cultural society today is snobbery. Career snobbery remains the biggest.

NOTE. I hope I'm not offending anyone here. I don't want to sound misogynistic or make it seem like im generalizing. Just talking general thoughts by me. it's not stats, or anything other than my own thoughts.


My own thoughts;

1) A great deal of people distance themselves from things they don't understand. "that's weird", "get a life", "seriously, lol?". They don't understand it, so the assumption goes that it's most likely shit. Otherwise everyone would have been on that.


2) We compare ourselves to those who we feel are our equals. You might be envious/wanting to have what hes gotten, if you meet a person in your profession, who you can relate to, have a lot more succes than you. You might feel it's easier to compare yourself to that person, because you see him as as equal. It's easier to imagine you having his succes, than the Queen of england. She is rich and famous, but also exentrically wierd.

I think that's why people are so hostile towards "e-sport starts in Korea". "I tell my friend - look at that SC2 dude. he is not a looker but his girlfriend is one of the hottest girls I have ever seen. That's amazing how a pastry nerd who doesnt care about his looks can pull a gorgeous looking girl like that".
My friend replies with - "he probably is bla bla [racial stereotypes]" <- just because my friend thought it was so weird and alien for someone who did such a different life path could have succes, recognition, money and admiration.
I swear to spargetti monster, it's 101 snobbery. You take a little part of someone and then you spread it to the rest of them. That's a snob.



3) It only goes for their biased shit. "sup bro, saying MMA should be illegal is fucking bullshit bro!!! be open minded bro. mind is like a parachute bro. works when open brah. its not shitty little e-sport. be more open minded bro".
I bet there are very few people(many men at least) who wish their girlfriends and spouses would be more understanding about their own fascination with regular sports. that's why it's so strange to me that you can have so little foresight on your surroundings.

you want your SO to appreciate you watching the game sunday night, but at the same time a massive culture of appreciation of a different sort of sport can only be viewed as a loser-culture that has to be laughed at?
That's not arrogance, that's a sign of low social and interpersonal intelligence, just because you can't wrap your head around your own hypocritic bullshit.



4) it threatens the norms. I read a psychology journal a few weeks ago about the recent boom for men in their 30s and 40s fixation on things like Iron Man triathlon. Previously it was viewed as a mid life crisis, but this journal suggests that it has more to do with gender struggles.

As men are losing their dominating position in society, they are going to the one place were they can beat women 99 out of 100 times. And that is in physical sports and endurance. This seems very plausible to me, as not many decades ago, men could boost about their superiority in finances, career, knowledge, being the man of the house. All those are now under siege, and none of those really mean being a man anymore.

So it's not really strange that men seeks new outlets to feel like real men. We're stronger and more physical adept..
until it won't matter. until sports come along that is about brain, not brawn. now even sports is under siege, and then what is a unintelligent meat head gonna find purpose and security in his mind when his status quo is not met?
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Is this serious? People play sports because they don't like being equal to women? Sports will eventually be all brain no strength, Seriously? People have low intelligence if they don't think esports is a sport. Cmon man.
 
iamshadowlark said:
Golf is surely a sport and requires a pretty good level of fitness. Pool is debatable. Video games really aren't.
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one good way to help determine sport or not is locomotion. The bigger use of gross motor skills the more likely it is one. Fine motor skilll games are generally no like darts and video games.
Beaulieu said:
if baseball is a sport, lol is a sport. same amout of efforts.
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hopefully this is a joke post.
 
Futurevoid said:
Not that I think it's a sport but "It's a game!" is a really lame response.

You can say "it's a game!" about football, baseball, soccer, etc. They are all games. The only difference is the amount of physical activity involved which is the differentiator and where many draw the line.

Calling yourself a cyber-athlete though? Yeah, you sort of deserve to get laughed at.;)
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Pretty much this
 
Video games are definitely not sports. I really don't have a problem with the term esport though, but if it's that big a deal, maybe it should just be major league gaming. I always thought MLG was the accepted term but I guess that wasn't good enough? I mean baseball is major league baseball (MLB), so I think major league gaming is a good label.
 
8byte said:
Sport can be any and everything. Currently committees determine what is considered sport. Be definition, sports only need to have rules and customs, and be competitive in nature. Arguing semantics is absurd.

Grow up.
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ha ok and scolding us and telling us to grow up is the mature thing to do. What your describing is a competition not what makes a sport.
 
8byte said:
Sport can be any and everything. Currently committees determine what is considered sport. Be definition, sports only need to have rules and customs and physical activity , and be competitive in nature. Arguing semantics is absurd.

Grow up.
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you forgot an important part so i added it for you.

from the merriam-webster online dictionary
a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other
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8byte said:
Sport can be any and everything. Currently committees determine what is considered sport. Be definition, sports only need to have rules and customs, and be competitive in nature. Arguing semantics is absurd.

Grow up.
Click to expand...


Uh no,



Webster said:
contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other
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Oxford said:
an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment
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Notice the trend? I don't know whats wrong with the moniker "eSport". Video games aren't a traditional sport, I don't see the need for the mental gymnastics.




7Th said:
Why are we having this discussion in a world where CHESS is considered a sport?
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it is?
 
UNCMark said:
Because if your finger slips off of the spacebar you risk actual death? Comparing what it takes to drive a car at 200+mph to playing a video game is laughable, which is why they were probably laughing.
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Playing a video game and then doing good like these pro players is something different. Anyone can drive just like anyone can play a game, but there is skill involved at higher levels.
 
iamshadowlark said:
Uh no,








Notice the trend? I don't know whats wrong with the moniker "eSport". Video games aren't a traditional sport, I don't see the need for the mental gymnastics.






it is?
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Pick it apart all you want, the core common similarity isn't the physical element, as that varies significantly from sport to sport. It's the rules, customs and competition.

If anyone is doing mental gymnastics, it's the people who are shitting on this type of competition as a sport.

Quite literally what you are saying is no difference, at a core level, from someone taking the Bible extremely literally. Missing the important parts, and instead focusing on what fits your narrative.
 
OldAsUrSock said:
Playing a video game and then doing good like these pro players is something different. Anyone can drive just like anyone can play a game, but there is skill involved at higher levels.
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Where do we draw the line, if I am really good at farting and have a tournament with the best farters, assuming I train my asshole, and win some money after the tournament, is that a sport?
 
7Th said:
Why are we having this discussion in a world where CHESS is considered a sport?
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Because a whole lot of people never even knew that chess is a recognized as a sport and there's a lot of defensiveness over separating "athletes" from those who don't deserve to be called athletes.

Personally, I see no problem with saying not every sport involves an athlete because athlete, unlike "sport", is a much more specific term. It does refer to someone who engages in athleticism.

But "sport" is just a term for a game that's taken for serious business, fo reals, etc. I'm still sticking with the recommendation to use "athletic sports" to denote sports based around a great deal of physical ability. Rather than try to move the goal posts (pun not intended) around to exclude some competitive games from being a sport.
 
8byte said:
Pick it apart all you want, the core common similarity isn't the physical element, as that varies significantly from sport to sport. It's the rules, customs and competition.

If anyone is doing mental gymnastics, it's the people who are shitting on this type of competition as a sport.

Quite literally what you are saying is no difference, at a core level, from someone taking the Bible extremely literally. Missing the important parts, and instead focusing on what fits your narrative.
Click to expand...

Majority of esports takes place on a computer, there for its an electronic sport, not a real sport, hence esport
 
I think a better thing to ask than "are video games sports?" Is "why are sports considered so much better?". And really I can't think of a good reason beyond valuing physical over mental skills. Not only that but laughing at a competitive game because it doesn't require muscular power would be stupid if it was anything other than video games. Poker and chess are respectable but Street fighter and LoL are clearly just silly games played by man children...

Arguing if video games are sports should wait until they get recognition for being just as demanding and perhaps more-so than the other "non-sports"
 
OldAsUrSock said:
Then why is Chess a sport?
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I'll ask again. Says who?


8byte said:
Pick it apart all you want, the core common similarity isn't the physical element, as that varies significantly from sport to sport. It's the rules, customs and competition.

If anyone is doing mental gymnastics, it's the people who are shitting on this type of competition as a sport.

Quite literally what you are saying is no difference, at a core level, from someone taking the Bible extremely literally. Missing the important parts, and instead focusing on what fits your narrative.
Click to expand...

Good lord dude. LMAO.
 
Anura said:
I think a better thing to ask than "are video games sports?" Is "why are sports considered so much better?". And really I can't think of a good reason beyond valuing physical over mental skills. Not only that but laughing at a competitive game because it doesn't require muscular power would be stupid if it was anything other than video games. Poker and chess are respectable but Street fighter and LoL are clearly just silly games played by man children...

Arguing if video games are sports should wait until they get recognition for being just as demanding and perhaps more-so than the other "non-sports"
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it is all about money. athletes get endorsement deals. gamers don't. its as simple as that.
 
esports is such a terrible name and cringe everytime someone says it. Just call it competitive gaming, like it or not sports is associated with athletic competition.
 
maneil99 said:
Majority of esports takes place on a computer, there for its an electronic sport, not a real sport, hence esport
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Except the "e" isn't necessary, at all. It's just a moniker that people have given it because, much like you all, they wanted to classify it as something separate, when it really isn't.

iamshadowlark said:
I'll ask again. Says who?




Good lord dude. LMAO.
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Chess isn't a sport? Video games aren't "sport"?

So then what makes Poker, Fishing, or auto-racing sport? ESPN considers all of those sports, and they very wildly in physical demands from other sports.

Please, tell me where the line is drawn for physical and mental dexterity. Please. More importantly, explain to me why definitions of things change over time. As far as I can tell, "sport" will change entirely over the course of the next few generations. The inability to recognize that is quite short sighted.
 
I probably would have cracked jokes if I only just heard about video games becoming a huge spectator event, too. Nothing to get worked up over.

Honestly, definitions change all the time these days. Google has become an actual verb in most dictionaries. We don't live in the same world many of these guys were born and raised up in.

I'll agree that I can't call Reginald or Dyrus athletes with a straight face, though, lol. I respect their play because I usually like playing/watching anything competitive and interesting. I just call this competitive gaming. My grandchildren might call it sports.
 
8byte said:
Except the "e" isn't necessary, at all. It's just a moniker that people have given it because, much like you all, they wanted to classify it as something separate, when it really isn't.



Chess isn't a sport? Video games aren't "sport"?

So then what makes Poker, Fishing, or auto-racing sport? ESPN considers all of those sports, and they very wildly in physical demands from other sports.

Please, tell me where the line is drawn for physical and mental dexterity. Please. More importantly, explain to me why definitions of things change over time. As far as I can tell, "sport" will change entirely over the course of the next few generations. The inability to recognize that is quite short sighted.
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But it should, the game takes place on a computer vs all the other sports that take place in the actual world
 
maneil99 said:
But it should, the game takes place on a computer vs all the other sports that take place in the actual world
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All require extreme mental dexterity, fast decision making, and forward thinking. All have competitive elements, rules, and customs.

The only difference is the muscles trained to perform the tasks necessary for competition.

Like it or not, all "sports" (to include "eSports") have more in common, in a general sense (as that's the only way to really compare such varying forms of competition) than they don't have in common (which is the varying level of physical activity to perform these sports).

The definition is poor and out dated.
 
moneal2001 said:
it is all about money. athletes get endorsement deals. gamers don't. its as simple as that.
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Yeah. You are really out of the loop. Majority of LoL teams have endorsement deals. Random internet search has Team SoloMid have endorsements from Qualcomm Snapdragon, Kingston, Corsair, Astro, Asus, Gunner, Origin PC. You get into Asia and teams have endorsement deals with Adidas, Nike, soft drink companies, telcom companies, and others.
 
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