This is where I will demonstrate that esports (Rocket League, Counter-Strike, Quake, etc.) are sports; they are a sub-category just like field sports (baseball, basketball, tennis, etc.) are a sub-category.
It's probably worth noting that I wrote this document specifically to counter-argue against people who specifically believe that esports are not sports (as opposed to educating an impartial learner). As such, the tone may become adversarial at points. Sorry about that.
I finally had to go all in on this document because I needed to say it all, and get it out of my head and onto "paper", so I can stop engaging in nickel-and-dime Internet arguments and just link to this. You can joke about how this is the ultimate tryhard triggered response, and...in a lot of ways, you're not wrong. But on the plus side (for me), once I do this, I don't have to be triggered any more. Insert middle finger emoji here. For what it's worth, the straw that broke the camel's back on this was actually someone who I "like" (the finger quotes are because I don't know them, but I like their online persona at least) and whose opinions on esports I genuinely respect (except for this one, heh). So I'm doing this to genuinely educate, but I've historically been patronized on this point so much that occasionally my pent-up nerd rage leaks out a bit. Can't win 'em all.
If you've already decided that something is or isn't a sport because of "common sense" or "people just know when it's a sport" then just leave now and save us both the trouble. The whole point of a document like this is that you have to get all the way down to nuts and bolts to prove that "common sense" is wrong, so if you're not in good faith ready to challenge your own beliefs then going any further is just a waste of everyone's time.
First, let's start with everybody's favorite: the dictionary definitions. I'm citing several well-known dictionaries, and will compose a "conglomerate definition" of the term "sport" which is essentially all the requirements from the separate definitions.
Where a particular dictionary has more than one definition of "sport" (which is to say: all of them) I will of course be picking the definition that I believe includes esports. That's not cherry-picking, that's how dictionaries work: the multiple definitions are a "Boolean or", not a "Boolean and".
Any activity that uses physical exertion or skills competitively under a set of rules that is not based on aesthetics.
I genuinely don't know what "not based on aesthetics" means in this context (and it doesn't show up in any of the other definitions), so I'm not addressing it. If I ever discover what it means, I'll add it to the rest of this.
An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
A usually challenging activity undertaken for amusement: "the sport of trying to eat [a bratwurst] with anything fewer than four paper napkins" (Jane Kramer).
an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
physical activity engaged in for pleasure
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:
- Football, basketball, and hockey are all team sports.
- I enjoy winter sports like skiing and skating.
Based on the above, I believe a fair conglomerate definition of "sport" is an activity that must:
It's worth taking a moment and acknowledging the fact that while almost all the dictionary definitions refer to "athletic ability" or "physical effort/prowess", it's important to remember that the level of athleticism (or the amount of physical effort) is never specified. I think it's reasonable to infer that this is because using words like "athletic" and "physical" are simply meant to differentiate these activities from others that essentially require only mental ability.
Remember, this fundamental word definition has to start from scratch and differentiate a "sport activity" from every other activity that can be performed (and not just by humans, or even living beings). To further clarify, here are some examples of activities:
The point is, we're narrowing from the scope of all activities in the entirety of existence, so I don't accept that it necessarily follows that "physical activity" implies "physical activity to a level that a doctor would consider a cardiovascular workout".
Anyway, I'll go into this more further down, but if you've got a baseline level of "strenuous activity" in your head that you're about to propose, just remember your level of required effort has to include well-known sports like golf and curling.
So, let's investigate whether an esport meets these criteria.
I'm going to use these games in particular as examples, but I believe the situation is the same for any of the current major esports:
Even the most cursory of "sniff tests" would show that Rocket League is clearly a skilled endeavour, but in the interest of completeness let's go over it.
There are multiple significant events (I would say "major events", but the word "major" has special significance in the esports community) every year for Rocket League. For example, there is a global premier league called Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) which has seasonal league play with playoffs that culminate in a world championship event. These tournaments have large monetary prize pools; the exact amount isn't important, except to say that it's enough money that it would be worth a layman's time to participate in order to win the prizes. However, the vast majority of the players who compete in RLCS is consistent over time; this proves that the people playing in the tournaments aren't there by random chance (as would be the case if any random layman, or even a random Rocket League aficionado, could qualify).
Rocket League is played inherently in a competitive scenario, with the outcome of each game being a score based on goals scored, which determines a winner and loser. In fact, Rocket League is more competitive than most activities in the sense that a game, when played to completion, doesn't even offer the opportunity for a draw.
Each new player of Rocket League is introduced to the rules of the game by playing the tutorial.
And now, we come to the part that's a sticking point for a lot of people. They say esports aren't sports because they're "not athletic", or "not strenuous", or "not outside". This is by far the longest section because it's the only one that doesn't seem to me like it's patently obvious by just a cursory examination of the facts.
The easiest of these to debunk is that it's played indoors. I mean, if you're going to say that indoor activities can't be sports, you're also excluding:
The next easiest is "not athletic". Now, let's clarify that we're not talking about strenuously athletic yet; this part is just about "athletic" at all, so hold your horses 'cause we'll get to that next.
When the definitions of sport say "physical activity", they don't mean you have to be pushing your limits. It means "physical" as opposed to "mental". For example, chess might fall outside this definition because your physical ability is irrelevant beyond a basic assumed baseline for human motor function. For example, no amount of practice moving the pieces will ever make you the slightest bit better at chess. I don't mean moving the pieces on a board, as a game; I mean moving chess pieces around on an empty table with no knowledge of the rules of chess and no thought other than to practice the physical act of picking them up and setting them down.
OK, so here's the final hurdle; this concept of "strenuous enough". This is a vague, unsubstantiated aspect which is never defined specifically.
The fact is, esports physicality is strenuous. The movements may be small, but they are extraordinarily precise, and that requires extreme muscle control. For example, if every single pass ever thrown by a quarterback in the entire 52-year history of the NFL was off by two millimeters, nobody would ever notice (including the quarterbacks themselves and their receivers). On the other hand, if a Counter-Strike player is consistently off by two millimeters, the only hope they have of getting into a tournament venue is by buying a ticket.
Esports also demands hyper-focus; you have to be aware of the tiniest fractional changes in the game environment because reactions are measured in milliseconds. In most esports, you have to have decided on your next move and executed it before most field sports players have even finished looking around. This kind of over-the-top vigilance is tiring, but must be maintained unwaveringly for the entire duration of the match.
Here's the thing, though; even if you discount all of the above (which would be asinine, but...), there's still the simple fact that no respected definition of "sport" actually specifies any required level of strenuousness.
Short rant:
And no, you MAY NOT counter this with an equally-unsubstantiated retort like "well yeah, but obviously mouse movements don't count". No. You don't get to do that. You wanted to contest the definition of sport, fine. Do it, then. YOU. MUST. DEFINE. YOUR. TERMS. That's what I did. Now it's your turn to put up or shut up.
I genuinely apologize to everyone who's reading this in good faith and feels unjustly attacked, but I've dealt with about a zillion low-effort, smug replies too many to completely let this go. ;) MOVING ON...
You know who does give, if not a definition, at least examples of acceptable strenuousness levels (by way of giving examples of activities it considers to be sports)? Dictionary.com does, and they list (among others) golf and fishing as sports. So, unless you want to argue that Rocket League, Counter-Strike, Quake, and such are substantially less strenuous than golf and fishing...
Maybe you think Dictionary.com doesn't have the expertise to properly enumerate example sports. I mean, they're only one of the most-used and most-respected sources for word definitions in the world. But fine. You know who does have the expertise?
ESPN.
Let's take a look at ESPN's opinions on the relative difficulties of various sports. Now remember, the point isn't that any given sport is easy or hard; the point is that if it's on this list, ESPN has classified it as a sport.
ESPN sport difficulty rankings (Wayback Machine link, in case the live version goes away)
Here are some activities that ESPN lists as sports:
Now again, remember, we're not just talking about cream-of-the-crop pro-level play here. A sport is still a sport even when it's just a bunch of friends getting together to play. Your neighborhood pickup baseball team isn't "not playing a sport" just because they're not qualified for the MLB.
Now, I don't actually know what competitive sport fishing looks like, so let's go with something I know very well: billiards. I spent over five years playing 8-ball and 9-ball in an amateur pool league and it is an unequivocable fact that while we weren't pro-level players, we 100% were engaging in the same activity as the pros, with the same gameplay goals (normally I wouldn't allow myself to be the source of a domain-specific fact, but in this case...like I said, I did it for over five years so on this particular point I am an expert). At no point in my years of serious play did I ever break a sweat due to physical exertion, nor did I ever lose my breath or have to take a break to recover physically from the demands of the activity.
So, if you're going to argue this point, you're going to need to justify your assertions that:
You have to assert #1 because otherwise you're conceding that the activity of billiards is as strenuous or less strenuous than esports (which then automatically puts esports in the range of acceptable sport strenuousness, since ESPN has already classified billiards as a sport).
You have to assert #2 because otherwise you're conceding that (for example) ESPN is a valid expert source to classify billiards as a sport.
And finally, you have to assert #3 because once you've successfully asserted #1 and #2, you must provide a credible expert source who can even classify sports in the first place or it's just your word against mine, at which point neither of us are credible experts and we have to fall back to the pure dictionary definition(s) which don't specify any level of strenuousness.