Thema: Something Completely Different

Hi fellow Wardens New and Old,

I am requesting your help for college.

I have an upcoming essay I need to write and my topic is regarding gamers.

The question I'd like to research is regarding whether or not you consider the gamers who compete in the Major League Gaming as athletes?

If you could please post below with the following

Age:
Gender:
Answer:
Briefly Explain:

I have this question being posted in a few different places and sites so not only gamers will be answering. If you do not feel comfortable answering the Age or Gender question please place N/A.

Thanks

I'm polling wardens because I trust this forum to take it seriously.

And you know us and know how we love to derail. But as I'm not a native speaker, what do you mean by major league gaming? Professional football? Tennis? Challenge mode raiding in MMOs?

Also a serious question.

The MLG is a wide range of competitive games, the biggest ones have been Call of Duty and Counter Strike for FPS's. And Starcraft 1 and 2 for RTS as well as WC3. It's just like the MLG is for gamers as NFL is for american football. I just want to know if you feel these people are athletes since they are sponsored and paid to play.

Age: 28
Gender: Male
Answer: Heck no
Briefly Explain: Because sponsorship and paychecks don't create Athletes. And because, in my opinion, a Sport requires SOME physical exertion (Thumb callouses don't count, nor does carpal tunnel). The very definition of "Athletic", I do believe, revolves around physical exertion AND physical prowess. Someone sweating while playing a video game is either a result of no A/C, or a LACK of physical prowess to such an extent that he or she would sweat while pressing keys on a keyboard.

I would call it a contest, sure. A hobby. And those who partake in this contest would be labeled as Competitors. But not, I believe, as Athletes.

And yes, I'm sure one could call them "Mental Athletes", or some such nonsense - but even then that is stretching it some. There are contests where people actually compete using their knowledge, which is gained from books and studying and field research and practical applications and hours of #### that makes me want to asplode from just thinking about. I find myself pretty darn good at video games, but that has nothing to do with studying ...It has to do with laziness and too much free time on my hands.

Anyone who has as much free time as myself, and opts to spend it on studying physics and chemistry and history and everything in between, deserves to be called a "Mental Athlete". Anyone, like the rest of us, who uses that free time to play video games and then demand to be called an Athlete, would just be called Mental.

-Vayguin Layonect

Sorry to answer so briefly, but I'd more call it cyberletes than athletes... Anyway, having played Quake 2 for 8 years I can say some people take it just as serious as serious athletes, so it is what professional sports is to athletes. They train daily and it can be a profession for them.

Interesting, I'll help out.

Age: 24
Gender: Male
Answer: No
Briefly Explain: I don't believe every competition is a sport, and I don't believe every competitor is an athlete. I believe athletes are specifically competitors in sports. This requires a definition of sport, I think it's a physical competition. I could continue defining terms for this, but basically I think a sport is anything that involves physical fitness. This is anything from table tennis to football, something where you are moving around and maintaining some level of physical fitness. Poker is a hobby not a sport, and I would apply the same to professional gaming. I wouldn't consider either professional gamers or poker players athletes.

Age: 31
Gender: Male
Answer/Explanation: rather than repeat, I'll just quote:

Zitat von Ketilron

Age: 28
Gender: Male
Answer: Heck no
Briefly Explain: Because sponsorship and paychecks don't create Athletes. And because, in my opinion, a Sport requires SOME physical exertion (Thumb callouses don't count, nor does carpal tunnel). The very definition of "Athletic", I do believe, revolves around physical exertion AND physical prowess. Someone sweating while playing a video game is either a result of no A/C, or a LACK of physical prowess to such an extent that he or she would sweat while pressing keys on a keyboard.

I would call it a contest, sure. A hobby. And those who partake in this contest would be labeled as Competitors. But not, I believe, as Athletes.

And yes, I'm sure one could call them "Mental Athletes", or some such nonsense - but even then that is stretching it some. There are contests where people actually compete using their knowledge, which is gained from books and studying and field research and practical applications and hours of #### that makes me want to asplode from just thinking about. I find myself pretty darn good at video games, but that has nothing to do with studying ...It has to do with laziness and too much free time on my hands.

Anyone who has as much free time as myself, and opts to spend it on studying physics and chemistry and history and everything in between, deserves to be called a "Mental Athlete". Anyone, like the rest of us, who uses that free time to play video games and then demand to be called an Athlete, would just be called Mental.

-Vayguin Layonect

pretty much this exactly. except i wouldn't even go so far as to make a category of "mental athlete", which video game playing wouldn't even qualify as. a thing can be competitive without being athletic. its not a slight on either to call different things different.

Age: 31
Gender: Male
Answer: No

Here is a link on the topic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_sports

the definition of athlete is:
A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts.

In e-sports, some of the major teams do reconmend their players to be physical fit and goto the gym. It is not a requirement but it helps as players spend most of their day in front of a computer screen.
Here is a video of some players at the gym:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHaDsqKZ-gM

You do not need to be physical fix or even exercise but some of these players do so as it provide a release from the games and being fit is always good for so many reasons. For the team and their sponsors it may help promote the image of the player. I am mainly talking about the StarCraft 2 scene.

Thanks so much to those who've answered so far, the more the merrier in this case.

Very interesting results so far, up to this point you've all answered No, as for the Poll I have running on facebook, the dominating answer thus far is Yes...

Age: 39
Gender: Male
Answer: No

IMO, athletes are participators in physical sports. I don't consider button mashing a sport any more than something like chess or poker. I don't buy in to the whole mental athlete bit.

32
Male
No
Athletes are competitors performing athletic events. Race car drivers, not athletes. Chess players, not athletes. Gamers, not athletes (unless the game was something that required you to be a better athlete than your competitors (maybe a kinect game?)).

Age:43
Gender:Male
Answer:No
Briefly Explain: Athletes play sports not games...there has to be a certain level of physical activity and skill, operating a controller or keyboard/mouse is well below this level. For example: football, basketball, volleyball and even golf qualify as sports, playing video games or competetive eating contests do not qualify as sports.

Good Luck with the project!

Age: 29
Gender: Male
Answer: Yes
Briefly Explain: According to Dictionary.com, an athlete is:

a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.

I'd say no stamina or strength is required for "e-sports." BUT, since I played Counter-Strike for money way back when the only way to play games in large groups was via LAN party, I would say that physical agility plays a very large part in winning. If you're too slow to accurately flick that wrist to the exact square-centimeter area representing your opponent's head, then you're out of the game until the next round.

30
Male
No

I would only consider gamers as athletes if we consider transcriptionists or secretaries as athletes b/c they have great finger dexterity, also pianists. I also do not consider competitive chess players as athletes either. The real question is where does competitive eating and race car drivers fit into the definition for participants being considered athletes? I'd lean toward not considering either of them as athletes but it is more grey to me than video game players.

If I can't put the activity down as exercise in an exercise log without chuckling then I probably won't consider it an athletic experience. Eating, driving and playing video games are not something I would log as athletic activities.

30-m-no

Technically? If you break it down etymologically, athlete comes from the greek athleo, which just means to compete for a prize. Back then, the competition was always athletic by default because they didnt have any electronic sports

But in the English usage, it always explicitly implies physical prowess; the ability to perform feats of strength, speed, agility, and physical coordination at a high level. Simple hand-eye coordination while seated does not rise to that high level.

If gamers are athletes, then mathletes are athletes too, and the NCAA needs to start regulating chemistry scholarships

30
Female
No

I consider an athlete to be someone who competes (or in some cases participates) in a physically challenging activity. I think you could look at the preparations for this competition: when they are ready to compete, is their body stronger and their heart rate lower than before they began to prepare? This is, I think, a very simple definition to aid in differentiating an athlete competing in a sport from a gamer/competitor competing in a...whatever you would call a gaming competition. I do not think preparing to compete, professionally or otherwise, in a gaming competition, is going to improve the strength and health of your body. Therefore, it is not a physically challenging activity and the participants are not athletes.

No, they're not athletes - I used to love to play WC3, by the way.

When I wasn't so ill, I worked a lot in maths, languages, astrology, astronomy, history, and theology - why do we think the way we do? How did we come to accept certain dictums as common-place, or even at all? By your definition, that might be pretty athletic. So would playing chess, at least at internationally ranked levels.

So not an athlete, but being legally blind, and unable to walk puts me on the extreme side of things. That doesn't keep me from doing computer stuff. It would keep me well out of any kind of athletic competition, though, as would my age (I'm really old, I've seen good game players, non-athletes, who were equally really young, like 7 or 8 years of age). Some thought and a bit of trained button mashing...yes, I know that's the lowest common denominator, but...does not an athlete make.

Age: 64
Gender: female

I greatly thank you all for the answers yet again. The facebook crowd of almost no gamers still is leaning on the yes side, but they're starting to even out towards 50/50 where as you all, gamers, are staying primarily no.

I find this very compelling and love reading each and every individual post thus far. Thanks for the respectable tone too.

35
Male
No

There is an old saying "It ain't a sport if you don't sweat" that pretty much sums it up for me.

I could no more call a professional gamer an athlete than I could call a secretary an athlete. In both cases they get paid, take there job seriously, have to endure carpel tunnel and backaches and other problems from sitting in a chair all day, have to perfect their skills, I could go on with the analogy.

Gaming can be strenuous, sure, but again so can being a secretary. Neither is an athlete.

30
Male
No

I think someone already mentioned poker, but yeah I put it in the same category. People can get sponsored/paid to play poker professionally against other full-time professional poker players. They might spend hours every day practicing and honing their skills. It may be physically stressful even though there's not a lot of motion. But it is not a sport.

Then again, billiards is officially a sport now so eventually I may have to concede on both poker and gaming. Things change as each generation gets to decide the rules. But I personally put billiards into the same category as professional poker or competitive Donkey Kong.

Zitat von LtDiablo

I greatly thank you all for the answers yet again. The facebook crowd of almost no gamers still is leaning on the yes side, but they're starting to even out towards 50/50 where as you all, gamers, are staying primarily no.

I find this very compelling and love reading each and every individual post thus far. Thanks for the respectable tone too.

I also think this is quite fascinating. Those who are primarily not gamers say professional gamers are indeed athletes. Those who are gamers say that professional gamers are not athletes. I did not expect any correlation, but if there were to be any at all I would think it would be the other way around! Though your answers are evening out, I'm surprised it's even as high as 50/50 to be honest.

To further your research, perhaps you could pose your question here:

http://www.iaaf.org/aboutiaaf/contacts/feedback.html

The international governing body of Athletics. As they are the rule makers for Athletic competitions, perhaps they can give you a definitive answer on what constitutes as an Athlete.

M-28-No

It annoys me when playing games when players claim they are 'Warming Up'. Typically a warm up involves physical activity to get the blood circulating through your muscles, followed by a period of stretching of now 'warm' muscles to prevent injury during physical excercise.

I have yet to see a gamer do a lap of the block, followed by some back and wrist exercises/stretches before playing a game.

Ask yourself this. If you were to describe yourself as having an 'athletic build' how do you think they would picture you?
Do you think you can obtain an 'athletic build' by playing computer games all day every day?
I would answer no, you need to exercise to have an athletic build, therefore I would not classify gamers as athletes.

I would also classify people who play non-active sports such as darts as competitors and not athletes.

Just because something is a sport or competetive does not make you an athlete.
Would you consider a poet as an athlete? After all Poetry was once part of the Olympic games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Coubertin Here is the chap who won the Gold Medal for Literature in 1912.