IVAN TORRES
Special to The Leader
In recent years, the esports community has gained a huge following in a short amount of time.
The success of esports can be attributed to streaming platforms such as Twitch and Youtube. Not only did these platforms help, but first-person shooter games such as Counterstrike, Call of Duty and Overwatch have as well.
Controversy has always surrounded competitive video gaming being titled “esports” and if it can be considered a sport.
Whether you like it or not, though, esports is a sport.
Let’s first look at the definition of a “sport.”
According to Dictionary.com, a sport is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.”
How do you interpret this definition?
Let’s take a look at two terms within the definition of sport.
Physical exertion is the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit. Even though we think of vigorous activities such as playing football and basketball as physical exertion, according to the definition, the simple push of buttons on your keyboard could be as well.
Daniel Kane, a student at the U.S. Sports Academy, did experiments as to whether or not physical exertion occurs when playing video games.
When we think of physical exertion we think of actions like running or lifting. These are activities that will make your heart rate increase and blood pressure rise.
In 1994, gamers’ blood pressures and heart rates were measured while they played video games. They measured this using “15-point Borg Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) or the 10-point Borg category ratio (CR10)… Using RPE and CR10, a participant looks at the scale and determines how strenuous the activity feels.”
The results showed that the gamers’ heart rate and blood pressure increased.
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Now let’s take a look at the term “skill.” Skill is defined as “the ability to do something well.”
The CBS channel on YouTube covered a documentary on esports training called, “Esports: Inside the relentless training of professional gaming stars”.
In the documentary, a professional esports player named space said that he plays Overwatch between six and eight hours daily, seven days a week.
Esports journalist Richard Lewis also discussed that professional gamers experience burnout, anxiety and depression like athletes in other sports as well.
The stress and depression gets so bad that professional esports teams, such as LA Valiant, hire team psychologists to deal with the stress.
Dr. Doug Gardner explained that a lot of players have a “badge of honor” mindset. The more hours they put in, the better they perform.
The CBS documentary also covers players developing injuries from excessive gaming.
Professional gamer Indie has developed lower back pains as well as sharp burning pains in his wrist and thumb.
The documentary said that, “wrist injuries have become prevalent in esports and may end careers before they even get started.”
Overall, esports gamers are impacted mentally just as much as other athletes, and they experience the same drawbacks as well.
If hunting, fishing and golf are considered sports, then there’s no reason that gaming shouldn’t be as well.