Conviction in Dexterity – On E-Sports

What is a sport? Let us first take a look at its etymological definition: per Google, a sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual competes against another or others for entertainment. That means that it is primarily the exertion of physical skill what can give an activity the status of a sport.

I contend that, regardless of how sedentary some of the actions in gaming may be, any sort of activity that requires talent is worthy of praise by virtue of the amount of practice required to acquire some degree of expertise in that activity. Therefore, it certainly holds merit in this sense, and should not be mitigated, nor overlooked, simply because it is, on some level, a virtual activity.

It is, however, this very process of visualisation what causes there to be criticism: a simple combination of buttons will prompt the avatar on screen to do significantly more than what the player needs to do to get it to do that. In this sense, then, it stops being a matter of physical dexterity, and becomes one of hand-eye coordination; of careful, calculative planning; of analysing the enemy.

I don't dislike e-Sports, and I certainly don't mind people denominating them as sports. It should be noted, however, that they challenge convention by enhancing the definition of a sport by rejecting the notion that sports are exclusively activities of physical ability, and embracing the idea that they are simply grounds on which one may test the integrity and the speed of one's computational capacities.

In the context of video games requiring many moves per second, this computational capacity is exhibited in the speed with which experts play the game. Other games, like chess, have been recognised as official sports on account of the fact that one requires the mental capacity to think in terms of many moves into the future in order to make the right call. We thereby see another factor underpinning what constitutes a sport: the element of strategy.

I am, however, a spectator. This is primarily due to the fact that I have only played a couple of games competitively, and it has only been enjoyable insofar as this competition is among friends. Otherwise, a certain level of tension and enmity is introduced into the gaming experience, which can make it seem somewhat hostile or unpleasant. –I, particularly, don't possess the personality to be thrown into such a competitive atmosphere for nothing more than glory and distinction.

In a sense, it is allegorical. In life, there are people who choose to make it big (i.e. make a lot of money, obtain a lot of wealth, power, etc.) by virtue of the fact that others are competing, striving, in a way, for the same thing; some exert their will to power and maximise all conditions for their success by going out and competing to demonstrate mastery. However, others are comfortable, or rather, conform with watching, participating and enjoying, but are not caught in an endless inner strife to demonstrate dexterous superiority.