So guess you can't fathom professional chess players, professional race car drivers, professional footballers, professional boxers, or professional athletes of any sort for that matter?
"Sport" is defined as athletic activity, and "athlete/athletic" refers to physical exercise, agility, stamina, and strength. So no, playing a video game doesn't count.
If girls make you sweat, good for you. Sex could arguably be athletic, depending on what you get up to.
I get the common usage of the term. It just seems weird that society is so bored that it’s willing to pay people to play games. although It’s probably no different in the abstract than paying any other performer or service provider for entertainment. I guess it’s fun to watch?
Hundreds of years ago, society was so bored that we all gathered together to watch people kill each other in an arena. If we were lucky we would get to see bloodshed and the emperor will release the lions!
Humans have been playing games far longer than the digital age has been going on for. Why would anyone pay to watch people throw a ball around for hours? I guess it's fun to watch?
I think "thousands" would be more accurate. We only have written records going back a few thousand years, and what we've gathered from what went on in Göbekli Tepe and other such places, they pretty much did something just for fun as well. I think trying to chase away the feeling of being bored is a quintessential human trait. In other words, our need for novel things is what actually elevated our species to be unlike any other.
Why do you do anything that bring you pleasure when you could be working every waking moment?
No fun, more work!
People that play games, as you call them, like to see people play a high level of that same game, because they enjoy the said game.
It applies to pretty much everything in life. This is one way we learn.
And how do you make sure that people that are good at whatever game gets to the highest level possible? You pay them to professionally play the said game.
Pretty obvious. You don't wear your nickname well.
So it's about the amount of physical exertion, not about it being a game?
So you can't wrap your head around the concept of professional chess players? Professional poker players? Darts? Curling?
Hell, in rally, you just literally sit in a car. Such physical exertion! (And I'm Finnish and have been in an actual rally car, before you're going to try and make a point about how physically demanding you think it is.)
So now it's about heartrate? Playing Mario Kart and Dark Souls can get your heartrate into the 120+ range. And that's casual videogamers, playing simple games.
During professional competitive play, heartrates go up to 180+ bpm. That's on the level of racing car drivers. Way more than chess, archery, or shooting of any sort would ever have.
So guess the Turkish shooter doesn't qualify for you either? Archers? Magnus Carlsen isn't a chess professional, he's just a really lucky dude with a lot of money for some random reason?
actually professional motor sports are quite an exertion in a lot of professional contexts because they drive for hours with no rest and they’re doing a lot of movement of the wheel and pedals - it’s not just driving down an interstate for a couple of hours
Well yeah, they are. Some more exerting than others. They vary from drag races to endurance ones, and some go really fast.
My point is rather that in driving, the physical exertion mostly comes from having to keep up mental focus and a static position — much like when gaming.
My point is that late-summer to late fall is pretty much the seasons for worlds in most esports. I don't follow literally all of them to know which one is going on currently, so my point is that mentioning which game would probably be helpful, as not everyone is as immersed in the esports scene to outright know which game has Worlds on which weeks.
You're totally right, it's just "Esports World Cup"
This makes me even more annoyed I didn't get funding for an esports bar back like almost 10 years ago due to some bullshit credit thing that I had actually paid for. After that and my depression I kinda evaded the whole esports thing out of depression for a couple of years, for this exact reason. It's one of the fastest growing industries and I couldn't get a loan of a few thousand. Sorry for digressing.
Anyway, I apologise, you were 100% in the right. Thanks for informing me. And not even being a dick about it.
I refuse to wrap my mind around “professional” video gamersports athletemusiciandancersculptorpainterwriter etc.
People are called to create content. The style of content has changed throughout history, but there have been people saying the same as you for as long as art has existed. The fact that creators have found ways to monetize that content is a net boon to society, because it means we’re truly in an age where art and entertainment can be consumed and appreciated, while the artists and creators are able to focus on their content creation full time.
A key defining factor of the renaissance era was that artists were actually properly funded and could focus on their art without being bogged down by a day job. And that’s a large part of why there is so much impactful art from that time period.
Not sure if you’re an artist yourself or if your handle is meant to poke society’s nose. :)
Either way, yes, I know what art is. I also know that it is very much in the eye of the beholder. I just don’t happen to agree that playing video games rises to either an art form or a profession. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.