Do people really consider video games as "sports"?

[Caxis]

 

 

 

Do you have any idea how much time you have to spend playing Starcraft just to get to that level? Sure, they get to meet the people on their team and have a great time as a team but when it comes to meeting people, there are much better ways.

 

 

 

About 10+ hours/40 games a day. And there are much better ways of doing a lot of things. It also depends on the individual too. What could be a fun, better, whatever way for you, doesn't mean it is for others.

 

 

 

It's a bit hard to tell but I agree with Shadow, the crowd seemed just like a giant sausage-fest. (...) It was funny how they did the cheesy intro though :lol:

 

 

 

The audience is usually 70% female, unless Tossgirl is playing; then it's 70% male :P. And I like the openings :P.

[VjuliusT]

As for the fangirls thing...

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA7IrRXoYEk

 

 

 

It's kind of hard not to hear their screams...

 

 

 

9/10 of those are effeminate Korean men :lol:

 

 

 

Honestly though, outside Korea, no one would give a flying [bleep] if you're a pro Starcraft player

:shock:, I watch these games all the time and no it's not possible to beat the Koreans.

 

Talking about +10 gaming hours per day, here is one of the results http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP6zU7ixqsM.

 

 

 

Anyways I think video games are more of a sport if we compare them to curling, power walking and boule.

[Solidus_77]

About 10+ hours/40 games a day. And there are much better ways of doing a lot of things. It also depends on the individual too. What could be a fun, better, whatever way for you, doesn't mean it is for others.

 

 

 

While that is very true that people would prefer to make friends via professional teams, the amount of time needed to spend to get to that level is so ridiculously huge it outweighs any gains. In that time just imagine all the other stuff you could have done. But I guess for these guys it's an alternative for obscene amounts of time spent playing MMOs and if that's the case then I guess it's better.

 

 

 

The audience is usually 70% female, unless Tossgirl is playing; then it's 70% male :P. And I like the openings :P.

 

 

 

70% female to something related to gaming is already hard to believe (unless it's for mario kart or something), but 70% attending the nerdiest of nerdiest activities? There's no way in hell I'm going to believe that till I see some sources :lol: . That, or Korean girls are really desperate/crazy.

[Caxis]

While that is very true that people would prefer to make friends via professional teams, the amount of time needed to spend to get to that level is so ridiculously huge it outweighs any gains. In that time just imagine all the other stuff you could have done. But I guess for these guys it's an alternative for obscene amounts of time spent playing MMOs and if that's the case then I guess it's better.

 

 

 

Starcraft is basically a sport like baseball, or soccer in Korea. Players get sponsored by big corporations like Samsung. In the OSL, first place prize is about $40,000 USD with second place being half. And since most players are around 20 years old, that's quite a fair bit of cash.

 

 

 

70% female to something related to gaming is already hard to believe (unless it's for mario kart or something), but 70% attending the nerdiest of nerdiest activities? There's no way in hell I'm going to believe that till I see some sources :lol: . That, or Korean girls are really desperate/crazy.

 

 

 

It was from a commentary, but considering that pro gamers are basically celebrities in Korea, it's not surprising. The games are broadcast on TV, the players get interviewed, and probably end up on magazine covers and such. I mean, take a look at Brad Pitt. He's considered one of the most attractive men in the world, and many women would love to see him live. It's the same thing, fans want to see their favorite players so they go to tournaments to watch.

[Solidus_77]

Starcraft is basically a sport like baseball, or soccer in Korea. Players get sponsored by big corporations like Samsung. In the OSL, first place prize is about $40,000 USD with second place being half. And since most players are around 20 years old, that's quite a fair bit of cash.

 

 

 

Absolutely, that goes without saying. That amount of cash can be (for some people) a good reason to sabotage a portion of their life or "growth their natural talent". It's just that for any reason other than that, you're wasting your time. Still that's a hawt prize.....

 

 

 

It was from a commentary, but considering that pro gamers are basically celebrities in Korea, it's not surprising. The games are broadcast on TV, the players get interviewed, and probably end up on magazine covers and such. I mean, take a look at Brad Pitt. He's considered one of the most attractive men in the world, and many women would love to see him live. It's the same thing, fans want to see their favorite players so they go to tournaments to watch.

 

 

 

Ok, I rest my case. It just seems ironic that girls worship the king of nerds. Although if you think they are popular, j-drama k-drama male actors seem to have formed armies of insane fangirls who will do anything for them.

[monkeyboo2]

Sport: "An athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature."

 

 

 

Anyone who considers playing video games to be a sport or athletics needs to remove head from sphincter and stop taking games so seriously.

 

 

 

I train 4-6 times a week, until I feel like I am about to collapse, then train some more. Running until I throw up is seen as a good thing by my trainer. I am an athlete - somebody with often little social life who sits at home and plays games is not. Nerd works, or pro gamer if they want to try and tell themselves they aren't wasting their time.

 

 

 

I do hate this attitude.

 

Its not just telling yourself that you aren't wasting your time when you earn $100,000 dollars a year playing Counterstrike or Halo 3 or whatever the game is. That is not wasting your time my ignorant friend.

 

 

 

My problem with the whole issue is that people still use the classic gaming stereotype from back when people were playing trying to get the mnost amazing high score on Pacman or arcade games.

 

Gaming has changed alot. And the pro gaming scene is full of people who train, just like you train football for 6 hours a day, and you go out with your mates at nights or w/e.

 

And believe me alot of them aren't just nerds, especially from what I've seen of the FPS scene. 50% are ex-military. Try telling them they're nerds. They're earning a living doing what they've done for years- military tactics.

 

 

 

And yes we know that some people give pro gamers a undesirable name by playing 18 hours a day, just for fun and not earning anything...but STEREOTYPES ARE BASED ON THE EXTREMES, NOT ON THE MAJORITY OF THE ACTUAL PEOPLE.

 

 

 

Thanks to people like Fatal1ty (http://www.fatal1ty.com/), real pro gamers, are trying to change the perception of the sport and the community in general to get E-Sports better respected. :)

[Iamdan]

I do hate this attitude.

 

Its not just telling yourself that you aren't wasting your time when you earn $100,000 dollars a year playing Counterstrike or Halo 3 or whatever the game is. That is not wasting your time my ignorant friend.

 

 

 

My problem with the whole issue is that people still use the classic gaming stereotype from back when people were playing trying to get the mnost amazing high score on Pacman or arcade games.

 

Gaming has changed alot. And the pro gaming scene is full of people who train, just like you train football for 6 hours a day, and you go out with your mates at nights or w/e.

 

And believe me alot of them aren't just nerds, especially from what I've seen of the FPS scene. 50% are ex-military. Try telling them they're nerds. They're earning a living doing what they've done for years- military tactics.

 

 

 

And yes we know that some people give pro gamers a undesirable name by playing 18 hours a day, just for fun and not earning anything...but STEREOTYPES ARE BASED ON THE EXTREMES, NOT ON THE MAJORITY OF THE ACTUAL PEOPLE.

 

 

 

Thanks to people like Fatal1ty (http://www.fatal1ty.com/), real pro gamers, are trying to change the perception of the sport and the community in general to get E-Sports better respected. :)

 

 

 

See, you've managed to completely misinterpret my post. While I could point out the difference between the amount of people earning 100k a year playing sport and 100k a year playing games, my point was that video games aren't sports, and said nothing about the lives of top gamers. Just because they earn 100k a year it doesn't make them athletes, which is why your whole post is completely irrelevant.

 

 

 

I am also talking majority. The majority of gamers who play more than 4 hours a day, won't get anywhere. Which is why I think it's pointless, as in my opinion you gain nothing from it. It's not what I was talking about, but I would also like to add that by playing sports, you gain social skills, competitiveness, fitness, knowledge about your body etc, with gaming you don't gain a whole lot and you can decline in health and real life social skills by making a habit of playing video games this much.

 

 

 

The point that I originally made is that I'm an athlete, I do this for fun, fitness etc. People play games for fun and whatever else, but they aren't athletics or sports.

 

 

 

Just for the record, I'm a sprinter not football player.

[mrpez]

Wii-lympics 09: ushering in a world of obesity!

[Star_Fox]

As for the fangirls thing...

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA7IrRXoYEk

 

 

 

It's kind of hard not to hear their screams...

 

 

 

9/10 of those are effeminate Korean men :lol:

 

 

 

Honestly though, outside Korea, no one would give a flying [bleep] if you're a pro Starcraft player

:shock:, I watch these games all the time and no it's not possible to beat the Koreans.

 

Talking about +10 gaming hours per day, here is one of the results http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP6zU7ixqsM.

 

 

 

Anyways I think video games are more of a sport if we compare them to curling, power walking and boule.

 

do all korean get stereotyped as a good starcraft player? i'm korean. i used to play it, and i couldn't even beat all the mission properly.

[monkeyboo2]

i'm korean

 

 

 

:shock: Now thats something i didn't expect.

 

 

 

I have a question , whip,... In Korea, is playing an MMO looked down on or asked about in a job interview? I saw a documentary abouit Korean gaming/sweatshops where some people failed a job interview because they played an MMO.

 

 

 

Abit of a random question but i was just wondering if the documentary was picking up on a rare case or not.

[Happysniff]

I personally define sport as a contest which requires exertion, and involved competition. Therefore, professional gamers who compete in recognised competitions could, I suppose, be regarded as sportsmen.

 

 

 

Even Chess is counted as a sport these days.

 

 

 

'Athlete' though? Get lost, no chance.

 

 

 

Hell even math is considered a sport these days hence the word 'mathletes' :wall:

 

 

 

This reminds me of this video gaming/gold farming video I watched in class. Apparently there are teams in Asia who play video games such as CS and Warcraft as if they're in a real sports team, as in the go to press conferences and stuff in their own team tracksuit/uniform and meet 'fans' of theirs. And yes, they are considered athletes. Its just plain [developmentally delayed]ed.

 

 

 

Only in Asia (yes thats right, not America, ASIA)

[Star_Fox]

i'm korean

 

 

 

:shock: Now thats something i didn't expect.

 

 

 

I have a question , whip,... In Korea, is playing an MMO looked down on or asked about in a job interview? I saw a documentary abouit Korean gaming/sweatshops where some people failed a job interview because they played an MMO.

 

 

 

Abit of a random question but i was just wondering if the documentary was picking up on a rare case or not.

 

 

 

 

 

sorry. i live in the US. :lol: but my ethnicity is korean.

[VjuliusT]

do all korean get stereotyped as a good starcraft player? i'm korean. i used to play it, and i couldn't even beat all the mission properly.

I/We am/are talking about the pro players there abyssal, the majority are Koreans up there, I didn't mean to "offend" anyone, sorry. Also is it possible to fail at the missions? :shock:.

 

 

 

I didn't know you were Korean ;)(Naise), I'm half Korean here myself.

[Furah]

 

 

 

Oh, and I can't wait until Wii Sports becomes a professional game. :roll:

 

 

 

 

 

it kind of is. you'll be surprised how many people were injured with just a wii remote. :P

 

 

 

that's coz nobody bothers with the wrist strap, NOT from wiielbow

[Guest]

Athlete or not...you have to have SOME skill for TTFAF expert?

[Iamdan]

Athlete or not...you have to have SOME skill for TTFAF expert?

 

 

 

Pfft, TTFAF is for chumps.

on GH2 > TTFAF. Arthritis is probable.

[jjrox32]

The stereotype of "all pro gamers are fat nerds" is so off it's not even funny. I doubt anyone here (besides maybe Monkeyboo) watches MLG tournaments, but you'd be hard pressed to find a fat guy on a top team there (there used to be one fat guy named Karma, but he lost something like 90 pounds and is now normal-weight). If you watch Final Boss play, they look like they're Holocaust victims.

[Caxis]

I'd watch MLG games if they had games I liked :lol:.

 

 

 

I just watch the Korean Starcraft leagues :D.

[Solidus_77]

The stereotype of "all pro gamers are fat nerds" is so off it's not even funny. I doubt anyone here (besides maybe Monkeyboo) watches MLG tournaments, but you'd be hard pressed to find a fat guy on a top team there (there used to be one fat guy named Karma, but he lost something like 90 pounds and is now normal-weight). If you watch Final Boss play, they look like they're Holocaust victims.

 

 

 

What about "All pro gamers are nerds"?

[VjuliusT]

The stereotype of "all pro gamers are fat nerds" is so off it's not even funny. I doubt anyone here (besides maybe Monkeyboo) watches MLG tournaments, but you'd be hard pressed to find a fat guy on a top team there (there used to be one fat guy named Karma, but he lost something like 90 pounds and is now normal-weight). If you watch Final Boss play, they look like they're Holocaust victims.

 

 

 

What about "All pro gamers are nerds"?

Now that is indeed correct :thumbup:.

[jjrox32]

How are they nerds? They don't necessarily play anymore than a more-than-casual gamer per day. They don't sit in there basement for 22 hours a day sweating, drinking red bull and eating hot pockets. They play other sports, they have girlfriends/boyfriends. What people seem to ignore is that pro gamers game as a job. The top 3 MLG teams all have 250,000 dollar contracts plus sponsorships plus tournament winnings.

 

 

 

Is there anyone here who wouldn't want to game as a job?

[Solidus_77]

How are they nerds? They don't necessarily play anymore than a more-than-casual gamer per day. They don't sit in there basement for 22 hours a day sweating, drinking red bull and eating hot pockets. They play other sports, they have girlfriends/boyfriends. What people seem to ignore is that pro gamers game as a job. The top 3 MLG teams all have 250,000 dollar contracts plus sponsorships plus tournament winnings.

 

 

 

Is there anyone here who wouldn't want to game as a job?

 

 

 

Alright, I won't ask you to find sources to back up your opinion as long as you don't ask me to look for mine. Ok? Good.

 

 

 

So anyway, it's pretty obvious. Gamers are considered nerds because they put games too much at the center of their life (just like many people on the internet and many people on this forum except for me obviously). Now, professional gamers not only have a huge interest, it's the absolute and complete center of their lives. Therefore, the 'nerd' label applies to them more than anyone. Anytime you see a professional gamer, he's a nerd. Just like anyone who is popular and goes to parties is automatically cool.

 

 

 

Now if that wasn't enough to convince you, it's common knowledge that the most defining characteristic of a nerd is insecurity. All nerds are insecure by definition. Now these "professional gamers" are so insecure that they feel the need to label their activity as "sport" just to give it meaning to them. The girlfriend thing conflicts obviously, but anyone with a tad of experience with either nerds or girls will know that there are plenty of "nerds with girlfriends" and these professional gamers are party of that incredibly small minority (but only because they have "celebrity status" as it was stated before in the thread) compared to the rest of gamers.

 

 

 

Need more convincing? Easy. Keep in mind that these are no brilliant kids who suddenly came out of their mother's whom playing gameboy. They had to train, and a hell of a lot. A professional gamer is like a top level runescape player. He has status, he has fame, and he sacrificed hundreds upon thousands of hours to get to that point so you can automatically label him as a nerd, but the major difference is that the pro already has a damn good life, while the runescape player needs to get one. Ever read Freakonomics? One of the chapters clearly explained, using the example of crack dealers, that some jobs can endure a long period of hardship, bad pay, or health risk in order to rise to the top and then become one of the few people making obscene amount of money. This applies to crack dealers as well as accountants (from what I've heard, the hours they have to work is insane) and of course pro gamers. They will need to sacrifice a huge portion of their life just to get to the top, therefore the ones at the top obviously have made that huge sacrifice and therefore since the huge sacrifice includes playing huge amounts of video games they are obviously well-deserving the label of nerd. Just because they are more successful than the VAST majority of losers who don't quite make it to the big leagues doesn't make them immune. They're just nerds.

 

 

 

:

[jjrox32]

If you wanted sources I could give them to you. I can see why people would think that, I just don't agree with it.

[Solidus_77]

And why's that? Do you envy them? Do you wish you could be like them or something? :lol:

[monkeyboo2]

Solidus i'm still trying to work out which of your post was sarcasm.

 

Obviously some of it was- you can't be serious, but maybe the last paragraph was serious?

 

 

 

I doubt anyone here (besides maybe Monkeyboo) watches MLG tournaments

 

Well I 'watch' some of the online tournaments first hand :). But yeah i watch some Shadowrun and Gears of War when i can.

 

Halo really isn't for me though- the aiming seems abit too basic, and there isn't much tactical stuff to compensate.

 

There's really no tournaments in the UK though besides Matchbox X3 (which isn't perfect) so i gotta play MLG online.

 

 

 

MLG Online Shadowrun Tournament 3 winners-

 

 

 

Noob Unit

 

Leader- Monkeyboo2

 

HNiC Kings

 

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