Notes

Gaming has been around for about fifty years, and unlike other sports that were quickly accepted into the mainstream such as basketball, gaming has continued to be shunned by mainstream analysts. Many people, especially those of Generation X who did not grow up with the technology we have today. These critics of gaming becoming a sport can’t understand why sitting in a chair and competing against other teams should be considered. Gamers participating in these competitions are quite similar to traditional sports, but are not nearly as recognized. For all their effort and expertise, gamers get small salaries compared to others in traditional sports. Instead, critics believe that to be considered a sport, a sport should include athletic prowess as well as skill in the game. To add to their misconceptions, some think that the skill needed to play video games competitively is less than that of a traditional sport. Thus, deviating from popular opinion, gaming in the twenty first century should start to be considered a sport because of the unrecognized similarities between traditional sports and gaming.
Games such as League of Legends are highly competitive and have always required “elite level reaction speed,” according to Hunter Hillenmeyer, a former NFL linebacker. He added, “they have stamina that would be the envy of top fighter pilots or race car drivers, who would never endure a fourteen-hour marathon training session.” Top level gamers can perform up to three hundred actions per minute, or over eighteen thousand precise movements with their controller an hour, showing how extremely fast these players’ reflexes are. Furthermore, many top gamers have extremely short careers ranging from two to five years. Many professional gamers are done with their careers by age twenty-four. Compare this to basketball players who can start playing in the NBA at age nineteen, and if good enough can continue into their late thirties. If gamers really reach peak performance so quickly, then they must be doing something so fine-tuned that any mechanically related skill erosion can put them behind the rest of the growing pack. Additionally, many athletes “often sleep only four hours a night and practice between twelve and fourteen hours per day.” (Business Insider, paragraph 8). Compared to a professional from a traditional sport who only practices on average five to six hours a day many athletes have quicker skill erosion. ("Professional Athlete." Fact Monster. Fact Monster, n.d. Web. 03 May 2016.) These athletes who have what is considered extremely rare skill sets deserve as much recognition as the many other traditional sports athletes. On the other hand, many critics believe that gaming is mainly the stereotypical gamer who is on the couch all day eating snacks. is less than that of a traditional sport. Additionally, many can’t see past the stereotypical gamer. Jimmy Kimmel, a television host recently insulted the new YouTube Gaming channel stating, “we should all be very ashamed of ourselves for failing as parents.” They add to their argument saying, that without physical activity something can not be considered a sport. This view can seem realistic because the "consolidation of organized sport in the nineteenth century reinforced the notion of sport as physical competition” (Oxford Dictionary) in many western European countries. However, since the late twentieth century, chess, a game that does not require physical activity has been considered a sport by the International Sports Federation. Gaming, just like chess uses minimal physical activity but makes up for it in complicated strategy and need extreme skill. The view is also undermined by the fact that gamers have to constantly concentrate for over five hours every weekend while under spotlights. Now, just like many traditional sports gaming organizations are beginning to hire psychologists for the mental stress put on players.
            Professionals from traditional sports have much in common with professional gamers. Gamers, as well as professionals in other sports have to deal with stress, run the risk of developing injuries, and they take part in competition. Because the amount of stress put on professional gamers is so immense many organizations, also known as teams have begun to hire full time psychologists. This recent addition to many organizations brings quite a large aspect of professional sports into gaming. These sports psychologists are hired to give players a mental edge, and enhance performance by reducing stress. Just like traditional sports, organizations are constantly looking for the edge over opponents. Athletes from both sports also run the risk of developing injuries through overuse of muscles. Many people understand the dangers you sign up for when playing a traditional sport, they expect the bone fractures, breaks, the muscle damage. But what about for professional gamers, the players who are practicing fourteen hours a day. These gamers can suffer a variety of arm injuries, as well as injuries to the hands. Gamers, just like traditional athletes can develop injuries through overuse of specific parts of the body. Injuries such as tendonitis, “caused by the repetitive strain of online game playing” (Andrew Griffin) can end player’s careers. Many people are unable to associate gamers with injuries, but just like in traditional sports it is a risk you have to take if u are going to constantly be using specific muscles to practice, and compete. On the contrary, almost anything can cause stress, from test taking to skydiving and neither of those are considered a sport. Critics consistently point out the similarities between gamers and traditional professionals are not substantial. Also, many normal people have similarities between athletes like work ethic and skill in a particular area. To continue on the same note, anyone can get hurt doing daily activities. Many people can develop tendonitis through any type of repetitive movement such as writing and typing. Despite opponent’s claims, the psychologist hired for gamers have to be highly specialized for the types of stress that many people have never dealt with before. Playing under pressure may not seem like much, but in a study conducted by UCL, non-professional athletes reacted half as fast with stress than without. On the other hand, professional athletes were able to act with an average of twenty percent more speed with stress compared to without showing how much these phycologists can help athletes with mental techniques as well as teaching cognitive thinking. (Alice Boyes Ph.D) Things like this push gamers and traditional professionals away from the average person.
            Last year the League of Legends World Championship brought in over 36 million viewers, more than double the amount of people who watched the NBA finals in 2014. These competitions are based on global ratings of teams in North America, Europe, Korea, China, and Brazil. The amount of competitions that can bring in more viewers than a professional sport, let alone double the viewers rarely happens, which is yet another reason why these players deserve for their games to be called a sport. Top teams can be practicing near fourteen hours a day, for over eleven months of the year. During the regular season thousands of fans show up to cheer on their favorite teams. League of Legends has hosted tons of tournaments and many have been in huge arenas such as the Madison Square Garden in New York, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, as well as many other arenas across the globe. Just like the NBA, League of Legends gives prize money to top teams for winning the regular season, as well as international tournaments. While prize money can be significantly less than that of a professional sport winning the World Championship still gives a payout of over 1 million dollars. Competitions such as this enable professionals to compete at the highest level without having to play teams who may be unprepared in the regular season. When given the claim on competition, many rivals of gaming becoming a sport quickly state that anything can get a lot of views such as popular shows and highly anticipated movies. Also, many gaming programs get views from streaming sites such as Twitch.tv, Azubu.tv, or the own games broadcasting sites. On the contrary to many critics’ points,