10 Reasons Why eSports Are Not Sports

There are way more than 10 reasons why eSports not sports, but trying to convince people is a tough prospect. Seriously, you’re pressing controls and manipulating a bunch of pixels.

There’s little to no real effort

Mental effort? Yes. Physical effort? The worst injury an eSport contestant might get is wrist strain or eye strain.

Getting eye strain isn’t the same as spraining a muscle

Sure, you need your eyes. But stop staring at the screen for a few minutes and drink some water. Spraining a muscle is a little more problematic.

The level of skill is not the same

There is skill in learning how to play a video game. But it’s a little more impressive to watch an athlete perform than to watch a gamer dominate another gamer.

Sitting on a chair vs. getting up and moving

Seriously? Sitting down in a chair is something you learn as a child, as is staring at a screen for hours on end. Getting up and moving about, and learning how to coordinate your movements, is a lot more interesting.

An athlete can learn how to play a video game…

When one looks at it, athletes know how to coordinate their movements and handle multiple combinations that exhibit great feats of dexterity. In other words, they can learn to handle a controller.

…eSports gamers often aren’t fit enough to engage in sports

This isn’t indicative of everyone, since some gamers are in decent shape. But still, many of them couldn’t run more than a lap without being gassed.

It inspires people to sit on their butts more often

A sedentary lifestyle is not ideal for many people. Gamers do get up and walk around, but their level of fitness doesn’t really inspire anyone.

Lack of physical activity is not a good thing

Think about how many hours a person has to sit to master a game. Some of them last hours and hours, if not days. That’s a lot of time just sitting around doing nothing from a physical standpoint.

Comparing a video game to sports is ludicrous

Even with top-of-the-line technology a game can’t compare to a sport. Even VR, which gets close by initiating physical exercise, isn’t quite the same.

Video games are fun, but getting paid to play them?

Remember back in the day when being good at a video game meant you were admired by people around you? Getting paid for that is essentially glorifying being lazy.