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I know of eSports, but I've never watched a competition. I don't know how the tournaments are setup or the requirements for the competitions either. So if there are any eSports fans reading this, please put in your 2 cents and let me know your opinion. From the numerous eSports articles I've glanced over, I've seen plenty of comments over the years from people saying that it shouldn't be called "sports" and the players in these competitions shouldn't be called athletes. Now to reference a few of these articles: Back in 2013, the US State Department officially recognized competitive gaming as a professional sport: Source: http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/12/4518936/competitive-gaming-recognized-in-u-s-as-a-pro-sport And as of yesterday, Robert Morris University Illinois will be the first college in North America to offer scholarships to League of Legends players just like they would offer scholarships to athletes that play basketball or football. Source: http://kotaku.com/league-of-legends-is-turning-into-an-actual-college-spo-1593193021 What do you guys think.. are these players professional athletes? Obviously the competitions have some damn good prize money and these competitors have to put in some serious training time to improve their gaming.. But these people are not playing a physical sport and it reminds me of how others still debate whether chess is a sport or not. So.. is "eSports" an actual professional competition of all online games or is it limited to just large game companies and organizations offering prizes for a limited selection of titles? Could eSports also include online chess or poker competitions? Could those individuals also be considered athletes? I'm currently leaning towards the opposite view. Sure there is some time and effort put into the online competition, but I don't think that people who professionally play Madden online should be considered athletes just like the physical players in the NFL. I'm just not seeing it. There are two other things eSports reminds me of. The movie Gamer, which, if you haven't seen yet, I do recommend it because it does have a level of competitive gaming in it. I don't consider the one character in it to be an athlete at all.. he plays a game well and reaps the benefits of being popular for it. I suppose that could be said for any professional athlete out there, but for eSports, it makes me believe that anyone could technically be a professional in any eSports game as long as you put the time into it.. like this professional World of Warcraft player from South Park: It makes me think of all those 100 star Colonials from Battlefield.. are the majority of professional gamers young kids with no jobs, social life or school? With me being outside of the loop of eSports, that is the general image I have in my mind. Perhaps I'm wrong, but most of the pictures I've seen of professional gamers are young adults that look like they just entered highschool. Also, now that I mentioned South Park.. could playing video games professionally lead to other claims besides being called athletes? There is a clip in this South Park episode where Kyle is offered a job as a musician because he plays Guitar Hero professionally and he could entertain people with his gameplay.. go to the 13 minute mark: http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s11e13-guitar-queer-o What do you guys think about eSports?