Slashdot Mirror
The Real Scars of Korean Gaming
An anonymous reader writes: Professional e-sports have been slowly but steadily gaining a following in the U.S. over the past couple of decades, but in South Korea, it's already arrived as a popular form of entertainment. An article at the BBC takes a look at the e-sports scene there, which is generating huge salaries for the top players, but also injuries and insular lifestyles. It's growing more similar to traditional pro sports all the time. From the article: "A scar, half an inch wide, stretched from just above the elbow and up over his shoulder. 'Our company paid for full medical expenses, so he had an operation,' explained his coach, Kang Doh Kyung. [He] is the best player in StarCraft and has won everything in this field and is still going strong.' Repetitive strain had injured Mr Lee's muscles, deforming them and making surgery the only option to save his illustrious career."
next up: all the gambling tricks.
How is it any less of a sport than, say, chasing a ball around on a field?
when i think of "sport" i think of athleticism. Swimming, baseball football
Competitive chess is a game not a sport IMO and video gaming would fall into the same category as chess.
not knocking the skill, just not sure sport is the right word
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Sports also involve accuracy and reactions. I also think of race car drivers as athletes due to the long mental focus and physical accuracy required (though the drivers prior to power steering and brakes were bigger athletes). On the other hand I don't consider it the same type of athleticism.
Like people who fly airplanes vs those who program UAVs. There are similarities and there are differences. Both do fly however.
They use the term esport to differentiate from traditional sports. Clearly it's what would be categorized as a competitive game, like poker, chess, and other competitive games, and not a sport, which historically differed from a competitive game via athleticism.
In that sense, would you consider bowling or golf sports? Certainly neither are what most would consider athletic. It's more or less a meaningless distinction, though.
Can Mr. Lee fly around the world delivering lectures on free software?
That depends on how long until a game's publisher makes the news for using copyright to stop "public performances" by a league that the publisher doesn't like. An article by Kyle Orland mentions that Nintendo has already shut down Smash Bros. tournaments, and Capcom routinely requires royalty payments to hold Street Fighter tournaments. Once more publishers adopt that practice, e-sports leagues may have to move to developing games for distribution under a free software license.
So Golf ain't no sport?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Then I took an arrow to the wrist.
Bobby Fischer was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1972.
I draw the line at mechanical ability. If video games required none, you or I could probably compete just as well as anyone else on the stage, but that's clearly not the case, especially if you've ever played some of these games. Just because these individuals have limited their athletic prowess to the hands does not put it in the same realm as chess even though it's closer to it than it is to rugby.
To further make the point, are bowling, golf, darts, billiards, or auto racing sports? None of them require much in the way of athleticism, yet they are all considered sports and have professionals who can make a living engaging in them. Which of those, if any, are also on the chopping block?
No. Competition does not equal sport: I've heard professional chess players do weight lifting, but chess and StarCraft competitions are not a sport.
That's why it's an e-sport. There's a distinction and everyone knows what it means.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
i mean thats cool and all...but button mashing is now a sport???
It's an e-sport. E-sport is a different word than 'sport' and it can mean something different.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Let's cut the crap. All those similar competitive GAMES require a similar mind set. Greed, an ability not to get mindlessly bored doing the same thing over and over and over ad infinitum, an inability to achieve anything beyond that (otherwise they would) and of course a total willingness to publicly lie about the virtues of products they are paid promote. 'Er' yah, three cheers for that, why, seriously why?
Hey, I think you just described a career! Well, marketing anyway.
for anyone who wasn't sure who Lee Young-Ho was.
I think (just as you indicate) most people really have no idea about the physical demands a Formula 1 driver has to endure. They have to be ridiculously fit. Most normal people would not stand simply riding along for a single lap at race conditions.
Now, since bowling, golf, dart and billiards *are* indeed classified as sports, I can't see why professional (and indeed, non-professional as well) gaming involving coordination, motor and thinking skills to a very high degree should be classified as anything but.
As far as I can tell, the only reason it's even a question in the first place is due to the stigma (yes) associated with computer games, from a historical perspective, as something non-serious.
Still waiting for that stigma to finally die the fuck out.
that's quite funny in an article about a stress injury requiring surgery happening to a player of the sport.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
[He] is the best player in StarCraft and has won everything in this field and is still going strong
i mean thats cool and all...but button mashing is now a sport???
I'm not sure why that was modded "Troll" but, any activity, certainly any game, that people are willing to spectate will be called a "sport". From the OED:
sport, n.1
[Aphetic form of disport n.]
I. 1.I.1 a.I.1.a Pleasant pastime; entertainment or amusement; recreation, diversion.
It's only recently (last hundred years) that we've come to associate the word "sport" more with physical exertion, as in team sports and Olympic-type sports.
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
Not knocking the skill, just not sure sport is the right word
That's always a good excuse to consult the dictionary! The OED, for instance, has an extensive entry on this word. TL;DR: It's the right word.
If you're gonna make up your own definitions, you're always gonna have to qualify them everytime you use words in your own idiosyncratic way.
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped