Persuasive Essay: Are Video Games A Sport?

Are video-games a sport?
In recent years a pressing topic that has surfaced, especially among parents to children involved in such activities. I am of the belief that they are as real of a sport as football and hockey and that professional gamers should for all intents and purposes be considered athletes. And I write this in hopes of convincing even the most stubborn of reader that video games are, in fact, a sport.

To start things off, lets look at the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of sport: “An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”. Here you might argue that sitting in front of a computer clicking some buttons isn’t physical exertion, but I say that is ignorant, just because it doesn’t make you sweat enough

with tickets to the League of Legends world finals selling out in 1.5 minutes amassing an incredible 50 thousand spectators live and 27 million watching from the comfort of their home. While e-sports do not currently have regional team, the one’s who get to compete at the professional level are selected in a similar way, with brackets where teams fight to the top, and those who make it get a chance at going pro. And the teams aren’t just a collection of youths with too much time on their hands, but actual organisations with owners, coaches, captains, managers, analysts and subs, with some even going as far to include positions such as psycologists and cooks while having dedicated houses where the players live and socialise with eachother. There are some cases where the team also makes a brand of itself, selling various merchandise including the teams logo etc, things not alien to a “regular” sports