During class this week we looked at the many reasons why video games should be appreciated and studied at such an particular level. While doing so, I saw the many similarities between the world of video games and sports. It made wonder whether video games should be considered more seriously like a sport instead of its own category.
I think the first think we think of for both categories is the sense of play. Both sports and video games are an outlet of play and players play a particular game with some sort of goal and respective rules. In fact, most video games were inspired by many real sports. So why is it that these two similar ideas are not viewed in the same light? My guess would be the main differentiating factor: Competition
In every sport you have to compete and win a certain end objective, often in comparison to other players. However, with video games those constraints are that binding. In fact, some video games do not even need you to compete or even get to an end objective. Others do not place any significance on winning/success and focus sole on completion (say to complete a story or allowing failures to make progress in a game). While there are still games that promote competition, like battle-royales and other simulators, they by no means make up the majority of all video games. Therefore, the argument for why all video games should be seen as a competition gets diluted by the many that are not inherently competitive.
Also, there is a huge stigma on how video games are perceived in the media and in society as a whole. Many are quick to throw the “It’s just a video-game” whenever someone is overly invested/emotional in a video game. While that logical may be used in sports, it doesn’t really hold that much weight because athletes and their respective real world competitions are taken so seriously and often has huge rewards. Athletes gain fame, awards and contracts at such a gargantuan level compared to video games. While it is in on the rise, I don’t think it will ever reach the heights modern sports have amassed to.
