This essay will aim to answer whether esports should be considered an Olympic sport moving forward. It will look to draw on various definitions of sport and apply those to the phenomenon of esports as well as compare the spectacle to traditional sports. Esports covers a variety of titles across a number of genres of games, with most being predominantly played on a PC.
Firstly, a definition of esports must be established; one cannot say they are partaking in esports simply by sitting at home, playing xbox and drinking beer. Esports is defined as competitive tournaments of video games played by professionals with a viewing audience. The key words which should be addressed here are “professional”, “competitive” and “audience”.
Immediately, a link can be made between two of these key words and Coakley’s definitions of sport. One of his four definitions of a sport is “sports are competitive activities” (Coakley, 2004) where he goes on to compare the difference of two girls kicking a soccer ball around and the Chinese women’s national team; a clear difference in level which can be compared to that of someone sitting at home playing video games casually and those who compete on stages in front of thousands of people.
The second keyword which we can refer to Coakley is “professional”. Being a professional would suggest that there is some kind of structure to the activity with a clear wall defining what is recreational, amateur and professional is. Coakley says “sports are institutionalized activities” which leads him to break this down into four areas; rules become standardized, official regulatory agencies exist, technical aspects leading to strategy and finally learning skills becomes formalized. It is possible to apply all four of these to esports. Most of the following comparison will be applied to the game of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, with the first comparison being to a standardized ruleset. Before each and every event they run, ESL (Electronic Sports League) will publish a rulebook to players and staff which is to be followed throughout the tournament. The document is a usually lengthy and covers a range of scenarios, but also includes rules specific to alcohol and drug use which carries over from traditional sports. The second comparison to Coakley’s definition is with regards to regulatory agencies. In 2015, WESA was formed which aimed to be a governing-type body for Counter Strike which protects players, teams and works with tournaments to achieve the best partnership. “Eight of the world’s biggest pro-gaming teams have joined together to form the World Esports Association [WESA], fighting for player representation, tournament standardization, and revenue-sharing among teams.” (Hern, 2015) Thirdly, an aspect which is especially prominent in Counter Strike, is the idea of coaches and support staff. One team in particular known as Team Liquid have their five-man roster of players, yet also have a coach who helps them with in-game strategy and scouting reports of opponents, a sports psychologist who focuses on team mentality and communication and finally a team manager who micro-manages players at events with respect to scheduling and so on. And finally, the learning of skills, can be argued, has become formalized. Maybe less so with Counter Strike, but certainly with League of Legends, a game which has a clear progression system when it comes to individual skill. The skill ceiling for the game is so high, that there is always a part of your individual play which can always be improved and pointed out by someone such as a coaching figure. With regards to all of these factors, it is clear that there can be a serious argument for considering esports as a sport.
Esports as a whole, especially in forward thinking countries and areas, is being accepted more often as something which should be taken seriously and can compete with sports. For example, a number of German soccer teams have started investing in esports and have FIFA players representing them. “The two German professional football Bundesliga teams, FC Schalke 04 and VfLWolfsburg, have their own eSports team. While FC Schalke 04 generally participates in eSports competitions.” (Hallmann & Giel, 2017) Schalke have a League of Legends team which participates in the League Championship in Europe which has seen other soccer clubs such as Paris St Germaine in France do the same. On this side of the world, however, a lot of high profile owners and organisations have started to buy into esports. “The Philadelphia 76ers organization has broken ground by not only purchasing two esports teams, but will also use its own staff to assist in their operation.” (Heitner, 2016) This was a big move for esports as a whole as the 76ers purchased long standing, UK based, esports brand known as Team Dignitas who still operate under this name. Prior to an already formed brand investing in esports, many people such as Shaquille O’Neal, had invested in already formed teams. “Retired NBA player and Inside the NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal and New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez, are investing in NRG Esports.” (Mueller, 2016) It is clear that esports has gained recognition as a serious industry in many corners of the globe.
However, when it comes to esports, it would be extremely hard to justify it as an Olympic sport for a number of reason. Firstly, the format would be a big question; which games are included? How are they run? Group draw? Playoffs? Best of three or five? Just off the bat, many questions are raised which would require a dedicated group of people to answer and implement into an Olympic style of system. Another area which raises concerns are with regards to teams, some esports naturally have single nationality teams such as League of Legends and Counter Strike. However, recently, we’ve seen teams stray away from this dynamic meaning teams would have to specifically be formed. For example, not one team in the EU or NA League Championship Series is of a single nationality, each has imported players. Continuing on from this, Counter Strike teams have started to look to this approach too with Optic Gaming switching from an NA dominated roster to one of European origin. Similarly with FaZe, who just won ESL One New York, they have five players hailing from five different nations. To form national teams, go through a tryout process and form a practice schedule would take away players from their main teams and form of income, which will more than likely create a negative tradeoff for the players meaning they’d be unlikely to compete.
Finally, the Olympics is intended to be an amateur event. For example, soccer at the Olympics has restrictions on what players can play. Section 13, part 4 of the Regulations for the Olympic Football Tournaments states “All players participating in the preliminary and final competitions of the Tournament shall be born on or after 1 January 1993. However, a maximum of three male players who do not meet this age limit may also be included in the official list of players for the final competition.” This question when applied to esports is in interesting one for sure. When you apply it the aforementioned Counter Strike team, Team Liquid, who are a professional team, their players range from ages 17 to 27. At what point do you create the barrier between pro and amateur? Is it age, years at the top, number if tournament appearances?
To conclude, I think it can be justified that esports could be a “real” sport. However, with regards to the Olympics specifically, I don’t believe it to be necessary. I think the obstacles which would need to be overcome in order to create the event are too many, when we are already in a position where competitive play is too diluted. Every week we have a different Counter Strike tournament. Every week we have League of Legends game across six different regions to watch. Every week we have a different Super Smash Bros event to dive into. The market is so saturated, that esports in the Olympics would have to be an extreme spectacle which sets it apart from the rest, but being once every four year, it may get drowned out by the major events that already exist.
Coakley, Jay. “What are sports? In Sports in society: issues and controversies.” Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004
Hallmann, Kristen, and Thomas Giel. “ESports – Competitive sports or recreational activity?” Cologne, 15 May 2017.
Heitner, Darren. “Philadelphia 76ers Buy Into The Business Of Esports.” Forbes, 26 Sept. 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2016/09/26/philadelphia-76ers-buys-into-the-business-of-esports/#1c7d5ff5105b. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.
Hern, Alex. “Professional gaming gets its first players association with WESA.” The Guradian, 16 May 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/16/professional-gaming-players-association-wesa. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.
Mueller, Saira. “Shaq, A-Rod, and Jimmy Rollins invest in NRG eSports.” Dotesports, 17 Mar. 2016, dotesports.com/league-of-legends/shaquille-oneall-investment-nrg-esports-3081. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.
Rulebooks referenced:
ESL One New York – https://www.esl-one.com/fileadmin/user_upload/ESL_ONE/2017/newyork/ESLOneNewYork2017Rulebook.pdf
Regulations for the Olympic Football Tournaments – https://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/02/54/40/46/oftsregulationsrio2016-e_neutral.pdf
Ben "Hoss" Hosford 