eSports

• Real-time strategy
• Fighting
• First-person shooter
• MOBA

Comparing eSport and traditional sport

1. Strategy
2. Fitness
3. Reaction times

So, is esports really sport?

“Judo and esports are not that dissimilar. There are tournaments, you have to climb up a ladder to eventually compete with the best. In terms of training you have to put in the same amount of hours, perhaps even more in esports. You study strategy, technique and opponents. All the elements are there – the excitement, the adrenalin, players crying tears of sorrow and joy.”

                                               - Michal Blicharz, originally from Poland, is a former judoka                                        who has fulfilled many roles in esports, from competitor to referee to coach. He now organises esports events around the world.

“To have kids sitting there looking at computer screens indoors, alongside snowboarding and freestyle skiing and all the rest, it just doesn’t seem right,” he says. “When I was a kid, sport was all about getting outside, getting wet, muddy, out of breath – you’re not going to get out of breath smashing your thumbs on a controller. I just think it’s a bit weird really – but maybe I’m just getting old.”  

-Tim Warwood, a former UK snowboarding champion who now commentates for the BBC. 

eSports includes many elements of traditional sport – so why should it be viewed any differently from dressage, ice dancing or billiards?