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Is Starcraft a "sport"? What about chess, poker, golf, uhh hotdog eating etc.? To me, these questions are fundamentally flawed.
When people says "sport", they usually have a preconceived notion of some activity involving balls, nets, stadiums, and possibly bulky equipment. a Sports are associated with physical activity and professional athletes are those who have managed to excel at a game popular enough to earn them money.
The whole problem revolves around the physical activity. This seems to be the one thing lacking from activities that cause debate over this sports-or-not issue. This is why the arguments against the activity go something like: "You just walk around in golf and swing at a ball!", "You just sit there and look at cards!" or "You just sit in front a computer and click your mouse! Ain't no sport man!"
From this line of reasoning, people usually draw the conclusion that the professional player is wasting his life on a game. While this is less true for golf and poker (i think), Starcraft players still receive these kind of insult. To these disgruntled Youtubers, I ask: what's wrong with playing a game? Professional sports are basically glorified games that have, for some reason, captured our attention and large sums of our money. Look at it from an outsider's perspective: two teams try to kick a ball into opposing nets. Two teams try to hit a ball with a bat and run around bases. Doesn't seem that much different from a guy trying to destroy another guy's base through mouse clicks.
(So ...what the hell was my point again? Yea, stream of consciousness does this to me.) To answer my question, Starcraft is not a "sport", a physical activity, as people envision it. However, I believe Starcraft and Professional sports today belong under a wider umbrella term: Entertainment. We watch, we get entertained, they get rich, everyone's happy. It doesn't matter what the activity is. Heck, if people are interested in watching... farting contests, then I say all the more power to the professional farters. Personally, I'd like to just group all entertainers under a broad category and give them all equal respect.
Well, whoever reads that, thanks! I hope it made some sense.
  
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Starcraft and golf require physical talent, poker doesnt.
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In a way, it is a sport. E-sport to be more specific.
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StarCraft is very much a physical activity.
"Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively."
-Wikipedia (yeah yeah, I know it's wikipedia)
Of course it's a sport. Why ask?
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Well put. I actually got into an argument with somebody about this. Unfortunately, I'm not this eloquent. I likes!
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Yea, some people are just too narrow-minded to open their views. :\
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The main debate about this is the difference between a "sport" and a "game." IMO, the major difference between sports and games is physical activity, and while starcraft does require a good amount of physical activity, to me it is still a "game." That being said, there are professional chess players, so what's wrong with professional starcraft players?
Also, being under the cloud term of e-sports does help separate it from other sports as well.
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On October 23 2008 12:04 prOxi.swAMi wrote:
Of course it's a sport. Why ask?
The OP was more subtle.
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On October 23 2008 11:54 Mastermind wrote:
Starcraft and golf require physical talent, poker doesnt.
People have to fight fatigue and impatience to try and stay awake during a high-stakes tourney.
Seems pretty physically demanding to me (esp when compared to SC, not that SC isn't demanding to an extent)
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StarCraft is a mentally and physically tiring sport.
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Physicaally their fingers move super fast :D
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Starcraft is in every way very physical. To train how fat you click/move in every way affects your skill, every unwasted movement goes towards giving you an advantage. While in chess and poker, you can go at a snail's pace and still be the best in the world, Starcraft requires you to be fast.
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1998-2003: Sport no, RTS yes.
2003+: Sport yes, RTS no.
:p
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Katowice25012 Posts
The whole problem revolves around the physical activity
Not at all, the problem revolves around people having a semantic argument about what a 'sport' is and if their favorite activities fall under that umbrella term. Its a ridiculous argument that serves absolutely no purpose.
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Starcraft and other physical sports are quite alike really. Poker may not be seen as a sport either yet it is quite similar to physical sports. The difference is the degree of physicality.
I agree that they are all forms of entertainment but not for the main purpose. I think it lies in the spirit of the competition that makes it so intense and fun to watch, thus entertaining.
Basically we can turn anything into a competition. But in order to capture attention, it requires the competitors to become so attached to it that it becomes their passion and expose it to the community. The popularity of it however, is a whole different situation.
Anyway, basically what I'm trying to say is you don't have to argue if Starcraft is a sport or not. Starcraft and other sports are alike in the way that they can be played professionally in a high competitive level and at the same time be casually played for fun!
Putting it under the entertainment umbrella is a little weak because we will start comparing Starcraft, to sports, to movies, etc. But then again, the competitors are like movie celebrities ">.<"
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E-sports wont make it into mainstream society for a while.
its only big in korea because korea is just awesome
When your average non-gamer thinks about computer games, they think of the little man with the red hat stomping on walking cupcakes, or the average 12 year old sitting infront of a console shooting nazis. Thats where the arguement that e-sports cant be sports comes from.
IMO, feel free to own me
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I would consider something to be a sport if it has a high level of competetiveness and required skill. If things like golf, snooker, darts and shooting all count as sports then SC:BW definitely can be as well.
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i've had this "does e-sports = sports?" debate so many times and owned everyone that tries to argue with me so many times. in the end people just deny that they got beaten and just go with the IM NOT LISTENING TO YOU SO I DIDNT LOSE THE ARGUEMENT BLABLABLA
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games can be a sport
anyone that refuses to accept it will die
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Starcraft is a sport. Have you ever played 8 hours straight? You will be as exhausted as running a few miles nonstop.
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EPT
