Could eSports Find a Place in the Olympics?

For those unaware, the general term of eSports refers to video games which are played in an official and competitive environment. The exact form these take depends on the game itself, the fans and legacy which surround that game, and infrastructure which needs to be included in order to host something like a major tournament. A fighting game tournament like Evolution (2017 prize pool $76,250), built around 1v1 combat, will be different from The International (2017 prize-pool of $24.687 million), a DOTA 2 focused tournament which is built around 5v5 team play.

With these games and tournaments now entering the mainstream, and with the gaming industry itself becoming more entwined with traditional mainstream media, we have to wonder if eSports could hold a place in the world’s largest competitive tournament, the Olympics. In this article, we take a look at the arguments for including these types of games, and why they might succeed while others like chess and poker have failed.

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Measuring Similarities

The general argument as to why mental sports like chess have not been included into the Olympic roster tends to center on their lack of a physical component. Chess, like poker, does not rely on physical ability on anything more than a very base level. This means that anyone with a high-level understanding of the game, with zero actual practice, can (at least in theory) perform at the highest level of play. As the Olympics is known as the foremost physical tournament, it makes sense that some would consider chess a violation of the spirit. While we would love a dedicated tournament for mental type games, that is a conversation for another day.

By looking at the examples of chess and poker, we can see why video games can blur the lines between these mental games and a physical sport. If we use fighting games as an example, the closest approximation we have in traditional gaming would be some sort of combination of speed-chess and juggling. Performing at a competitive level in fighting games not only requires a high-level technical understanding of the game and concepts, but also the muscle memory, reflexes, dexterity, and real-time problem-solving skills to overcome whatever the opponent throws at you. In other terms – this is not a sport somebody could win without practice, no matter how complete their technical understanding alone, thus separating it from the likes of poker and chess.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KS7hkwbKmBM

Evo Moment #37 – One of the Most Famous eSports Moments Ever

We also can look at the surrounding infrastructure of eSports, which in some ways mirrors that of traditional sports. The individuals and teams who compete in high-level tournaments rely on managers and coaches to help guide them and ensure both the business and gameplay aspects are of an acceptably high and competitive level. The same can be said for sponsorship, with a variety of businesses like Betway getting in on supporting teams like the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Ninjas in Pajamas.

Breaking Boundaries

When looking at the inclusion of newer sports and games into the Olympics, we also need to examine the role of stigma and traditionalism. Here we can use the above video of Evo Moment 37 as a prime example. Those of us involved in fighting games, who understand the difficulty of the shown game, the pressures of tournament play, and the technical skill on display here are suitably excited by what we see, as is the crowd. Anyone who has the still-common but slowly outdating attitude of video games as a hobby for kids would be far more likely to see that video as silly and embarrassing.

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This really ties into the cultural attitudes regarding sports, and the mass acceptance of newer developments. While, at the moment at least, there will be many on the Olympic committee who do not play video games, and have no interest in doing so, this is an attitude which will necessarily change over time. The youth of today grow have grown up with video games, and their inclusion among modern mainstream media, they understand them on a far deeper level than most, and will eventually become the voice of the majority rather than the minority.

As to when we might see these attitudes manifest as an acceptance of video games into the Olympics, that is not something we could predict with any degree of accuracy. While we do fully expect that, one day, eSports will hold a place in the Olympics, it could be a very long time before we see this happen.