E-Sports: A Discussion on Whether it can be Regarded as Real Sports and its Impact on the Future of Sports Industry

This article discusses whether e-sports can be regarded as real sports and its impact on the future of sports industry. It covers the different perspectives of e-sports and its classification, and the possibility of e-sports becoming the dominant player in the sports industry.

Running head: E-SPORTS
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E-sports is a form of the sport played through the audio and video interface. E-sports can
be also referred as video game in broader sense(Paravizo and de Souza 2018). The level of the
playing of these kinds of games can be professional. There is certain discussion those has been
conducted over the decision if the e-sports can be regarded as real sports (Carter, Gibbs and
Arnold 2015). The main objective of this discussion is to gather information if the e-sports can
be referred as the real sports and the impact of e-sports on sports in future.
Whether E-Sport is a sport:
E-sports are the sports those can be referred as the video games. However, the term video
games may not be applicable for the advanced and complex e-sports those have been developed
nowadays as playing those games need the skill at a certain level (Pizzo et al. 2018.). The
increasing complexity of the video games needs the professional players of the games for
winning. The number of professional players of the e-sports is increasing.
The inclusion of the e-sport in the traditional definition of the sport is still is the level of
discussion. Some of the experts think that e-sports are not the sports, however, these can be
defined as the competitions. On the other hand according to the some of the experts the e-sports
can be described as sport as the proper and skillful playing of some of the e-sports needs the
strategy, mindfulness and ability to execute the instruction in a proper way (Carter, Gibbs and
Arnold 2015). The number of professional players of the e-sports is increasing. Many of the
skilled players are adopting the profession of playing the e-sports in a professional level and
some of them are getting reorganization from the different organizations (Paravizo and de Souza
2018). In this context example of Danny Le can be given. He is the professional player of the e-
sports or the video game named League of Legends. He got P-1A visa from America which is

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given to the "Internationally Recognized Athletes" (Hallmann and Giel 2017). Many of the
countries are working on the projects for giving the reorganization of the e-sports and defining
the categories of the e-sports (Jenny, Manning and Ke 2017). The Olympic committee has
admitted the growing popularity of the e-sports and the level of the involvement of the players
while playing the e-sports can be comparable to the athletes .
Considering all these factors regarding the e-sports it can be said that the e-sports of the
advanced level can be referred as the sports (Paravizo and de Souza 2018). However, there are
other opinions those are regarding not including the e-sports as sports, but the factors indicating
to include the e-sports as sports are strong enough and reasonable.
Impact of e-sports on the future of the sports:
The e-sports can be seen from the different perspective of the sports. E-sports can go
through the different modifications to get the stats of the real sports. The classification of the
sports contains many attributes. Some of those may not be applicable for the e-sports. However,
there are certain attributes those can be applicable for the e-sports (Paravizo and de Souza
2018). The future impact of the e-sport will have the significant effect on the sports industry.
However, the level of the effect is dependent on the type of the statues of e-sports in the sports
industry. In this case, three situations can be happened.
E-sports can be regarded as the modern sports or the alternative sports:
E-sports are not considered as the conventional sports officially by most of the countries
and the organizations. However, the organizations and the countries are aware about the growing
popularity of the e-sports. In that case, there is a fair possibility that the e-sports can be regarded
as the alternative form of the sport (Hallmann and Giel 2017). The inclusion of e-sports can be

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done in the different sports events under the modern or alternative sports category. This will let
some of the countries to excel in the e-sports fields (Paravizo and de Souza 2018). The
opportunities and the options in the sports industry will be increased. The innovation of the new
application and new type of e-sports will be developed which will make the industry more
competitive.
The acceptance of e-sports as the part of traditional sports:
The e-sports can be accepted as the part of the traditional sports. In that case, the
professionals playing the e-sports can be treated as the sportsman and e-sports can be considered
as serious practice of the sports (Paravizo and de Souza 2018). The e-sport can be included in
the normal sports event. However, considering the current debate over the inclusion of the e-
sports as the sport, this situation may not be possible.
The dominance of e-sports in the sports industry:
There is a possibility that the e-sports can become the dominant section in the sports
industry. The possibility of occuring this situation is indicated by the growing popularity of the
e-sports. The playing of the e-sports needs the concentration and the strategy. These can be
considered as the hectic and the challenging factor for playing the game (Paravizo and de Souza
2018). There are certain gamming events like World Cyber Game which promotes the
competition of the e-sports (Carter, Gibbs and Arnold 2015). Considering these entire situation
the e-sports in near future can be considered as the dominant player in the sports industry (Jones
2017). However, there is least possibility of happening of this situation as the traditional sports
are still considered as the more challenging than the e-sports and e-sports does not hold some of
the important attributes of the traditional definition of the sports(Lipovaya et al. 2018) .

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Moreover, the popularity of the e-sports are growing however, the proper introduction of the e-
sports is limited within the certain community. Whereas the concept of the traditional sports is
known to the most of the people, hence the acceptance of the traditional sports is more compared
to the e-sports.

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References
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Hallmann, K. and Giel, T., 2017. eSports–Competitive sports or recreational activity?. Sport
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Hallmann, K. and Giel, T., 2017. eSports–Competitive sports or recreational activity?. Sport
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Jenny, S.E., Manning, R.D., Keiper, M.C. and Olrich, T.W., 2017. Virtual (ly) athletes: Where
eSports fit within the definition of “sport”. Quest, 69(1), pp.1-18.
Jones, R., 2017. Hands on the future. Australasian Leisure Management, (122), p.14.
Lipovaya, V., Costa, P., Grillo, P., Volosiuk, A. and Sopina, A., 2018, August. eSports:
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Association (pp. 507-515). Springer, Cham.
Pizzo, A.D., Baker, B.J., Na, S., Lee, M.A., Kim, D. and Funk, D.C., 2018. eSport vs Sport: A
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