There’s no more denying how popular e-sports is becoming. Gaming events for games the likes of Starcraft, Dota 2 and League of Legends (LoL) are attracting huge crowds and even filling up stadiums.
The next step for e-sports and competitive gaming, however, is to be included into the Olympic Games, according to World of Warcraft creator Rob Pardo. And he believes it isn’t quite a ridiculous proposal.
Speaking to BBC, the former chief creative officer at Blizzard said there’s a “very good argument” for e-sports to be in the Olympics.
“Video games are well positioned to be a spectator sport,” said Pardo.
E-sports are giving gamers a pathway to becoming pros these days, just like sport athletes.
True enough, the LoL World Championship Final in Seoul, South Korea in October, for example, saw some 40,000 spectators gracing the World Cup Stadium. No kidding, we were there to witness the craze first hand.
“I think the way that you look at e-sports is that it’s a very competitive skillset and you look at these professional gamers and the reflexes are lightning quick and they’re having to make very quick decisions on the fly,” he said.
Of course, he understands there will be hardships and criticisms for e-sports when trying to gain mainstream attention. Ultimately, he said, it will be about how a “sport” is defined.
E-sports have become immensely popular, even filling up stadiums at live tournatments. – Photo by AFP
“If you want to define sport as something that takes a lot of physical exertion, then it’s hard to argue that video games should be a sport, but at the same time, when I’m looking at things that are already in the Olympics, I start questioning the definition,” said Pardo.
Either way, it would most likely take a long time before we do (if ever) watch gamers battle it out in-game in the Olympics. It would, however, be quite an interesting addition – or at least that’s what this fellow R.AGE writer/gamer thinks!
How about you? Let us know what you think about e-sports and if it’s worthy of being in the Olympics in the comments.
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