For this weeks research, I wanted to investigate more about society’s perception of eSports players individually, rather than the industry as a whole. Are eSport gamers considered athletes? Are they changing the definition of a collegiate athlete? According to a study conducted by Winthrop University five higher education currently offer eSports scholarships, including Robert Morris University, University of Pikeville, Maryville University, Southwestern College, Columbia College. And these teams are no joke; Robert Morris allocated $500,000 for their intercollegiate gaming team and the University of Pikeville offers full-ride scholarships where they are called student-athletes and have to maintain a certain GPA as well as committing to practice, video and study sessions. My initial impression, based off this research, is that it seems as though eSports will gradually attract more schools to construct an eSports team and that this is just the start. However, it is hard for me to imagine eSport gamers being recruited to go to college and I have little doubt that I am the only one.
But should eSports be considered a sport? How do we define what a sport is? According to this study, sports are characterized by seven key qualities including play, organization, competition, skill, physicality, broad following, and institutionalization. Generally looking at these standards eSports definitely fits the criteria for most of these features. Yet, it still seems like something is missing for eSports to be accepted by the general public. The feature that sticks out to me the most is physicality. When one thinks about a professional athlete I assume many would coordinated, skilled, and physically superior than the average human being. However, when shown a picture of the typical eSport gamer, the word “athlete” certainly does not come to mind. As a result, potentially creating a disconnect between athlete and gamer that may never be synonymous. In addition, Winthrop cited an article saying, “Until eSports include motion-based video games that track gross motor physical body movements within the game, the general public may not accept eSports as “real” sports” (Jenny et al., 2016). From this quote, I believe that much of population viewing eSports from afar is not convinced these gamers are athletes, and perhaps far from it. It is clear that “movement” is an integral part of what it means to be an athlete. Whether or not gamers are considered “athletes” remains to be seen, but this debate is another aspect of gamers gaining credibility in mainstream culture.
Liam,
This is very interesting. It is hard to believe that eSports has gained this kind of legitimacy in terms of organizational and financial support. I cannot help wonder, however, the extent to which eSports, despite their appropriation of the sports lingo is really considered a “team” in the spirit of debate or robotics teams. They are not athletes in the same ways, but they do “train” and develop strategies for winning. At any rate, in the era where many of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people are types we would more likely classify as “geeks,” it seems clear that eSports functions as a way for the mostly male competitors to access the kind of masculinity traditionally reserved for football, baseball, and basketball players.
By now, the background research should be able to help you focus a bit more on what your project will center on. I think you can do a great project considering perceptions of gamers as “athletes,” where you can interview gamers to see how they might imagine themselves as athletes. You can do a theoretical paper where you consider an agenda for studying eSports more closely. At any rate, it would be immensely helpful to see something that reflects what you have learned in your sociology major.
I look forward to hearing more about the eSports revolution!