According to Google, the definition of sport is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” This definition makes sense; every sport requires athletes that train to be the best and compete in front of an audience. According to this definition, competitive video games are not sports, because there is no physical exertion. However, it’s not that straightforward.

First, some background. Competitive video games are known today as esports. Professional esports “athletes” compete in one of several games full-time to entertain viewers and win prize money in tournaments. Esports are an industry growing so quickly that its expected by Forbes to be worth over $1 billion by the end of 2018. This year, the League of Legends North American Championship had of 76 million viewers, which is 72% as many viewers as the 2018 Super Bowl, and that is only one of many tournaments in one of many games.

Esports are significant and cannot be ignored; however, are they sports? The main argument against this definition of esports as sports is that there is little physical exertion. While this may be true, many other activities that are popularly considered sports lack physical exertion as well, such as target shooting, motor sports, and fishing. These sports are defined less by heavy physical exertion and more by precision, coordination, and experience. These three skills required of athletes in these (admittedly minor) sports are all skills required in esports.

Does this mean that esports are just as much a sport as target shooting, motor sports, and fishing? I believe that technically, it does. Of course, culturally, it is not accepted as a sport, so I wouldn’t go around referring to it as a sport since it’s not popularly accepted as one. However, I believe it has enough similarity to a sport that it deserves the same recognition as as a sport.

Esports cannot be dismissed due to its economic size, as I noted earlier that the esports industry is skyrocketing. However, esports players cannot be dismissed as athletes either. Their physical precision, team coordination, and work ethic require more hours of work than I can imagine. An ESPN article reports that common practice hours include 12 hours a day, 7 days a week of scrimmages, strategy analysis, and drills. Like most competitive scenes, esports has incredibly fierce levels of competition that require relentless work.

This relentless work found in sports leads to a tragic end: early retirement. Like in many sports, esports players experience mental burnout, physical injury, and displacement by up-and-coming younger players that force them to retire early, usually as young as in their early twenties. Like retired athletes in other sports, esports players often settle down after their tumultuous careers and finally go to college and get a more standard job.

Esports are like any other sport. They have a gigantic and growing market and viciously competitive players. They have dedicated fan bases, an international audience, inspiring underdog victories, and tragic downfalls. However, society often relegates esports to the role of youthful fad. I cannot deny them by claiming that esports are sports by definition, but I can say that esports are real and they cannot be ignored for much longer.