Should Video Games Be a Sport?


Awesome set up for playing video games.

Cole McVay and Griffin Bakken

The question gets asked over and over again, should video games be a sport? This hot topic is one that is always up for a debate. Video games have the same competitive nature and feel of a sport, however, It is typically hard to call video games a sport because of the fact that while you are playing your favorite video games, all that you are doing is just sitting on a couch moving nothing but your left and right thumbs. There is absolutely no question that video games are nothing less than entertaining, but the real question is, do they qualify as a sport?

Many people would argue that the highly competitive nature alone is more than enough to qualify video games as a sport. Mr. Miranda, a Peninsula High School teacher, said, “anytime you have people excelling and competing at the highest level it should be a sport,” however Mr. Miranda also said, “it would be a different type of sport… not an athletic sport.”

Mason Fisher, a Senior at North Mason High School, said, “it’s a fun competition that’s entertaining to watch… so it should be considered a sport.” Miranda and Fisher both bring up very fair points to why video games have the mental feel of a sport. Video games are a big part of a lot of people’s lives and they bring so much joy and entertainment to the table. Weather it’s a video game tournament or a you and some friends just hanging out playing some games, video games are nothing short of amusing.

Even with the outstanding competitive spirit and incredibly high skill levels of those competition gamers, video games are very tough to appeal as a sport, because the dictionary definition of a sport is “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess.” Video games are not really an athletic activity. Another reason video games are hard to pass as sports are because of the athletic ability required to play video games, you do not need to be athletic to play video games. Video game competitors are not athletes. Peninsula High School teacher Mr. Pratz said “video games are not a sport,” Mr. Pratz also said “video games are competitive, but that doesn’t make them a sport.” Video games have potential to be in the same category as sports, just based on the amount of skill and hard work it takes to be good at video games, but video gamers are not athletes.

The main debate comes down to what makes a sport a sport. Some people would argue that it comes down to whether it involves a person’s physical athletic ability while the other half of the people would claim that it just has to be a competition to be a sport. Video games should not be counted as a sport, they are very entertaining nobody could argue that however, they require no athletic talent. To be a sport you need to have athletic capability.However the fun and excitement that the video game community brings to the world will stand solid through it all.