Esports should be officially considered as a sport

I will argue that e-sports should not be officially considered a sport. First of all, I would just like to remind everyone that this debate does not reflect my personal stance on the matter since I am quite a gamer myself albeit not a professional one. Secondly, I will be arguing that it should not be considered a sport "NOW", as in today or within this next year. I cannot say that it shouldn't be considered a sport in the next 100 years perhaps because so many things in the world would have changed by then. Since my opponent did not set any premises as to when it should be considered a sport, I think my premise is fair and should be allowed to stand. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ My opponent enlists 4 qualifications of a sport which he says is backed by numerous resources. Fair enough although he has failed to produce these sources, something I urge voters to take note. But I guess it's not such a big deal. Let us look at the definition provided by Google(actually provided by Google, not searched through Google) Sport: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment This definition seems to go well with my opponent's own criteria for a competition, so we agree on the definition. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Moving on to rebuttals. My opponent starts of with describing how LoL and COGO are extremely popular, extremely competitive, require teamwork etc. I would just like to point out that just because something is popular, competitive and utilizes teamwork, this does not mean it has to be considered a sport. More of this later. My opponent then says that video games require a lot of decision-making, coordination, focus, basically all the good things we learn through conventional sports like football or baseball etc. Again, I will point out that just because something requires decision-making, coordination and so on does not qualify it to be a sport automatically. Now, my opponent admits that video games do not require physical capability. In his criteria #2, he has clearly outlined that a sport should require physical AND mental concentration and exertion. This is simply a blatant contradiction in his arguments. He cites chess, a game that most people consider a sport which does not require physical exertion. I would argue that chess is mostly considered to NOT be a sport. It's put into the subset of "mind games" at most. Chess is not featured in the Olympics. They have their own organisation which I believe is the World Chess Federation and they organise world tournaments, olympiads etc., but no, for the most part, they are not featured alongside football, or sprinting or the other traditional sports and track and field events in the big sport events like Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games etc. etc. My opponent makes good mention that video games utilise the same ranking system as chess. I do hope he realizes that so many sports and games utilize said ranking and pairing system. The pairing system, Swiss is an age-old format which is used in so many events. Just because something utilizes the same ranking system is a pretty weak argument I think. Earlier I said that just because something teaches you to be to be competitive, to have teamwork, to be focused does not make it a sport. Why do I say this? Firstly, I think we can all agree that almost every single game in this world across any generation teaches these values especially to kids when they are growing up. Every single card game, board game, party game features an element of focus, of strategic planning, of negotiation, you name it. Heck, some of the best board games out there really require you to team up with your players to beat the game. I am quite the board-gamer so I know. I would cite the board game Pandemic or the game Settlers of Catan. In fact, these games are so popular that they also have their own Regional Championships leading up to World Championships. The only reason they are not so famous is because they don't get as much sponsors probably because they want to keep the game as it is: fun, casual and to stay away from becoming a profesional entity. Don't just stop at board and card games. What about role-playing games, debates, public speaking, mock role-playing which require people to assume roles and negotiate their way out of situations. All of these teach valuable skills too. By my opponents' argument of how a sport should teach and promote values, he would, therefore make all these activities sports too. And these stuff are not just games for high school and university students. Companies spend a lot of money on workshops which utilize games like these to train their staff on valuable real-life skills. My opponent makes a good point when he says professional video gamers spend a lot of time so this means that real skill is required and not just mere luck. I would argue that students spend so much time studying. Exams should also be considered a sport. You have to sit down for three hours answered problem-solving questions, before the exam you really have to team up and discuss questions and strategy, you spend a lot of time memorizing and getting things wrong and fixing stuff. This is especially so for engineering, law and medicine students. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ At the end of the day, everything my opponent said about video games is present in so many other stuff we do in our day to day lives. By his logic, we would have to introduce probably hundreds of other sports. Now, I will argue why E-sports should not be considered a sport. E-sports does not fit our traditional views of sport. You don't go out. You don't sweat. You don't spend time in the sun. For a sport to be a sport, like it or not, it has to fit our traditional views of sports as sweaty, physical, strategic games. That's how it is. As I have said at the start, the premise I have set is whether e-sport should be considered a sport "NOW" or at least in this next year or so. Yes, you can argue as you have already done how e-sports are just as good as other sports and I believe I have rebutted you sufficiently. However, the last fact is that e-sports does not require you to get off the couch so to speak. If the majority of e-sports require you to dance it off or throw a simulated soccer ball for example then the world would probably be kinder to pass it as a sport. I will give you an example of another activity which is not considered a sport until recently. The game floorball. Only recently did ASEAN finally allow it to be included in the ASEAN Games. Floorball is very much a physical and team game. It was hard for the community to accept it as a sport because the majority of people did not know it to even exist. I guess the conclusion I am making is that a sport has to fit the traditional views of what a sport is. I don't like it, You don't like it either. But that's how it is. But the thing is you don't need it ti be considered a sport to enjoy it. Thousands of people participate in Pokemon TCG and VGC every year with big price pools too. They accept that it is not a sport. It is a GAME. But it's a great game nevertheless.