Is competitive gaming a legitimate sport?

NO. it is not a sport. hobby yes but not a sport

so anyone who owns a pc and console to play games is a sporting person ?

or do they need to play it competitively before it turns into a sport ?

if i play tennis for recreational purposes does that make my tennis game 'not' a sport ?

or do i need to play tennis competitively to make it a sport ?

lol...

Next time don't invite "experts" over 60 years old.

I do believe it's a sport. It's a competition, and you need mental and physical prowess to do it.

Please all these experts can make the definition of "Sport" ?

All you say is , gamers are sitting in dark rooms , using energy drinks and playing games.

What a stupid arguement.

What does basketball player do ? Or american football player ? Or football player ?

So when its phsical its a sport , but when its digital its not ? What define sport ? Playing 25 match in a season and appearing in some commercial is definition of sportsman ? Yeah right.

Calling yourself is "Gamer" and im not doing sports is more stupid than the first thing i meantioned. When you go out with your friends and play basketball game , that means you are a sportsman ?

Real SPorts did another Story on this a while back. I forget who was doing the interviews, I think it was Mary Corillo, had a different opinion then. In the episode she went to a league of legends tournament, and spent some time with a player. AT the end of the episode when Gumble asked her if this was a sport, she said yes, because of the amount of training that they put in, and for some weird reason the endorsements they get. I wonder why she has changed her mind?

No need to merge esport and sport, gamers got own competition in video games, thay take part in this, watch this, live with this.

eSport is eSport

Sport is Sport.

While there is competition in eSport then this is interesting.

"Is competitive gaming a legitimate sport?"

Of course not! Real sports are Chess, Poker, Darts, and Spelling.

I've been a gamer all my. Gaming is not a sport, no matter how much these nerds want it to be so.

Video games are products made by companies to make money, these companies control the games. Something like that can't be a medium for a sport. It's just dumb. It's entertainment, nothing more. You can call it a competition, have tournaments and whatever but don't call it a sport, because it's not.

It is an acquired sill, but it is not a sport...same as Golf and Bowling.
-a skill being something that can be honed with practice alone (athletic ability having little to do with it)
-versus a sport where athletic ability is just as important as the practice one puts in

One could practice every day and be a professional golfer/bowler (or gamer in this case). They may never be number one, but they could at least make the professional tour.
Most people here, even if they practiced every day, would never make the NFL or NBA.
To me, that is what separates a skill from a sport

While many are divided on the issue, I think that gaming is a new frontier in sport that hasn't been previously considered. It all depends on how you choose to define a sport really. These guys train both physically (there are actual training camps for this sort of thing) and mentally to compete in those games.

I agree with the woman on the left... it's a game, not a sport as with chess. kids sitting in front of a monitor motionless tapping a kb and wiggling a mouse is not a sport! the old guy's jacket is older than those kids playing LoL. ha

Is Championship level Chess a Sport? Playing that in speed matches would equal current Esports imo

Seriously, ice dancing is a 'sport' and eGaming isn't?

If sports are determined by physical exertion then where does target shooting, darts, 10-pin bowling, lawn-bowls, and curling fit in?

I think there's a very big confusion today between sport and competitive contest.

It's not a sport. Fact!

I'd have to say that video games shouldn't and should be a sport.

Shouldn't, because it's meant to kill time and meant for mindless fun.

Should because, now games are getting very detailed in consequences in making wrong moves.

When I started to play against pros... Let me tell you, my mind kicked into high gear, enough to stress me out in a good way, the same way it mentally stressed me out in my years of soccer.

Videogames were meant to be mindless fun, but the objective is to always beat the other person/AI, thus competitiveness.

Please do not call gaming a sport. This is entertainment, nothing more. To call it a sport is an insult to real sport and real sportsmen and women as they are compared to some no-lives sitting in dark rooms, high on energy drinks.

I don't consider "eSports" a sport at all. It's more of a competition than a sport. While all sports are competitions, not all competitions are sports. That's where "eSports" fits into.

Pff...

eSports is as much a sport as automotive sports... They both require you to sit down and do your thing while not even breaking a sweat.

The mainstream just doesn't want to admit that gaming is not just gaming anymore, it's so much more.

If video games can't be called a sport, then don't say chess is a sport. Thumbsticks require more physical activity than what chess does.