eSports at the Olympic Games?
October 06, 2017 | 22:22 |369
At the 5th Asian Games “Ashgabat 2017” held in September, eSports was presented as a demonstrative kind of competition. It was included in the Games program to popularize this activity and attract the attention of the younger generation to the Games. Practice shows that the organizers successfully accomplished the task, because the appearance of the topic of eSports in the publications of Turkmen and foreign media has increased, and at the eSports competitions of the Asian Games one could see a huge number of young people who enthusiastically watched virtual battles.Eziz OREZOV
An idea to include the eSports competitions in the program of international sport games have appeared in the sports community a long time ago, but so far this idea has not found its most forceful expression. Asian games have proved that eSports can become an independent discipline, attract huge attention of the audience and even compete for a separate place in the list of popular sports.
Closely relevant today is the question whether eSports will become the official kind of competitions at the Olympic Games. In the opinion of sports reviewers, chances are increasing every year, as the audience of computer games enthusiasts is growing, and the Olympic Committee needs to increase the interested public that has long demanded the inclusion of eSports in the Olympics program.
- We can not immediately say “No”, the IOC member Tony Estanguet commented in an interview. - Young people are interested in eSports and similar things, and we need the Olympic Games to remain relevant for new generations.
On the other hand, there are many factors that deter sports structures from this kind of sport. Their main argument is that in eSports there is too much cruelty (virtual, of course), which contradicts the principles of Olympism. This argument is easily refuted by the 5th Asian Games “Ashgabat 2017”, where computer games competitions were presented without any naturalistic violence scenes. The program of the competition included only fantasy masterpieces of the industry, and special emphasis was placed on the ability to competently build tactics and work in a friendly team.
Another argument against eSports, is that computer games are currently not conducive to physical and spiritual development. This myth has long been ingrained in the minds of most people who are used to drag their children away from computers, considering their hobby as an addiction.
It is necessary to recognize that in some especially neglected cases, virtual reality does not have a good effect on young players, it damages the eyesight, causes sedentary lifestyles, obesity. But these are exceptional cases that are most striking and remembered, meanwhile, the bulk of computer game enthusiasts lead a normal, healthy lifestyle.
Therefore, the argument about health is not fully consistent, and if we recall that some sports are traumatic and lead to structural changes in the body, then eSports in comparison with them will seem the healthiest kind of competition.
It is already known that the IOC is considering the possibility of the appearance of cyber-contests at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but it is not yet clear what requirements of organization will be made for their participants, and how the tournaments will be implemented. Therefore, there is a high probability that sports officials will take advantage of the experience of their colleagues and conduct the competitions in the same way as it was done in the Turkmen land, where eSports demonstrated its best qualities.
