eSports are various competitive video games typically played by professional gamers. There are mainly three different types of eSports: first-person shooters, real-time strategy and the one that's most popular right now, multiplayer online arenas. Popular games among these categories include: "Call of Duty", "Starcraft 2" and "League of Legends". They are all fast-paced games with a lot going on within the gameplay. August 8th, the Associated Press published their article stating that the co-president of the Paris Olympic Bid Committee, Tony Estanguet, will keep an open mind when talking to eSports representatives and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) about the possibility of eSports officially joining the 2024 Olympic program.
I can only imagine how a big deal this is to the eSports community and its professional players; all of the fans respect and love the will and dedication these players put into mastering a single game. Usually, professional players spend over ten hours training/redefining their skills and strategies every day. That is truly a sacrifice of their time; however, the amount of money they earn makes up for that loss of time (I'm talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes even millions).
In April, OCA (Olympic Committee of Asia) formally recognized eSports as an official sport for their Olympics in 2022, so it was only a matter of time until the IOC was pressed the question if they will do the same. Tony Estanguet knows how much the new generation loves eSports gaming and is willing to look for some common ground.
In my opinion, I think adding eSports to the Olympic games is not a bad idea. Business wise, it makes sense to add it because it will then bring a larger audience watching the Olympics. In the recent years, the viewing rate for the Olympics have been going down and will probably keep going down. Meanwhile, the gaming community will continue to grow bigger. What better way to appeal to the gaming community than to add eSports to the program?
Of course, there's the obvious argument that this is not a "real sport" because it's not a physical one. While I can certainly agree that eSports is not a physical type of sport, it doesn't mean that these professional players don't behave like professional athletes in "real sports" do. They have the same level of determination and characteristics as athletes have that we simply can't ignore.
I can also see how older people would probably find this pretty ridiculous or weird and to their credit, I did too. However, once you see how hard these professional players work, you can't help but respect them. Some may also need to realize that culture is always going to change throughout the years and this is one of those necessary changes for us to keep moving toward the future.
