Video games are a kind of sports, just like chess

Существует точка зрения, что видеоигры нужно приравнять к виду спорта. В данной статье приводятся аргументы, освещается история вопроса. ...

Introduction
Process of playing
Can video games be a kind of Olympic sports?
Championships and Champions
Their effect
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited

There are many points of view towards video games. Of course nowadays almost everyone at least has heard something about them, many people play (not always teenagers, I should admit) and find it really enjoyable. But the question is if video games are just “thieves” of our time, a useless activity and people would better do something else or they should be considered more valuable? What if they are a kind of hobby, which a person should not be ashamed of?

A video game is not just like a usual game, it can be a combination of games – that is why video games are extremely popular, as films and music. The number of people, who play WOW is enormous and can be compared with players of any Olympic sport. Some people believe that video games require many mental skills. In the article “The Case for Video Games as an Olympic Sport” the author speaks about the possibility of making video games a kind of Olympic sport. Even now it seems impossible. Stephen Totilo is not so pessimistic: “Video games, perhaps, should have had a place in the ongoing London Summer Games of the XXX Olympiad” (Totilo, 2012). Frankly, I cannot imagine it. Even now video games are hardly considered to be a kind of sports, and he speaks about including them in Olympic sports.Maybe, one day it will come true. A first step has already been made by the US government: in 2013 they started to recognize League of Legends players as pro athletes (Makuch, 2013).Nowadays we have huge championships with hundreds and even thousands of participants and their number is sure to grow.Championships and ChampionsSpeaking about championships, we cannot ignore the financial side of the notion. It is not a secret that big sums of money are spent on producing a video game. Video games are even advertised now. Like a kind of sports, they have their own champions, who are appreciated and well-paid by the corporations, which make a game and its championship. The champions can be well-known in their sphere and be an example to follow for those, who have only started.Their effectIn addition, sports have a positive effect on people. Surely, we speak about physical activities, but if we speak about chess, it also has a good effect: players are becoming more intelligent, more inventive. The effect is on the mental sphere of the body.