[Other Sport] Sure to be polarising - esports in the commonwealth games?

[Audax]

I missed this thread first time around ... so I've now got a list of really old posts I'm quoting

First: Online gaming isnt sociable.

Researchers say otherwise. Just one example from a Google search full of peer-reviewed results pointing to the social benefits of online gaming: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8277937/

More personally: my brother was diagnosed with Asperger's a few years ago, well into his 30's. We both grew up with online games. Only a single data point, but my experience with him is that all of his most positive social interactions and social learning came about via online gaming and related online communities. Exactly as the research suggests it can.

Disagree with this. It was during lockdown that me and some mates dusted off games consoles and did it for the first time. It was great. Having a laugh with mates not in a zoom chat where the other option is you just look at each other or a sodding quiz. It was brilliant. We have kept it going this winter (hardly play during the summer). Three of us are married to teachers so When they are doing their planning and our kids are in bed it gives us something to do that isn’t just watching tv or reading. We don’t ever chat to other people, it is just a group of mates having a laugh.

During the winter My lad gets home from school and most days will log on and play with his mates. Spend the time between getting home and dinner just laughing with pals (occasional row). When I was a kid if the weather was crap and we could not be bothered to play out we watched dogtanion and the muskahounds and thunder cats. I know what is more sociable.

I accept esports as a thing, but not a thing for the Commonwealth games, nor motor sports, or underwater hockey.

OT slightly, I think it was Toyota or Nissan, created a racing driver program where they found lads that could perform well on computer track racing simulator games, and put them in real cars, other routes through gaming to real racing exist now as well. In one program they found one lad on a certain track taking an unusual line, which resulted in a faster lap time, they thought it was some sort of glitch in the simulator, but when they got a chance to try it on the real track, it actually was faster.

It was Nissan, although the game itself wasn't made by them. The game in question was Gran Turismo: https://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/academy/. A couple of the drivers found via the esports side went on to have respectable (but not spectacular) careers as real drivers.

One of the most out of touch, embarrassing takes I've seen in a while, you are flat out wrong and there's dozens of studies showing you're wrong. Gaming and especially online gaming has a shit ton of good traits to it, especially a younger crowd growing up. I'll list you some:

- Being aware of the environment around you and rewarding attention to detail
- Many online games be it MMOs or FPS games or anything in between presents a LOT of problem-solving and planning
- For some kids games are a great way of improving their literacy and vocabulary
- Collaboration and teamwork are usually vital, whether its flanking an enemy and pulling off an offensive move successfully, solving puzzles the makers have created or dividing out tasks based on proficiency of your group to achieve a goal
- Understanding behaviour of others in a risk free environment
- Working with people you may never surround yourself with in real life, gaining an understanding of other cultures, age groups and backgrounds
- Regulating and managing emotions is a massive one, you will lose and you will lose a lot, learning how to lose, behaving calmly and coming back for more shows pretty good character growth
- Building resilience in the face of adversity considering most games ensure odds are stacked against you


ALL of those things help kids and adults grow to be better people, now if you're a shite parent and allow your kids to screech over a mic and be a toxic little **** then that's a reflection of you and that's uncomfortable to read, but its true. Just like the real world, you'll always find ********s wherever you go, but many people aren't and the benefits of games these days is huge. I don't know what it is you do, but it seems like you surround yourself with the worst types of people and are then making sweeping generalisations about everyone else.

Above is a great post. Everything mentioned above is backed by research. Although more research needs to be done, there's been enough positive results already that the necessary research is being done (and more besides).

It isn’t even a sport so shouldn’t be in the Commonwealth Games. It is also ruining sleep for many kids and therefore directly affecting their ability to concentrate on their school work. It is absolutely irresponsible for yet another money hungry sporting governing body to pander to people exploiting children and their parents and to people seeking to be ‘down with the kids.’

It's a sport, although it's one that challenges the traditional meaning of the term. I've been involved in eSports at times, although it's been several years now since I was directly involved. The only thing that's changed since I was involved, though, is how organised and professional it is getting. You've got football clubs who also operate esports teams, Formula 1 teams who also operate esports teams, etc. League of Legends is massive.

On the playing side, you need to be there to understand it fully. Watching on TV / online only gets you so far. In that respect, much like real sports really... The levels of communication, physical skill on the controllers, quickness of mental decision making both tactically and strategically - the level of problem solving the pros are operating at is immense. OK, it's not "physical" in the same way as most traditional sports. But it's just as taxing on individuals and teams competitively, and arguably even more taxing on the mental side.

 

[Hamilton]

Yeah, but look at the size of his THUMBS!

What a God!