Game is hard

Connor Gallagher
Professor Elizabeth Cook
English 101-04
27 May 2015
Game is Hard: The Inequality Between eSports and Traditional Sports
Almost everybody plays or knows somebody who plays videos games. Many of these games are played at a competitive level by professionals who dedicate thousands of hours into the game; however they are not equal to professional sports athletes, despite putting in the same amount of dedication and hard work. As a result of this, the whole scene suffers, including the viewership. Many other other games, such as chess or poker, are played competitively, although not at the same level as traditional sports. These should also be addressed. Although many scholars agree that video games have a tremendous impact, they miss the gross inequality between eSports and traditional sports.
Many scholars agree that video games have a positive impact, but the general populous has a stigma that video games are a waste of time and that those who spend a large amount of time playing them, such as eSport athletes, are somewhat degenerate. As a culture “we push our kids into organized sports-the fastest way to vacuum fon from play” (Leach 20). We see games such as Grand Theft Auto as teaching children to shoot everyone on sight and become a criminal, when really they are simply an outlet for our stress and a means to relax, just like any other sport or game. Many societies embrace games as a way to relax and to interact with peers. For example, the town of Findhorn in Scotland has a giant game session every few years, where all the members of the community come to the town hall and play (Leach 21). Video games have a clear and definite impact that causes community interaction and relieves stress.
On average, traditional sports players are paid much more than eSports players for the same, if not more time investment. In a paper done for Johns Hopkins University, Ishan Dasgupta and Dan O’Connor state that in 2013 Joe Flacco was “the NFL’s highest paid player with a 6-year, $120.6 million contract” (17). To put this in context, the whole prize pool for the 2014 International DoTA 2 Championship was $10,930,698. This prize pool was split between 16 teams and was one of the largest in eSports history. This may not seem significant, after all one would not expect a worker at McDonalds to make the same per hour and a worker at Google, but eSports and traditional sports are very similar. Both are of a competitive nature and have a wide range of variety in between particular sports or games. Additionally, each are funded by large sponsorships, the only difference being the size of the sponsors. Most eSports teams and tournaments are funded by companies that make keyboards or other peripherals as well as companies that promote online betting on eSports. Most traditional sports teams and tournaments are funded by huge commercial sponsors from companies with the infamy of Doritos. This issue of sponsorship is one of the main causes of inequality between the two types of sports. Traditional athletes also make more money through the sale of merchandise and tickets. Most eSports have some way of watching a competitive game from wishing the game program itself that can be ticketed, but most times it is far easier to simply watch online like one would watch a football game on the TV. There are no benefits to watching it in game versus watching online. A study done by researchers at Xavier University on the consumption method between eSports and traditional sports showed that almost all eSport viewing was done online (Lee 41). The traditional sports have much more money flowing and thus can pay the athletes much more than a eSport athlete.
Due to the amounts of money flowing through the traditional sports, the quality of care of the athletes is higher. A study headed by Laura Donaldson on the salary costs of an injury in the NHL, determined on average that missing one game due to an injury cost $260,300 (348). With that kind of money on the line, one would think that players would receive great care and attention from their organization. However, this is often not the case. Dasgupta’s study for Johns Hopkins University on Sports ethics, found that many players were forced to chose between playing with an injury or be cut from the team (18). In her conclusion, Donaldson discusses what should be done to help this problem of injuries and suggests “consideration of these costs will provide sufficient motivation for professional sports leagues such as the NHL to consider taking further action to prevent player injuries” (349). While eSports players rarely get injured and their injuries are not as severe, they receive almost no benefits from their organization. Most teams are simply sponsored by a company. Some higher level teams are however salaried and receive benefits. Even at one of its weaker points in care of players, the traditional sports are still ahead of eSports.
Many would argue that eSports and traditional sports should not be equal. Most of us, as Guy Clapperton puts it in his part of the article “The Debate”, find that "our definition of the word 'sport' has matured to the point where, for the most part, we understand what a sport is and what a sport isn't." (1) However, eSports and traditional sports are very similar in that both fit the same goals. Both players of eSports and standard sports seek the adrenaline rush of playing as well as wanting to fulfill the competitive desire found in human nature. This is found in all competitive games and all should be equal, but most specifically eSports because of the massive fanbase and because of how poorly eSports are run currently. Andrea Kates, CEO of Launchpad Central, says that many Olympic sports such as archery don’t require as much physical effort as sports such as swimming, but aren’t considered to be less of a sport (1).  This can be applied to eSports as well. eSports athletes obviously don’t exert themselves as much physically, but instead exercise their own mental capacity. Thankfully, this is already taking place around the world. According to Xavier University’s study, “several countries have begun regular television of eSports games” (Lee 39). Televising eSports is a huge step toward equality because television is traditional sports main media market.  Due to the fact that the only real difference is the the reduced amount of physical work, eSports and traditional sports have no real grounding for being as unequal as they are.
All in all, the inequality between eSports and traditional sports has no grounding. The massive impact video games have in our society calls for eSports to be equal with traditional sports. In conclusion, eSports are beneficial to our society and should become true counterparts to traditional sports.









Works Cited
Dasgupta, Ishan, and Dan O’Connor. "From Sports Ethics To Labor Relations." American Journal Of Bioethics 13.10 (2013): 17-18. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 May 2015.
"The Debate." Engineering & Technology (17509637) 10.1 (2015): 28. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 May 2015.
Donaldson, Laura, Li Bing, and Michael D. Cusimano. "Economic Burden Of Time Lost Due To Injury In NHL Hockey Players." Injury Prevention 20.5 (2014): 347-349. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 May 20.
Leach, David. "Grand Theft Utopia: What can Video Games Teach Us about Community?" Communities.165 (2014): 20-1. ProQuest. Web. 16 May 2015.
Lee, D., & Schoenstedt, L. J. (2011). Comparison of eSports and traditional sports consumption motives. The ICHPER-SD Journal of Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport & Dance, 6(2), 39-44. ProQuest. Web. 16 May 2015.