It’s a tumultuous time for esports around the world right now, with criticism being launched against violent games and the legitimacy of the industry often in question. Recently, the government in Argentina pushed for a bill that would include esports into the Argentine sports system, but controversial parts of the bill have drawn the ire of players and organizations who feel the legislation will do more harm than good to the competitive ecosystem.

As reported first by sports website Olé, the Asociación Argentina de Deportes Electrónicos (Argentine Association of Electronic Sports or AADE) had a hand in crafting a new bill alongside the Argentine government that would bring esports into the system provided by the National Sports Law organization. The most glaring issue is that the bill would exclude any and all “violent” games, only allowing real-time strategy, sports titles, and digital card game to be included.

The Argentine Association of Electronic Sports is one of the main driving force behind the controversal new esports bill.

This means that many of the most active esports communities would be cut out, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, Call of Duty, Street Fighter, and many more active scenes. When this information about the bill came to light, it drew massive negative attention from Argentine teams and organizations, who were in no way consulted about the bill.

Upon learning of the bill’s content, many of those organizations and esports fans all over the country began speaking out against the esports bill and the AADE, even go so far as to march on the Argentina Congress building in protest of the bill. As negative feedback builds, those protesting the bill have put together a rally cry under #NoAlProyectoDeEsportsAADE (No to the Esports Project AADE), which is now trending in social media in the region.

Desde BIO nos sumamos al #NoAlProyectoDeEsportsAADE y repudiamos completamente esta ley que, además de ser mala, es impulsada por alguien que no representa a nadie y que pareciera tener el solo objetivo de posicionarse políticamente



Dale RT, paremos esta locura#eSports pic.twitter.com/JUC85aRkcr — BIO eSports (@BIO_eSports) September 11, 2018

The AADE and Argentina Government haven’t been alone in their sharp divide of esports titles. Other nations and organizations have also attempted to crack down on competitive games with legislation or outright barring of competitive titles from various countries and events. China’s government caused Tencent stock to plummet recently with the announcement of efforts to reduce Myopia (shortsightedness) in young people by barring the sale and development of online games, as well as suggesting shortened play time and recreational electronic use per day for targetted youth.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the President of the Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, recently spoke out against esports as well. Bach claimed that “so-called killer games… are contradictory to the Olympic values," and declared that the Olympics will not allow these games into competition. And so, the AADE actually becomes the latest in a line of political forces to attempt to crack down on what games are acceptable for competition.

Despite the Olympics containing many events which involve aggression of sorts, Thomas Bach, who medaled in fencing himself, believes video games are against Olympic values. [Image by ESPN]

With cases such as the shooting in Jacksonville during a Madden tournament and a recent incident in which a perpetrator shot at popular Twitch streamer Dr DisRespect’s home only adding more fuel to the fire of this debate, it would appear the conversation and legislation of “violent” esports and video games isn’t one that’s going to die down soon. It will remain to be seen if the bill in Argentina puts the stranglehold on its esports ecosystem that many players and teams fear it will.