Instead of fearing the new and the unknown, we should embrace it

by Vlad Savov

The very legitimacy of gaming, the web, and everything you and I hold dear is at stake here. Consider the pride most parents feel when they’re able to tell their friends that their child has received an athletic scholarship to a reputable university. Well, you can now get a pro-gaming scholarship at Robert Morris University, but "my son is a gamer" is still something people confess with embarrassment rather than with the beaming joy of a gratified parent. The way we speak of things affects the way we think of them.

You are right in saying that professional gaming feels alien to many people because of the complexity of the games involved. But traditional sports aren’t all that simple either. Consider that the most popular sport in the United States — which is so entwined with the nation’s identity that it’s called American football everywhere else — has a rulebook long and complicated enough that even its own referees are not familiar with its full extent. I’ll never forget watching my first NFL game and wondering why the hell everyone chased after the ball on a punt only to stand around and watch it tumble to a stop by itself.

The lack of history for e-sports that you bemoan is the chief reason why they’re not as widely accepted. Whereas soccer’s offside rule has been passed down through generations and internalized at an early age by most, the concepts and conditions for winning in video games all have to be learned anew. The question you have to ask yourself is, if you were confronted with basketball as a brand-new thing today, would you embrace it as a sport or freak out about the odd scoring system and the arcanery of backcourt passes and traveling violations?

Is the NFL rulebook really that much simpler or is it just more familiar?

Simplicity is a feature of many of the most popular sports, but it’s not a necessary precondition. And it’s not like e-sport organizers aren’t taking steps to make their games more accessible. At TI4 this week, Valve is introducing a round of Newcomer’s Broadcasts that will ease people in to the basic precepts of Dota 2. Give it a chance, spectate a match for longer than a few minutes, and you too might be enchanted by the sophisticated teamwork and intricate strategy on display.

To continue to treat e-sports as some obscure and value-less vocation is to continue to treat the web — where they were spawned and fully developed — as a pale shadow of "real life." The fact is that every moment spent on the web is an inextricable part of real life. Video games are new and different, but not necessarily inferior to physical ones. All the hallmarks of mental alacrity that grass-based sports exhibit — from positioning and footwork to planning and foresight — are also present in e-sports. You play with an avatar, but the skill and the thrill of competition are still just as real.