"E-Sportsmen/women" -Cyber Athlete Professional

**manker** · 02-02-2005, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Illuminati

Sorry to not getting involved myself (it's too much fun alone just watching this

) but this snippet got me thinking:

Just like it doesn't matter to an track & field athlete whether they have a degree in whatever or whether they're plain stupid?

Well, it kinda does matter. For example the 1500 metres is about planning your race, what tactics you use, which line to take so that you don't get boxed in. If you're not compus mentus you won't win.

However, that may be true of the 100 metres where the fastest runner usually wins.

====

So this DDR game requires the player to be athletic but that in no way means that gaming is athletic, it's a bit like saying that the goalie of the local football team is a right fat bastard, never trains, never moves quickly, only makes a save if the ball hits him and he gets someone else to kick the ball out - therefore soccer isn't athletic. One swallow doesn't make a summer, or something

Archery is definitely athletic. You won't see an out of shape archer at the Olympics, the effort and strain required to keep that bow bent is unbelievable. If the archer's body has a weak point then he won't be able to keep the bow stationary, so he's gotta be in tip-top condition.

Overall gaming isn't athetic in the slightest. I can accept the exceptions but that's all they are, exceptions. The gamers, on the other hand, can be athetic, that's down to the individual - but that won't be because of the gaming, it will be because they've done a bit of athletic sport.

**Snee** · 02-02-2005, 02:46 PM

Oh, are you still here?

I just argued the point for the hell of it.

Tho', I can't say I think it's easy to draw a line between what is, and what isn't athletic, since it's one big grey zone to me, when something is just being a bit of a strain and when it becomes a real athletic effort.

And I'll still say that the video/computergame champion of the world has to be an athlete, since some videogames are just like DDR, for example.

As for the archer, he doesn't really use his entire body in an athletic fashion, tho'. Just the muscles he needs to pull back the string.

Also, I daresay there are fat archers, and extremely thin ones as well, maybe not in the olympics, but they do exist. Like in any sport the strain isn't the same on all levels of competition.

EDit: Finally, I don't think you appreciate the level of strain it does put on your body when you do play something like CS or doom, people who work long hours using a mouse will get problems with the tendons and muscles in and around their mousearm, if they don't get time to regenerate, and that's common in banktellers and such.

Someone who plays games for a living, practicing six or eight hours a day do the same thing, but with much more violent movements.

If you do play at that level, your arm would better be in good shape, and the rest of your body would have to follow suit, to cope with the stress, if nothing else.

The strain you put on your body just by being fat isn't something you need when you have to play for week-long tournaments. I've seen professional players, and while they weren't the buffest of people, none of them was fat, nor did they look terribly out of shape in any other way.

Having said all that I don't much care what you call it, they'll still play, and make ridiculous amounts of money on something that doesn't really help anyone else, much like many professional athletes.

**manker** · 02-02-2005, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by SnnY

Oh, are you still here?

I just argued the point for the hell of it.

Originally Posted by SnnY

As for the archer, he doesn't really use his entire body in an athletic fashion, tho'. Just the muscles he needs to pull back the string.

No, every sinew in his body is straining against each other so that he can keep himself stock still.

I do agree with a lot of your points, particularly about top level gamers having to be fairly fit. I seriously don't know anything about them, nor that people made money out of it! So I'd better defer to what you say.

However, I looked at my last post and realised something:

A sport is only an athletic sport if you can do it to get yourself physically fit.

There, a definition.

I may be excluding a lot of sports, including archery, with that but who cares. It works for me and I reckon it's a good 'un.

**Snee** · 02-02-2005, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by manker

No, every sinew in his body is straining against each other so that he can keep himself stock still.

Ah sorry, I guess I didn't think of it that way. I apologize to any archers.

(Including my aunt, who used to compete, but never got past being thin as a reed.

)

A sport is only an athletic sport if you can do it to get yourself physically fit.

There, a definition.

I may be excluding a lot of sports, including archery, with that but who cares. It works for me and I reckon it's a good 'un.

That is a good definition, it might not be entirely correct, but I definitely understand what you are after.

Whenever I see interviews with cs-gamers and similar they advocate taking walks, at least, or doing more straining stuff if they are serious about it. They seem to need additional training to keep up with what they do.

Not sure that's required with archery, althought it would certainly help.