Are eSports actually sports? Who cares.

A couple of days ago, American sports broadcasting company ESPN’s president John Skipper made waves when he said this about eSports at a conference:

It’s not a sport, it’s a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition. Mostly, I’m interested in doing real sports.

The comments have sparked discussion and received coverage the world over. Yesterday, for example, they were front page news on most major Chinese game sites (including Sina Games and Netease Games). It’s a discussion that inevitably pops up from time to time. Are eSports a sport? Should they be considered one?

Of course, eSports are considered sports officially by many world governments so that eSports players can be granted athlete visas to play in global competitions.

But whether or not eSports are sports in the general sense depends entirely on how you define the word “sport”. For that reason, discussions on this topic inevitably devolve into arguments about the word’s definition, and comparisons to other things that are considered sports.

Here’s the thing, though: who cares? Esports players are already considered athletes for the purposes of getting their visas, and that’s the only context in which the definition of eSports as a sport (or not) really matters.

Does whether or not you consider them a “sports team” affect how you feel about this moment? It shouldn’t.

Whether or not Dota 2 (for example) is considered a sport has no bearing on how the game is played or how it is enjoyed. You can still have fun watching TI5 next year even if ESPN’s president doesn’t think eSports are sports. And you’ll still be able to play League of Legends like a casual video game, even if your friend considers it a serious sport. Whether or not the public considers eSports a sport affects nothing. It doesn’t matter.

Of course, in posting this article, I realize I’m perpetuating the “is it or isn’t it” discussion too. But I think this is worth pointing out because this argument takes a lot of time and energy that could be more productively spent elsewhere.

Call eSports whatever you want. But instead of arguing over definitions, let’s focus on improving the stability of local competitive scenes, improving the reputations of eSports gaming communities, and improving the experience of watching the best players ply their trade in competitive matches. I think the eSports scene will grow more quickly (and more healthily) if we stop caring about the definitions, stop trying to compare it to established sports, and focus on improving the scene without worrying about what category it falls under on ESPN.