eSports competition between Chinese and Thai players at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta (ZHANG JINJIA) 

Don't be surprised if someone tells you that you can win a world championship by playing online games. Competitive online gaming, or eSports, has debuted as a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia, which took place from August 18 to September 2, and is now being pitched for the 2022 Asian Games as a full medal sport, which will be held in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province. 

But perhaps eSports cannot be likened to traditional sports which are commonly known to feature competition of physical challenges. At the 18th Asian Games, six competitive video gaming activities, including League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, Arena of Valor and StarCraft II: Legacy of The Void, were used as the demonstration events. It is estimated that eSports players will exceed 2 billion by 2020 when the 32nd Summer Olympic Games is held in Tokyo, Japan. There are now also calls to consider and acknowledge eSports as competition events at the Tokyo Olympics. 

However, the ongoing arguments around whether or not eSports can be categorized as sports events have intensified. Supporters believe that professional eSports players, just like athletes of traditional sports disciplines, go through arduous training daily. In addition, eSports improve hand-eye coordination, mental and physical reaction time, as well as teamwork, and therefore should be categorized as a sports event. 

However, others hold the notion that eSports are actually like online games, with players merely sitting and facing computer screens for hours, making this activity far removed from what people know as sports. 

Pros 

ZHANG RUI 

Deputy General Manager for the eSports Department at Alisports 

Sport does not simply mean physical exercise or movements. Essentially, sport means competition and confrontation. Sports events should feature skills and certain rules and players' level should be improved only by hard training and practice. 

Most of the basic requirements for traditional sporting events also apply to eSports, such as skillful coordination among hands, eyes and brain, rapid reaction and team spirit. eSports can also encourage players to develop themselves in an all-round manner by improving their capacity toward adapting to modern information-based societies. 

WANG TAO 

Editor for Sport TV Programs 

Influenced by online games, some do not perceive eSports in a positive light, leading to a lot of misunderstandings and prejudices. Actually, eSports are quite different from online games as the former requires players to have higher skill levels, as well as operation capacity, which can help young people in their future development. However, many people only know the concept of "online games," and assume that all online games lead to addiction. In this context, it is naturally expected that many will not regard eSports as sports events. Even though most people have realized the difference between eSports and online games, they, especially parents, are against listing and registering eSports as sports activities, believing this can be an excuse for students to waste time on playing online games. While it is true that eSports will occupy students' study time, the same can be said for football and basketball. What parents can do is to help their children control the time they spend on eSports, rather than deny them. 

YING SHULING 

Commercial eSports Operator 

Some doubt eSports because they mistakenly liken eSports to e-games. In addition, the older generation finds it hard to welcome and embrace new ideas that are different from their own. We must realize that when online gaming is upgraded to eSports, its essence changes. The players are no longer "playing" the games, but are working on them with a sense of honor, responsibility and pressure, which is expected of any athlete. Take a swimming event for example. Some people like swimming for the sole purpose of relaxing in water. But professional swimmers have to practice daily to be just a second faster. Some people play online games just for fun; but others have to train arduously every day to win. We are not merely playing online games, but are working based on systematic and standardized eSports. 

Cons 

YI JIANDONG 

Sports Socialist 

Traditional sports events focus on improving people's physical condition, but eSports are more like mental entertainment. Sport essentially means sweat, fitness and cultural-ethical advancement, which cannot be found in eSports. Not all forms of competition mean sports competition. In addition, eSports do not have fixed rules like traditional sports events. Today, many young people in China are challenged mainly in three areas: poor fitness due to lack of adequate physical exercise, low social networking ability and complications with eyesight owing mainly to too much exposure to digital entertainment, eSports included. Moreover, mainstreaming eSports may confuse students in balancing the time spent on playing online games and doing their homework, causing problems in school and at home. Now that eSports have been added to the Jakarta Asian Games, young people have an alibi and an excuse to play online games. 

TANG JIACHEN 

News Commentator for Xinhua News Agency 

eSports are more like "folk games." They originated from online games. It is really weird if we organize and train players to compete in the virtual online world in the same way we do for ordinary sports events like swimming and gymnastics. If we organize and train players for eSports events, we are actually training them to become "online heroes" with tax payers' money, which is useless in carrying forward the sporting spirit. On the contrary, it will encourage more online game addiction. For those who support eSports, traditional sports events are monotonous and unprofitable. Once eSports become Olympic events, they will become even more profitable. In this context, we should focus more on traditional sports events, instead of advocating eSports. 

BAO MINGXIAO 

Director of the Sports Economics Research Center 

It would be unfair for athletes of traditional sports events if eSports are categorized as sports events. Many athletes have asked me why they have to train so hard when other "athletes" can still win the world championship by playing online games. More importantly, the core value of sport and the Olympic spirit should be the physical skill involved. Including eSports into the Jakarta Asian Games set a bad example, as it might obscure the core value of sport. Sport represents friendship, unity, peace, fairness, care and respect, while eSports contain contents that go against these values. Speaking at the recent Asian Games held in Jakarta, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, said, "We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination - so-called 'killer games.' They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted."