Are Video Games Sports

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Chapter1 : Game

Understanding what a game is and what play means is necessary for the comprehension of video-games as a phenomenon. But first what is the difference between the word �play� and �game�. In other languages like Portuguese

�jogar um jogo�, French �on joue � un jeu� or German �man spielt ein spiel�, those sentences all mean �to play a game� but in those languages the word play is used as a noun to refer to games, but is also used as a verb for the act of playing a game. But since the English language separates games from play , there is a need to analyse the relation between them.

Salen and Zimmerman understand that � 'play' is a larger term that includes 'game' as a subset�(Salen & Zimmerman,2004:p72) but that the reverse is true and � 'game' is the bigger term, and includes 'play' within it�(Salen & Zimmerman,2004:p72) They analyse both scenarios , in the first case ,game being a subset of play:

�Playing Dodge Ball, for example, is playing a game: players obey a formalized set of rules and compete to win. The activities of playing on a see-saw, or horsing around a jungle gym, however, are forms of play which do not constitute a game. Most forms of play are looser and less organized than games. However, some forms of play are formalized, and these forms of play can often be considered games.� (Salen & Zimmerman,2004:p72)

Most playground activities can be considered games, because of their rules, so when a child is playing, he might be building a castle in the sand or playing Catch, but when you analyse those activities, because they have goals and most often than not rules, those activities are in fact games. It follows that games can be a subset of play.

On the other hand Salen and Zimmerman say that �games can be thought of as containing play�(Salen & Zimmerman,2004:p72) because �The experience of play is but one of many ways of looking at and understanding games.�(Salen & Zimmerman,2004:p72). Lets look at Chess, it is a game, it has a board with pieces, rules and goals. The 'game' exists outside of 'play', in this case 'play' is a subset of 'game'.

This link between both words is necessary for our research, because some authors wrote their books about play or game in languages that do not differentiate the two concepts and that results in some slippage between them.

One of the first people to publish a study of the play element in culture was Johann Huizinga, and he provided a interesting definition of 'play' in his book, Homo Ludens (1949):

�[Play is]a free activity standing quite consciously outside 'ordinary' life as being 'not serious', but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means� (Huizinga,1949:p13)

This way, Huizinga understands that play takes place outside ordinary life and is 'not serious'; is utterly absorbing; is not related with material interest or profit; takes place within its own boundaries of time and space; proceeds according to rules and creates social groups that separate themselves form the outside world.

This proposition includes many important ideas, but even if a game fails to be utterly absorbing, it does not mean that it's not a game, and games can also be related with material profit, for example, the selling of in game items to other players for real cash in the Blizzard Entertainment game, Diablo III�(2012); or playing card games for prize money.

Clark C.Abt author of the book �Serious Games� , first published in 1970, gave his definition of games in a simpler way:

�Reduced to its formal essence, a game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context. A more conventional definition would say that a game is a contest with rules among adversaries trying to win objectives.�(Clark C.Abt,1987:p6-7)

In contrast with Huizinga's definition, that can be understood as a definition of game, Clark C.Abt expands on the idea by giving four key elements of this definition. That games are activities, involve decision-makers or players, has objectives and there�s a limiting context meaning that there are rules that limit and structure the game. But this definition doesn�t take in consideration that a game can be played solo, like the card game Solitaire, or single player video-games, like Arkanoid (1986) or Tetris (1984). But if the rules of the game are interpreted as an obstacle and even an opponent, this definition becomes more in line with the what is often observed in solo games.

** can insert Chris Crawford definition later if words are amiss **

Salen,K and Zimmerman,E analysed the most popular definitions of game and play in their book �Rules of Play Game Design Fundamentals�, and after analysing them side by side, they come up with their own definition:

�A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.�(Salen & Zimmerman,2004:p80)

Breaking that definition into its smaller parts, we now see that a game is a system instead of an activity.

A system has objects, and as the objects it has attributes and characteristics with relationships among them and its context is the environment that surrounds that system. Taking the example of a deck of cards, its objects are the cards, while the numbers and colours of each card are its characteristics, they relate to each other based on the rules of the game. As with Clark C.Abt definition, we have players, they interact with the system to be able to experience the �play� of the game. It is an artificial conflict because games maintain the boundary between �real life� and the events in the system. Even thou games definitely happen in the real world, artificiality is one of their defining features. It is a conflict, it might be a contest of cooperation between players against the system and its rules, a multi-player competition or it might be a solo conflict against the set rules of the system. Regardless of type of conflict it is an important feature of games. There are rules, every author analysed define rules of the games as one of the crucial parts of games. Rules provide structure, and by delimiting what a player can or not do, the act of play emerges. In the end of each game, there�s a quantifiable outcome , it can either be a numerical score, the achievement of a goal, or the victory over an opponent. Salen,K and Zimmerman,E definition help us understand what is considered a game and is broad enough to be used in the context of this research.

Chapter 2 : Video-game

Before trying to find out if a video game can be a sport, the definition of video-game has to be laid out. According to the Online Oxford Dictionary a video-game is �a game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a monitor or other display. �(Oxford dictionaries,2013). This rather simplistic definition is challenged by Miller when he categorizes video-game genres -- �... and very different computer game genre prototype was William Crowther's Colossal Cave Adventure (ADVENT), the first of the adventure game genre, in which game play was dominated by second-order signs�in this particular case, by words rather than images.� (Myers,2003:p10)

Considering text based video-games, and the common elements they still share with most games, like player interaction, sets of rules and even an interface, there is a need to find a broader definition, and Frasca (game designer and academic researcher ) provided one by saying that �any forms of computer-based entertainment software, either textual or image-based, using any electronic platform such as personal computers or consoles and involving one or multiple players in a physical or networked environment�(Frasca,2001) are considered video-games.

Video-games can then be defined as game activities that are executed using an electronic platform with player input and some form of visual output, that can be played by one or several players, either in the same machine or over a LAN or internet connection. But when does a game become a competition?

In the first chapter we understood that a characteristic of games was the existence of opponents and conflict, either in the shape of computer controlled characters, the rules of the game or other players.

Crawford reinforces this idea by understanding that games are competitions against opponents:

�Conflicts are challenges with purposeful opponents. There are two subclasses of this class: competitions and games. They are differentiated by the ability of the opponents to impede each other's performance by some form of attack, which could be quite indirect or abstract. If the opponents are constrained from impending each other and instead devote the entirety of their attentions to optimizing their own performance, then the conflict is a competition, such as a race. It is against the rules of a race for the racers to take direct action against each other (such as tripping, stabbing, and mudslinging). If such actions are permitted , then the activity is no longer a pure race, but has been transmogrified to a game.� (Crawford,2003:p8)

The object of the competition does not always have to be set by the game designers. In the video-game Minecraft(2009) from Markus Persson the player is set loose on a sandbox environment where there are no set goals, but its the player that defines what to be done with his time within the video-game, and a competition against the rules of the system takes place.( try and bring the PLAYGROUND qoute to link with minecraft) On the other hand, some video-games such as League of Legends, by Riot Games(2009) have two teams of three or five players battle against one another. The matches are decided by whomever destroys the opponents base first. (talk about competition not requiring another player, but maybe compete against oneself or the rules of the game)

We can now conclude that a video-game is a game that is simulated in any form of electronic system, with any output (visual, ,textual or auditory), involving one or more players connected remotely or using the same electronic system.

Chapter 3 : Sport

So is a video-game a sport? To help us understand the relationship between these activities we first need to define sport . According to the Oxford Online Dictionary, sport is �an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment�. This definition asserts that a sport has competition, is played for entertainment, can be played individually or with several players, involves skill and physical exertion. Steven Connor, Professor of Modern Literature and Theory at the School of Literature and Humanities, reinforces this notion by asserting that a �sport is a game involving physical exertion� and that �In essence, sports are games that tire you�(Connor,S 2011:p15), but also that �a sport is a way of being carried away from serious duties and purposes�(Connor,S 2011:p20).

�Sport and athletics, as social functions, have steadily increased in scope and conquered ever fresh fields both nationally and internationally. Contests in skill, strength and perseverance have, as we have shown, always occupied an important place in every culture either in connection with ritual or simply for fun and festivity.�(Huizinga,1949:p195)

Huizinga understood the impact and the popularity of sports in our culture, and that �human beings have indulged in such activities since the dawn of time�(Huizinga,1949:p196) and that sports are �games in the sense of play�(Huizinga,1949:p196). Huizinga realised that sports �have been taken more and more seriously. The rules have become increasingly strict and elaborate. Records are established at a higher, or faster, or longer level than was ever conceivable before.�(Huizinga,1949:p197) and this led to a separation of amateur sportsmanship from organized competition.

�Now, with the increasing systematization and regimentation of sport, something of the pure play-quality is inevitably lost. We see this very clearly in the official distinction between amateurs and professionals (or "gentlemen and players" as used pointedly to be said) . It means that the play-group marks out those for whom playing is no longer play, ranking them inferior to the true players in standing but superior in capacity. The spirit of the professional is no longer the true play-spirit; it is lacking in spontaneity and carelessness.�(Huizinga,1949:p197)

This separation leads to the conclusion that a sport becomes serious and gains purpose, which goes against Steven Connor's definition, that �a sport is a way of being carried away from serious duties and purposes�(Connor,S 2011:p20), and should then professional sports lose their status as a true sport due to their loss of 'play-spirit'? The European Sports charter consider sports to be a �...means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels. �(Revised European Sports Charter,2001). It encourages the pursuit of results, disregarding the level of the competition, and in this way include both amateur and professional play in the definition of sport.

According to Steven Connor and Johan Huizinga, a �sport is a game �(Connor,S 2011:p15) and that they are �games in the sense of play�(Huizinga,1949:p196). We now understand that a sport is a game, involving physical activity, that aims at expressing and improving skill, physical fitness and mental well-being, but also promotes social relationships and competition.

Chapter 3 : Sports VS Games

COMPETION sports

European football, for example, it is organized in leagues where teams of players compete against one another in year long competitions. Players can either be professional or amateur depending on their level of skill and commitment to the sport, and they can play in different leagues where teams aim to advance by becoming the best team and advancing to the league above in the next season. Competition can be interpreted in a smaller scale, for example, amateur players playing with their group of friends are also competing, they might not be earning a wage or acquiring trophies but there is still a quantifiable outcome, in the form of self improvement,pleasure or victory.

NEEEDS REMAKE

COMPETION video-game

Competition is also observable in video-games. In a small scale, when two players battle one another over the internet or a LAN connection, but there are also professional competitions.

There are several organizations, World Cyber Games is one of them, that promote leagues and tournaments with big cash prizes in several different video-games. They have a variety of video-games genres to appeal to a wider audience. First person shooters (FPS), where teams of five players fight each other in virtual maps, seeking domination of the oposing team. Cross Fire(2007) , from NEOWIZ Games, being the official FPS of the tournament. There are also strategy games like Starcraft II (2010) and Warcraft III (2003), both developed by Blizzard Entertainment, where players control a faction and construct buildings, collect resources, and ultimately create armies to destroy the opponent. All of these are played professionally where organizations like SK-Gaming hire players to compete in these tournaments with the ever present goal of victory. It shows that competition, from amateur to professional, is present in video-games.

Skill sports Never mentioned skill as a requirement of sports. Need to find a quote for it

But can what kind of skills are involved in sports. In the case of football, skill is asserted in various characteristics, like stamina, aim, reflex's, team play, etc. These characteristics seems very much physical, but there are also mental skills being developed in sports, and in some cases, those are the most important ones. For example the game of Curling, it's a sport where �Each team uses a set of eight stones having the same handle colour and individually identified by visible markings.�(WCF Rules of Curling,2011:p5), and �Each team uses a set of eight stones having the same handle colour and individually identified by visible markings.�(WCF Rules of Curling,2011:p6). The objective is to throw the stones in a ice ring towards a target that has a four rings underneath the ice, and �The result of a game is decided by a majority of points at the completion of the scheduled ends of play, or when a team concedes victory to its opponent, or when one team is mathematically eliminated. If the score is tied at the completion of the scheduled ends, play continues with extra end(s) and the team that scores first wins the game. �(WCF Rules of Curling,2011:p16). Curling �is a game of skill and of tradition.�(WCF Rules of Curling,2011:p1) and �the main object of the game of curling is to determine the relative skill of the players�(WCF Rules of Curling,2011:p1). This official information shows that Curling is a game of skill, and that even with low physical activity Curling is considered a sport.

Skill games

In his book �Think Smart� (2009),Richard Restak suggests that �When widely used, video games, especially action video games, can help you notice more, concentrate better, respond more quickly, and increase several components of your overal IQ.�(Restak,2009:p151) and he says that �They do this by reorganizing brain activity so as to increase perceptual and motor speed as well as the increased eye-hand coordination needed for video games.�(Restak,2009 :p151). It is understood that practice trains the brain and a person will become better at that specific activity after some time, but the impacts of playing video games go beyond games and �lead(s) to more efficient and effective control of skilled movements other than playing �(Restak,2009:p159) said Joshua.A Granek from the Centre for Vision Research at York University in Toronto. The most well known example of this process is the air flight simulations found in pilot training centres, where the trainee is placed within a replica of an air-plane cabin where a computer simulation is being run and the visual output is fed to the screens as to replicate a realistic environment, and the impact of this video-game training has repercussions in the learning and mastery of flight control.

Video games can improve a person's skills, another example of this was demonstrated in a study made by Daphne Bavelier where students with video gaming habits were tested against students that did not play video games. The test consisted of a random target flashing on a screen and immediately after that event the screen would be flooded with more targets, and the objective was to identify the position of the first target that was shown. Bavelier study showed that �Regular video-game players do this with 80 percent accuracy, while non players get it right only about 30 percent of the time�(Restak,2009:p152). Orientation and navigation is another usual skill to be improved with video games, due to the fact that action games require the player to acknowledge and investigate the space around him, he will start to recognize and memorize points of reference quicker, and also when playing games with maps, the player becomes better at interpreting and navigating the real counterparts. Evidence

We now understand that playing video-game's can improve mental skills, but can also improve skills related to physical activities, such as piloting a plane or driving a car.

Social Interaction

The European Sports Charter adds that a sport �aim(s) at expressing or improving � ... mental well-being , forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.�(Revised European Sports Charter,2001) Needs link. The social interaction is seen in most sports between the players or adversaries, but also by the support players can get from the audience. Kenneth R Fox conducted a study into the influence of physical activity on mental well-being and concluded that �moderate regular exercise should be considered as a viable means of ... ...improving mental well-being in the general public.�.

Huizinga's definition of play also added that �It promotes the formation of social groupings� , and that is observable in most group's of athlets or video-game players.

Sports and video-games are usually associated with entertainement, and so far , video-games share all characteristics of sports.A sport is game, and we know that what defines a sport are the social interactions between players, being an activity with physical effort that tires the player, that provides entertainment and helps improve or express the mental and physical well-being. The only characteristic that we haven�t demonstrated to be a part of video-games is physical exertion and we shall analyse it in the next chapter.

Chapter 4 : Physical exertion

The amount of physical activity realised by a video-game player depends upon which type of controller is used. There are different electronic platforms to play video-games, computers, phones, consoles, tablets, etc. And each one of these have different input apparatus. There is the keyboard, mouse, different types of hand held controller like the Playstation Dual Shock, there's plastic pistols, steering wheels, joysticks, controllers that register the hand movement like the Nintendo Wii or even infra-red apparatus like the Kinect Sensor from Microsoft that register all body movements of the player.

Games are usually built with the controllers in mind, for example, Starcraft(1998) being a strategy game, requires the player to control several units across the screen, the developers of this game set the mouse and the keyboard as the main form of input because the amount of information that the game requires from the player can be acquired more efficiently with these types of controls.

In Starcraft(1998) the way to measured the performance of a player is by recording the actions per minute. �According to pro players Lee 'NADA' Yun-Yeol and Jang 'Moon' Jae Ho, players need an APM (or �actions per minute) rating of at least 300 to be competitive�(Nagata,2010), this extreme way of playing the game might provide enough physical activity to be considered a sport, but there isn't any kind of guideline that demonstrates how much physical activity is needed.

Christina wrote an article on Starcraft(1998) professional gaming in South Korea, and she discovered that playing Starcraft is considered a career, and that �Even the average pro gamer makes more than the average Korean�(Christina,2010). Apparently there is massive national coverage of the those professional leagues and �120,000 people gathered live in a stadium to watch a 2005 StarCraft championship--over 40K more than attended the Super Bowl that year�(Christina,2010). Even the South Korean air force has recognized the popularity of this game and they founded a professional Starcraft(1998) team within the military that �allows South Korea�s conscripted pro 'StarCraft'players to keep their edge while fulfilling their mandatory service�(Norris,2009).

According to the Korea e-Sports Association, Starcraft(1998), is an �Electronic Sport�, and that term means �a leisure activity done in an electronic virtual world, utilizing the spiritual and physical abilities to determine the win or loss� and that it includes an �audience and broadcasting of competitions and matches�(South Korean e-Sports Association,2013). They even say that they �will work to make e-Sports as an official sporting event�(South Korean e-Sports Association,2013), but even thou this country's culture as assimilated video-game's so deeply, not even they consider 'Electronic Sports' a true sport yet, and even their professional players high actions per minute don�t seem to be enough physical activity to consider a video-game a sport.

There are some examples of Olympic sports that seem to require a similar or even lower level of physical activity than some video-games. Archery consists of propelling arrows, using a bow, to hit a target some distance away, in this target there are circular bands of colour and each are worth a different amount of points. The amount of physical exertion in this sport is debatable because, in the Compound Bow division the bow to be used �is one where the draw is mechanically varied by a system of pulleys or cams�(Wold Archery Regulations,2013), and the use of �An arrow rest�(Wold Archery Regulations,2013) is legal as long as it does not �offer any additional aid in aiming�(Wold Archery Regulations,2013). It seems that the focus of the competition that uses compound bows, is about the skill of aiming and not the physical strength of the participants.

It seems that archery does not surpass some video-game's in terms of physical exertion but is considered a sport while video-game's are not. We could argue then that video-games, where the players sits in front of a computer to play, like Starcraft(1998), could be sports as well. But it might be the fact that the player is sitting and usually indoors that pulls video-games away from being a sport. We can rule out the idea that a sport has to be played outdoors to be considered one, some prime examples being gymnastics, weight lifting or basketball. While they could be played outdoors, practically, its easier to play them indoors to avoid the weather, but there is nothing that inhibits a video-game player to use his electronic devices outside.

There are other type of controllers that demand more physical activity from the players, one example being the Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor from Microsoft.

�The Kinect sensor offers a revolutionary new way to play: you�re the controller. Just move around and see what happens. Control your Xbox 360 with a wave of your hand. The only experience you need is life experience.�(Kinect Manual,2013)

According to the manual, players movements are tracked by the sensor and that allows the player to interact with the video-game, it even states that �Gameplay with your Kinect sensor may require varying amounts of movement. Make sure you won�t hit, run into, or trip over other players, bystanders, pets, furniture, or other objects when playing. If you will be standing and/or moving during gameplay, you will also need good footing.�(Kinect Manual,2013). The player is asked to clear his playing area of any obstructions so that he can have a safe playing experience and enough space to exert physical activity. The manual even warns the players about the risks of overexertion:

�Don�t overexert yourself Gameplay with the Kinect sensor may require varying amounts of physical activity. Consult a doctor before using the sensor if you have any medical condition or issue that affects your ability to safely perform physical activities...�(Kinect Manual,2013)

This controller uses the players physical activity to control the video-games, but there�s the need to find a video-game that actually uses this Kinect Sensor and how much physical activity is asked of the players. In the game Kinect Adventures(2010) the player expects to �Experience the thrill of full-body gaming.�(Kinect Adventures,2010) in several different mini-games that use different body movements to be played. In the �River Rush�(Kinect Adventures,2010) mini-game, the player sees his game character on the screen, rafting down a river, and it is the players objective to avoid obstacles along the river, until the finishing line. The �Kinect Adventures� manual states that �In River Rush, you control a raft with your body by moving side-to-side and jumping�(Kinect Adventures Manual,2010:p12). The �River Rush� mini-game already shows that a video-game can require physical exertion from the players, but in the �Reflex Ridge� mini-game even more so. In this game the manual states that �You'll have to jump,duck,step to the right, step to the left, and occasionally reach up and grab pins, which can be counterintuitive when you're reflexively avoiding obstacles, making Reflex Ridge a tricky test of mind and body.�(Kinect Adventures Manual,2010:p14).

Impact of Electronic Sports in the industry.

Conclusion

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