Pro gamers are already around, but the introduction of the GGL will step the pro gaming scene up even more. Hear what the staff think about it.

Gaming as a sport? Could it really work?

Ash: It's not a new concept. With FPS' there have been competitions and sponserships for a while. My friend who is a big TFC fan was telling me how somebody was sponsered by a computer make because he is a great (I think it was) Counter Strike player. He gets a new computer every few months and he gets given the money to enter competitions and such. Even in our school's sports day there was a quake competition as one of the 'sports'.

So it can work and all but whether it should happen. As much as I like gaming I can imagine it would get ridiculed if it were to go mainstream. People would say "it promotes laziness" and "now we'll need a fat tax". I can imagine it happening and it would be intresting to watch but I cant see it surpasing basketball, rugby and football etc.

Link: I don't think that video gaming can really be considered a sport. Sure, you can referees and have tournaments and that sort of thing, but it can't really be called a sport. The tournaments and stuff, though, are no new concept. It probably spun off of card games (like Magic) and it works well to have tournaments, but I wouldn't call it a sport.

er-no: I wouldn't classify it as a sport. Its within the same entertainment label as music and film, nobody has ever thought to classify those as sports so why should gaming be one?

There is a certain amount of movement within playing video games (apparently video gamers thumbs are the most used in the world) that doesn't mean we'll be seeing thumb wars at the Commonwealth games (although that would be a cool sport).

However, raising the question of will gaming ever become a sport is a very different question. As we progress into the darker and more mass spread days of video gaming, virtual reality will come to pass, it'll be within these VR units that movement and full body functions might class gaming as a sport. Dancing on a dance mat is here, but becoming Mario might not be too far away!

Dan: A sport, most certainly not. Playing a video game is not and will never be considered a sport. Sports involve moving more than your fingers. At any rate, I suppose it could work, just don't classify it as a sport. Because it isn't.

Duncan: Gaming is becoming more competitive by the day, as the talent increases so does the competition, and with it the amount of money involved. As for becoming a sport, that's purely a question of definition, though I don't think it'll be made into an Olympic event any time soon.

Lamsh: I think gaming is a sport. It's not a physical sport like soccer or tennis, but chess and checkers aren't either. Gaming requires a great deal of concentration and skills, and is just as competative as most other sports.

Wether it should be a professional sport is another question. It's already happening in the Counterstrike/Quake scene, where players are being sponsored in big tournaments. I think it's a good thing when people can earn their money to play games by playing games, sounds like something I'd like to do :)

Conor: I've already talked about pro gaming and the Global gaming League in the Digest, but I guess I'll just summarise for the Roundtable. Yes, gaming could indeed be called a 'sport'. Well, not all of it. But games like Quake 3 and Counter-Strike require so much skill if you want to be the best that it's like football, chess, basketball etc.

Commercially though, I'm unsure. I remembering reading a good article at Gamespy about the subject, about why pro gaming wouldn't work. I don't see the masses watching the big Quake match on Sky Sports in the local pub anytime though, I don't think it would reach mass appeal. But that doesn't mean it's not a good thing to have it intensifying with this GGL. It's a long time coming, and it mightn't be to everyone's taste, but yes, some games work as a sport and that should be promoted until Sega comes home.