Encourage public schools promoting videos games as a sport.... Hm....

This can't be a good idea... I'm not paying taxes to let (other people's) kids play video games and goto esports competitions...

How is this even a thing?

I don't see anything wrong with this. They'd have to keep their grades up just like any other school team. I think "just to play silly games" perpetuates an old-person stigma.

@duckWit I'd be indirectly paying for this and I don't see any social, educational, or health benefits to this?

Health benefits is the only one that e-sports doesn't answer.

E-sports is all about the team and practice partners, so social benefit has a check.

If you really want to get good at a competitive game, you have to dive deep into strategy such as reactions, timing, builds, the meta, the list goes on. Imo, educational has a check.

Do you feel that chess clubs have no educational benefit either?

@duckWit who pays for all the games and computers? Chess boards are cheap.

@billgates the same people who pay for the sport related utensils. Or is their private stuff, it doesn't matter.
And regarding health effects, how many people suffer from sport related injuries, huh?
In the long term, CS:GO challenge is more beneficial to the economy than football, it gives more jobs to make the game available, not to market the game lilt it is with the football.

@mt3o what sorta related utensils, football uniforms? Those are cheap compared to $1000 gaming rigs?

In that regard, the amount of money thrown at Football (American) teams is high. The same could be said for buying pads, helmets and uniforms for both JV and Varsity teams (60+ players). Also, field maintenance such as grass and bleachers and so on. A few PC's capable enough to play the games is a drop in the bucket compared to all that.

@billgates visit a sport shop and discuss about the prices. It's cheap when you look at the cheapest shit, but players don't use cheapest stuff. Look at prices of sport shoes from, let's say, Nike: https://nike.com/t/...
Over $100 for a pair. Just for stupid shoes. And yet the whole team have to wear shoes that look the same.

Hardware can be owned by the player. It's reusable when player switches teams, and even if player quits playing, the hardware can be reused as, let's say, programmers workstation.

Moreover, stadium has to be managed too. You put that into account?

@mt3o hm ok fine though I remember stations can be reused for multiple sports including track. We used to run during gym period.

@irene it's not, but to be really good you do have to be (usually) in good shape. There are exceptions.

I think @mt3o had a very good point. A lot of my family members have been messed up for life because of sports related injuries acquired from playing for the school. Most of them have had knee or ankle surgery or both with lasting effects. Carpal tunnel would be the only real threat in a gaming environment but that's not really something one would acquire until later in life. Also, there are things one can do to mitigate that such as adhering to good ergonomics. So, yes, e-sports in that way does offer health benefits.

Another benefit of e-sports is widening the pool of participation. Some kids just aren't built for American football, soccer (enter a rigorous athletic sport from your country here) etc but would greatly excel at gaming competitions.

This is the future we are shaping 🕺

Life like in Wall E is the future 🕺

Most professional e sporters also have a coach that lets them run every day to stay fit. A healthy body improves a healthy mind.

You have a very negative view on the subject, and while an easy parallel could be made from your rant ("I'm not paying for other people's health"), I'll try to stay away from that.

Others already explained a lot better than I could, that your concerns about the price of their "equipment" is nothing compared to that in other regular sports. Besides, they aren't on holiday when doing so, it's on top of the rest and they do need to keep working in "school".

Anyway, I do hope that you'll make an effort in learning more about the topic. This trend will probably be more common in the near future.

I don't share the "tax" argument point with OP.

However I do have same worrisome points regarding this topic.

If we have same technology like OASIS in Ready Player One, I am all for student playing video games as sport.

But I don't think video game industry is not at that level yet :3

I think anybody here arguing that esports is more expensive than classic sports greatly underestimate the cost of maintaining something like a football field which costs in the tens of thousands every year.

@irene for starter you won't be sitting at a chair looking at a monitor on a desk for hours :3

So it solved the health issue.

@irene screen is not an issue, you will be moving your body and walking and running. 🙄