A recent study conducted by the University of Essex in England set out to compare pro gamers to pro athletes, and determine if gaming could be considered a sport. Dr Dominic Micklewright put several professional gamers through tests to see how they would compare against real athletes.
Dr Micklewright’s study found that while gamers were as visually sharp as a jet pilot — their fitness levels were “shockingly” low. One of the gamers who is in his twenties, and appeared to be in good shape, was found to have the lung function of a heavy smoker in their sixties — just imagine if he actually did smoke.
Micklewright believes that someone at that age should be more fit and goes on to say that this is possibly an “occupational hazard of the professional gamer,” as they spend upwards of 10 hours a day in front of a computer or TV. At that point it’s up to the gamer to get into a gym or do some sort of physical activity away from the games.
While they might not share the same physical traits and fitness levels as real athletes, Micklewright’s study found that gamers did share many characteristics of top athletes.
Gaming shares some characteristics with sport because both are competitive, skill-based and governed by structured rules. But the main distinction which precludes gaming from being a sport is the lack of physical exertion. However, in the end sport is socially defined and there are sports, such as snooker and darts, which you might argue are on the boundary. Like video games these require very high levels of skill, but are relatively sedentary and not physically demanding
In the end, we learned while professional gamers might be similar to real athletes in some ways, they are out terribly out of shape. We also learned that gaming as a sport is determined socially rather than in a lab after some test were run on a few people. So why did they need to run these tests in the first place?
Computer gamers ‘have reactions of pilots but bodies of chain smokers’ [Telegraph]
Holy SHIT! I live 500 metres away from University Of Essex! my dad is good friends with Dr Dominic to! Holy!
So shocking…-sarcasm-
Video game a sport??? Who even thought of that idea?
That’s more shocking than when Ricky Martin said he was gay.
Most of us knew he was gay way before he admitted it.
That’s the joke lol
Shocking (note the sarcasm)
i agree, just funny that it took a study to be conducted until they accepted it.
I don’t even understand why you would need to compare these two… just because they have the word pro in there title?
I just loved how in the study they really never set out to prove what they initially wanted to prove. lol
Let’s be honest, many gamers don’t respect the MLG or consider it a sport. Videogames are a pastime, a hobby. It’s like making films or painting (as an amateur).
So should i get into running and stuff combine that with visual skills of a jet pilot and become the scout from TF2?
Also if its our lungs that are the problem then the easy thing to do is inhale as deep as you can and hold it as long as you can, then slowly let it out.
What that does for you is uses all the air pockets in your lungs, get them used to working. It also gets cool when you do this 5 minuets a day for 2 years you can hold your breath for 10 minuets at a time.
So if the only thing stopping gaming from being a sport is physical exertion, then it should be approved once Natal comes into play… right?… right?
jk, I know Natal won’t be THAT good.
I always try to keep a healthy balance between my health and gaming. Sometimes I will game for 8 hours or more, but I make sure to give myself breaks during which I eat healthful snacks, drink water, and do push ups or something. The body is a terrible thing to waste.
Wow the things people get money to study.
All I have to say is: No shit.
The only good thing that could be comparable to pro sports athletes is the hand-eye coordination.
Maybe in the future if things like the Wii and PS3 thing (like the Wii), and Natal become extremely popular by all ages, then we could (maybe) compare sports athletes to gamers.
Gaming should not be done your whole life and while it is fun, you should only do it once in a while not every minute you have! Go out, have some fun, enjoy your life outside first then Play!