How often do you tell your children to quit playing video games and go outside? Maybe you should be telling them to quit being outside and play video games.
This past week saw both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal run front page stories on video games, the growing popularity of e-sports and professional gaming.
The primary games in the e-sports world are DOTA 2 and League of Legends (LOL), both of which are free to play. However, players can choose to spend either earned in-game or real-world money to purchase new characters, upgrades and items.
In July, DOTA 2 teams played for a piece of $11 million total prize money. The tournament drew in more than 11,000 spectators, not to mention countless people watching online.
To put this into perspective, each member of the Seattle Seahawks received $92,000 for winning the Super Bowl. Whereas the five-person DOTA 2 champion team, Newbee, received a $5 million grand prize. That is more than 10 times more in winnings for each player than the Seahawks.
Additionally, the State Department has began granting visas to professional gamers just as it does for professional athletes. Furthermore, a private college in Chicago is granting scholarships to gamers in the same vein as athletic scholarships.
The debate if video games are sports naturally arises. With valid points on both sides of the argument.
No one will argue that football, baseball and basketball are not sports. However, not everyone will agree that poker or billiards are sports. Even fewer people believe that video games can be labeled as sports.
What the issue boils down to is simple: Some define sports as a combination of physical strength, endurance and strategy. Others define sports as strategy, critical thinking and foresight, such as in a game of chess. The only constant thread between both views is that games of chance, such as dice or roulette cannot be classified as sports. You have to has some control of the situation, either by strategy or skill.
It is no surprise e-sports are growing in popularity, video games are a lucrative business. The industry grew to approximately $93 billion worldwide in 2013, up from $79 billion in 2012. Forecasts predict the industry will grow to $111 billion by 2015.
Video games cross multiple demographic barriers, with men and women of all ages and backgrounds playing some form of the medium.
We”ve come a long way since the days of Pong, Pac-Mac, Donkey Kong and Mario.
If this trend continues, we can very well see amateur gamers being scouted by colleges, which in turn can lead to professional gaming teams recruiting them. Professional gamers can end up on cereal boxes, sponsoring energy drinks and Gatorade, having their own brand of clothing or shoes.
And after all the athletes have thrown out their backs, broken their bones and are forced into retirement by the age of 35, professional gamers will continue on — only worrying of carpal tunnel syndrome, or starting a new game from scratch when their specialty has become obsolete.
So you might want to rethink limiting your child”s time spent on video games, because practice makes perfect. Who knows, maybe those games will eventually make your family rich.
