Esports Research Paper

ESports the Next Olympic Sport? ESports has been on the rise in the world and many question whether eSports should be incorporated into the Olympics and I say: why not? Many may think that eSports, playing video games competitively, might not qualify to be an Olympic sport or that it might promote bad behaviors associated with video games, but I don’t see that to be the case and others agree. ESports being placed into the Olympics will boost the video game related industry, cause the Olympics to appeal to a wider audience, and adapt the Olympics to our evolving culture. Some may jump to the conclusion that video games cause people to become more violent as opposed to not playing and thus promoting them in the Olympics would be a very bad idea. This is true, violent video games cause humans to be more hurtful towards others. In Douglas Gentile’s Video Games Affect The Brain – For Better And Worse he stated that in a study of 161 college students, the students who played violent video games were more hurtful to other students; however, in pro-social games it caused the students to be more helpful. Since video games have an effect on us we can simply limit which games are able to make it into the Olympics; specifically targeting the ones that are more violent, such as first person shooters. This can easily be done by simply using the ESRB rating system, Entertainment Software Rating Board, that decides whether games are for mature audiences, teen audiences, or for everyone. Another argument might be that video games just make people lazy and by placing eSports in the Olympics it would be promoting laziness. It’s true that sitting around all day and playing video games will cause you to become unhealthy and out of shape; however, many pro gamers manage to stay in shape. In the Curse Gaming House, a competitive League of Legends team, they have a room that houses multiple pieces of gym equipment that gets used regularly. If they don’t use the house

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