http://mobile.news.com.au/technology/gaming/video-gamers-to-get-professional-athlete-us-visa/story-e6frfrt9-1226680746037
I kind of find this... absurd. also somewhat amusing.
whats your take on this?
personaly I dont even find watching game competitions fun, and this ranks in my mind along with things such as darts or snooker as far as sport goes.

What's the problem? Many video games require incredible talent and practice to excel in. A sport in its most basic definition is just a competetive game.

Just throwing this out there playing video games shouldn't even be respected or viewed as a sport and video gamers should not be called pro athletes because playing video games isn't even a active spot anyways and how can you be a pro at seething anyone can easily do and beat you at. I find video game playing being viewed as a sport comical and highly stupid. And I also wouldn't enjoy watching a video game competition especially if I'm not playing in the competition.

"Sports" and being an "Athlete" require actual physical skills. Being able to press a button quickly or in a certain order isn't a physical skill, having the mental capacity to follow instructions or solve problems also doesn't make you an athlete. That's like saying playing Chess is a sport and chess players are athletes. Its a total joke and a slap in the face to real athletes who put there body on the line and actually risk injury to play the sport they love.... And NO eye strain is not a sports injury.

I agree, absurd and amusing. I'm an athlete because I can run well, not because I play video games.

I remember talking to an active neuroscientist about the boundary between physical and mental activity. Interestingly, she said that it's a completely arbitrary and senseless dichotomy to be drawing. At the simplest levels, thoughts are just synapses firing and the odd chemical reaction. In other words, thinking is a physical exertion, just like throwing a ball. The distinction between physical and mental activities is thus baseless. Chess is just as much a sport as is basketball. That doesn't even take into the account the superb physical reflexes and reaction time that high level gamers need.

It really isn't that complicated when you think about it.

Traduweise : Actually there is a HUGE difference between physical and mental activities, you don't get tired from thinking!!! You may become stressed, but you will not become physically tired from using your brain. After playing chess you still have the ability to get up and run 5 miles because you are only mentally stressed, you may not want to but you can, after playing a game of basketball you will not be able to run 5 miles because you are actually physically exhausted. It doesn't take "superb physical reflexes" to play chess, it takes strategy. comparing Chess and basketball is absurd. Basketball requires every single muscle in your body to be in tuned with your brain, not just your hand, basketball takes physical and mental stamina while chess only requires mental stamina, don't try to tell me that it is a strain on your body physically to sit in a chair and move your hand, cause if that's the case then people who sit around deciding what to watch on television are athletes by that definition.

to my mind being a pro athlete requires lots of practice and raw talent for the sport.
Anyone who plays enough can become great at games.
on the plus if I ever wanted to emigrate to america all I need to do is invest a few months solid into a game and I win a visa =p

Wait, so it's all gamers now? Not just the ones who play the eSports? To be honest, I play one of the eSports (though I used to play many of them) and I must say, I don't feel like an athlete at all. I highly doubt there is some gamer who is physically olympian.

Smoc3 : You most certainly can get tired from thinking. The brain can only think so hard on any given day before it deteriorates, just like any muscle. I can run 5 miles after playing a game of chess, but I can also run 5 miles after lifting weights for an hour. I suppose the bench press isn't a physical activity either? The entire point of my post was to explain that the difference between the physical and the mental is meaningless. I don't feel like repeating it, so go back and read a little more carefully.

Traduweise : I did read it quiet carefully and it doesn't make sense, you now have changed your argument from Chess and basketball, to chess and lifting weights, running 5 miles after lifting weights is what ALL pro athletes do, from baseball and basketball to football and hockey, they all do that. And don't think I don't appreciate your opinion, I do my best to keep an open mind, and if someone makes an intelligent enough rebuttal to my argument and convinces me otherwise, I'll admit as much. However saying that there is no difference between mental and physical activities is just wrong, I can guarantee you that the neuroscientist that you discussed this with wasn't a work out hound and has never played a true sport on a competitive level. Once again, I do appreciate the debate though.

Unfortunately...
Sweating while doing something does not apply to all sports.

I put this on par with Chess and Pool champs. It happens.
It's funny to some but for me it kinda makes sense. If Chess or Pool can be considered a sport? Then Why not this?

My definition of a sport was redefined along time ago. "If a wager can be had on it? Then it can be a sport."
That quote was from a co-worker that had been around the block and then some. The time I heard it? 1996.

Since I heard that the Street Fighter Prize Money could go to $100,000.00 Bucks? Nothing surprises me any more.

I just hope they do not put this thing in the Olympics. (Why they get rid of baseball from time to time is beyond me.)

That's my two cents for today.
Good Luck.
Peace.

First off all being an athlete does just mean you are of peak PHYSICAL condition, no It also refers to mental state of mind, how focused and determined you are. Are you knocking down Snooker and Darts because they don't have to be fit? No you're not, so the whole gamers as athletes is still plausible.

However sports are more based on skill, whilst many games require tactics and methods, of-course yes many sports make use of tactics during matches, however they use skill to carry them out rather than numbers and figures.

Smoc3 : I used the running five mile example to build on your example. You claimed that it's easy to play a game of chess and then run 5 miles. Therefore, chess is not a physical activity. But I can easily lift weights for an hour and then run 5 miles. Is lifting weights not a physical activity? Since I have to spell it out, yes, lifting weights is a physical activity; I can still run after lifting weights because most of the muscles used in weight lifting are not used are not used in running (unless it's something like squats, which I never do). In a similar fashion, the exertion of playing chess is not felt in the legs, which is why one can easily run after playing chess.

Now you may think you know more than a neuroscientist in this regard, but I'll give you a little tip, and please don't take it the wrong way: you don't. The level the sport is played on is irrelevent. The point is that the firing of synapses in the brain is no different from the firing of synapses in the arms or legs. If you disagree with that claim, go ahead and explain why. Science is not based around paradigms like "Oh, I've played sports so I know all about this". Don't pretend to be an authority just because you've played sports "comptetively". So have I, and I can tell you that writing a 4-5 hour exam or essay is just as exhausting, if not more, than playing a "comptetive" sport like soccer or basketball.

Twiddling your thumbs on your joystick shouldn't be considered "athletic" at all.

Traduweise : Although yes I am highly intelligent, I never one stated I was smarter than a neuroscientist, seeing as how they are some of the smartest people on Earth I simply pale in comparison, however the problem with your first statement is the conclusion you drew from the information:

" At the simplest levels, thoughts are just synapses firing and the odd chemical reaction. In other words, thinking is a physical exertion, just like throwing a ball. The distinction between physical and mental activities is thus baseless." - Traduweise

The problem with this is that they are both a part of your Nervous System thus making them both Neurological activities not physical activities. Mental and physical activities are sub-categories of Neurological Activity and are differentiated by this: The firing of synapse in your muscles results in the contraction of that muscle producing movement and burning calories, There has been no reliable study that shows that increased mental activity causes an increase in caloric consumption of the brain, thus resulting in the difference between mental and physical activity.

Smoc3 : http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=thinking-hard-calories

Well that wasn't too hard.

Traduweise : That link proved my point, I didn't say your brain doesn't consume calories, I said INCREASED brain functions doesn't result in an INCREASED caloric consumption, just as that website that you yourself posted. 

"BRAINPOWER: In most cases, deep thought and concentration do not burn tons more calories than routine brain activity. But if we think we've worn out our brains, we will feel exhausted anyways.Image: Ferris Jabr"

That's a quote from your site. That being said I don't wish to spend any further amount of my time discussing the same issue, the final word on this topic shall be yours. We'll simply have to agree to disagree. I appreciate the fact that there are still people out there who can carry on an intelligent conversation so for that I thank you, sir.

Maybe we'll meet again in another thread and have the chance to engage in more in-depth deliberations.

           Until then,
                     Smoke

     

Smoc3 : It's not an intelligent conversation when you lack basic reading comprehension. The article does say the brain burns more calories. Not lots more, just more. Which is what you denied in your previous post.

Some relevent quotes.

"So, in most cases, short periods of additional mental effort require a little more brainpower than usual, but not much more."

"Most laboratory experiments, however, have not subjected volunteers to several hours' worth of challenging mental acrobatics. And something must explain the feeling of mental exhaustion, even if its physiology differs from physical fatigue. Simply believing that our brains have expended a lot of effort might be enough to make us lethargic."

"If we assume an average resting metabolic rate of 1,300 calories, then the brain consumes 260 of those calories just to keep things in order. That's 10.8 calories every hour or 0.18 calories each minute."

"Energy travels to the brain via blood vessels in the form of glucose, which is transported across the blood-brain barrier and used to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the main currency of chemical energy within cells."


In short, yes the brain burns calories. Yes, thinking causes the brain to burn more calories. Long periods of hard thought are not covered yet in studies, or had not yet been covered at the time of this study.