Traduweise : Actually, you are right. However, by my personal arbitrary definition of a regular sport, I would by no means include fighting or golf. I do no believe this things to be as popular and therefore not in the same category. As previously stated, my main argument was how things are developing in society's viewpoint. You might say I stand between you and rcarter in the sense that I currently agree with him, but believe that gamers will quickly become more mainstream and therefore also acceptable of the title of athlete. 

Just to clarify, it seems your main concern with my argument is what I count as mainstream, and without spending some time researching popularity in sports, I am simply asserting my personal view of the matter. Which I agree is not a very strong argument, but I also really have no idea why people killing each other in a cage is a sport or athletic, but that's a topic for another thread. 

Also, relegating some sports over others due to popularity was also part of my point. That's exactly what happens in the world. That's why this thread exists. Only now, in the digital age of society, is gaming becoming a sport and conversations like these are necessary. Popularity of the sport is the entire point. These people are still in business to make money and if it wasn't popular, no one would.

danielbelitch : What's odd is you insisting that athletes should be defined based on physical health. Of course, there's no objective way to determine how physically healthy one has to be in order to be an athelete, so it's a rather moot point. But if we are to accept that being more "physically healthy" makes one more atheletic, then fighters are certainly the most athletic of all. You don't think fighting is a sport because you find the violence unpleasant? That's illogical. I find baseball boring and stupid, with a low fitness (as in running and cardio) requirement, but that doesn't justify me saying baseball shouldn't be a sport. The players are physically fit in the manner most befitting their sport. Fighters need to be fit in a wider variety of aspects that other atheletes: strength, conditioning, speed and timing, accuracy and precision, technique. The list goes on. The physical demands are far more extensive than any of the 'regular' sports like hockey and football and basket.

Golf is actually pretty popular, but what counts as mainstream varies by culture. In South Korea, e-sports are very well established and mainstream, with professionals getting both a great deal of recognition and sponsorships. If this issue were brought up there, people would not find it odd for professional gamers to be called atheletes. In North America, not so much. I'm not so sure that's going to change very quickly, but we'll see.

Ok . I would not say they are  .  Athletics have to do with the body and using it to do something extra ordinary . Especially with your muscular system . Gaming only uses your mind , fingers and eyes . You have to be concentrated and must focus but unless you get a thumb cramp then I don't think it has much to do with the muscular sytem .  

If I were some sort of gaming god that beat every high score ever, I would still be absolutely embarrassed if someone referred to me as an "athlete", as I sit there slumped over my chair with Doritos crumbs on my shirt. Musicians have to have good hand-eye coordination and dexterous fingers too, should they be athletes as well?

I consider an athlete to be someone who has to physically train for a certain activity, something that at least gives you a bit of cardio, not gaming. Even with golf, you have to walk.

I think using the term "athlete" in that sense is misleading. It does indeed take a great deal of effort to become skilled at a video game, however it is not athletic. Not unless it is physically making you stronger. I personally think they should get their own sub-category of sports, and should fall in with things such as chess and marbles. They are considered to be sports, but not necessarily athletic ones. I also think that they need to not limit the game that they play and consider athletic to just League of Legends. Using that headline that says, in a sense, Video gamers can be considered professional athletes, and then only talking about League of Legends players is extremely unfair to those of us who play other games that are equally as strenuous, if not more. I don't think this article is so much a slap to the face of actual professional athletes so much as it is to gamers who don't play that game.

Also, as I re-read the comments, I noticed that the term "health" came up quite frequently. Health is not just a matter of whether or not you are string or in good shape, it also refers to mental and emotional health. By this standpoint, a professional football player who isn't very smart TECHNICALLY shouldn't be considered an athlete, but is anyway. Is it possible that athleticism simply refers to health in general? And if not, then only someone who is strong, smart, and emotionally in check could be considered an athlete. Unfortunately, I don't really know of anyone who meets all of these standards. Also, if athleticism really only is determined by physical health, shouldn't there be something parallel to it in terms of mental health and emotional health? If so, then that should be what professional gamers should be called. There should also be something like that for people who are very, very emotionally balanced. If there aren't terms for those people that essentially hold mirrored meanings of athletic, then that word should apply to all states of health, not just physical. I'm not saying there aren't words for being super smart or emotionally balanced, I'm just saying there aren't common terms which come up often that relate to them, such as athletic.

So far I think League of Legends is the only recognizable game that has been considered a sport. I play it and I think that it really shouldn't be taken seriously. It's basically World of Warcraft + CoD Multiplayer with a story line. The fact that the US government is giving Visas to players to play in America can be a good and a bad thing. The good thing is that People can meet new players personally, play in competitions etc. But the bad thing is that people who REALLY need to move to America for serious reasons and aren't really gamers actually need to apply for Visas and wait for them to come and may or may not get them. Also I think that this can give almost everyone an excuse to play video games just so that they can move to America.