So recently the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made it known that they are considering adding “esports” into the Olympics as soon as the 2024 Paris games. This makes sense in the spirit of competition but can professional video gaming be reconciled with the IOC’s ideals?
In an article by Ars Technica, the IOC makes clear some hurdles that must be passed before esports can be included. They say "we want to promote nondiscrimination, nonviolence, and peace among people. This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions, and killing. And there we have to draw a clear line." So with a majority of the major esports (Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Overwatch, StarCraft, etc.) off the table where do they turn? Here is what they had to say: “...for the future development of eSports, we will focus more on titles that are actually related to sports, instead of games that focus on violence and slaughter." Some of the titles they proposed were EA’s Fifa and NBA2K. Frankly, I think this is ridiculous. Why would you have poor recreations of sports that are actually in the Olympics also as Olympic events? I think games that don’t add anything new you couldn’t already do in the Olympics should be the first to be off the table. Video games are unique because in them you can do things you couldn’t otherwise do in real life. I understand their mission to promote peace and nonviolence but let me propose this. We already have in the Olympics sports such as boxing, fencing, and wrestling. Now I hear you say: “Those aren't violent. They are just harmless sports.” But why do we think that? Originally every one of those sports was means of killing other people during times of war, but hundreds if not thousands of years have separated when they were used in war from now. So over the years, the violence of these sports has been dissociated from the sports themselves. So now we don’t see them as violent. So why shouldn’t we dissociate the violence in video games from the games themselves? The truth is we have, despite the best efforts of the mainstream media. There are about as many people who play video games because they like the feel of “killing” someone as there are people who play baseball because they like seeing people getting hit with baseballs. It just isn’t the point of the game, and in fact, detracts from the game itself. Although I understand how the violence could put off the uneducated viewer. Now despite what I have said, I think that esports might not be a good fit for the Olympics but for different reasons. I won’t go into those here but if you would like to hear that let me know and I might write about those. So what do you think about violence in video games? It is certainly a pervasive theme in many if not most on the market today. Should that be different? Should the violence in these esports be an issue when considering it for the Olympics? Clearly, I think it is blown way out of proportion but then where is the line? Thanks for reading, -Alden The Article: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/03/olympic-committee-open-to-esports-but-only-without-violence/
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