The term “professional” has nothing to do with athletics…
As long as you’re getting paid to do it you’re a professional something. Just means it’s your profession.
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CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks agoI’m going to pretend that we’re not now trying to call button-mashing “athletic.” Such exertion!
legion02@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
I get the common usage of the term. It just seems weird that society is so bored that it’s willing to pay people to play games. although It’s probably no different in the abstract than paying any other performer or service provider for entertainment. I guess it’s fun to watch?
kamiheku@sopuli.xyz 4 weeks ago
I guess it’s fun to watch?
No shit, Captain Obvious
Detheroth@lemmynsfw.com 4 weeks ago
Hundreds of years ago, society was so bored that we all gathered together to watch people kill each other in an arena. If we were lucky we would get to see bloodshed and the emperor will release the lions!
Humans have been playing games far longer than the digital age has been going on for. Why would anyone pay to watch people throw a ball around for hours? I guess it’s fun to watch?
Dasus@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Hundreds of years ago, society was so bored
I think “thousands” would be more accurate. We only have written records going back a few thousand years, and what we’ve gathered from what went on in Göbekli Tepe and other such places, they pretty much did something just for fun as well. I think trying to chase away the feeling of being bored is a quintessential human trait. In other words, our need for novel things is what actually elevated our species to be unlike any other.
NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I agree that it’s a little weird but it’s no more weird than professional sports.
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
Agreed
Daxtron2@startrek.website 4 weeks ago
You say this like professional sports haven’t existed for literally millenia
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
Not really, they haven’t. And videogames are hardly sports.
InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Bread and games.
Entertainment is a huge market.CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
Fair point.
Croquette@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Why do you do anything that bring you pleasure when you could be working every waking moment?
No fun, more work!
People that play games, as you call them, like to see people play a high level of that same game, because they enjoy the said game.
It applies to pretty much everything in life. This is one way we learn.
And how do you make sure that people that are good at whatever game gets to the highest level possible? You pay them to professionally play the said game.
Pretty obvious. You don’t wear your nickname well.
Dasus@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
So it’s about the amount of physical exertion, not about it being a game?
So you can’t wrap your head around the concept of professional chess players? Professional poker players? Darts? Curling?
Hell, in rally, you just literally sit in a car. Such physical exertion! (And I’m Finnish and have been in an actual rally car, before you’re going to try and make a point about how physically demanding you think it is.)
Albbi@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
Hey hey, you leave curling out of this. You go sweep a rock until it barely reaches the hog line a few times and check your heart rate.
Dasus@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
So now it’s about heartrate? Playing Mario Kart and Dark Souls can get your heartrate into the 120+ range. And that’s casual videogamers, playing simple games.
www.esportwissen.de/en/performance-in-esport/
During professional competitive play, heartrates go up to 180+ bpm. That’s on the level of racing car drivers. Way more than chess, archery, or shooting of any sort would ever have.
So guess the Turkish shooter doesn’t qualify for you either? Archers? Magnus Carlsen isn’t a chess professional, he’s just a really lucky dude with a lot of money for some random reason?
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
Curling is at least a legitimate sport.
pupbiru@aussie.zone 4 weeks ago
actually professional motor sports are quite an exertion because they drive for hours with no rest and they’re doing a lot of movement of the wheel and pedals - it’s not just driving down an interstate for a couple of hours
Dasus@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Well yeah, they are. Some more exerting than others. They vary from drag races to endurance ones, and some go really fast.
My point is rather that in driving, the physical exertion mostly comes from having to keep up mental focus and a static position — much like when gaming.
ValorieAF@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Dude just shut up
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
Make me? <shrug>
ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago
Yep, because professional chess players are well known athletic masterpieces 🙄
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
Professional, maybe by the definition this thread seems to prefer. Athletes, no.
WhyFlip@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Captain clueless in the house!
ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago
I don’t know what point you’re trying to make?
jorp@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
What’s your criteria for sport? what’s Golf? Darts? Bowling? Curling? Archery?
Is it that you have to break a sweat? I guess talking to girls makes you an athlete then?
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
“Sport” is defined as athletic activity, and “athlete/athletic” refers to physical exercise, agility, stamina, and strength. So no, playing a video game doesn’t count.
If girls make you sweat, good for you. Sex could arguably be athletic, depending on what you get up to.
wholookshere@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago
Except the person in question didn’t call gamers athletes but instead professional.
I would also count athlete a subset of professional as well.
CaptObvious@literature.cafe 4 weeks ago
I’m not the one who brought athletics into this. I’m just following the conversation. But no, “esports” do not meet the definition of “sport.”