Pro PC Gamers Have Elderly Chain-Smoker Bodies

I could never be a Pro gamer. I love to play games, just not for that long every day. It would get old FAST.

Whats with England and all the gamer related studies? They seem to have it out for the gamers in a bad way.

So does this mean that schools will start forming Street Fighter teams?

My fitness level is just fine, ex military of 14 years and stay fit work out every day. Ive been PC gaming since the 1980s on the commodore Vic 20 thank you! Must be a slow news day Toms! Now back to some Battlefield BC2...

in which case trolling and flaming should become a sports too

Would I call gaming a sport um no. Then again I don't think darts and things of that nature should be considered sports either. TO me sports are a combination of both skill, and physical. If it severaly lacks one of those two compenants I don't consider it a sport.

We're intellectuals not muscle heads or steroid junkies.

Is gaming a sport? Depends on your definition of "sport". If all it requires is to be competing against someone else, then heck, even sandwich-making can be a sport if you're trying to do it faster than someone else.

Everyone will have their own definition of what a sport is. Mine excludes gaming, even though I do plenty of it. Then again, being a soccer player and having the view that sports require real physical effort, I don't even consider golf a sport (it's a game, but not a sport). Same with things like billiards (a favorite game of mine, but it isn't a sport). That's my view, and I'm sure everyone else will have their own.

When something becomes a sport of a professional competition, it is no longer fun. I play games for fun not sport.

The same goes for physical sports, once it becomes professional or competition, it is no longer fun, it is just work at this point.

I would like to see a "normal" professional athlete take the mental exertion of a 14 hour tournament (when a high level of skill is required). I'm not saying NONE of them could do it but gaming is a mental battle not a physical battle. Many consider chess a sport but my heart rate and motor skills are much higher during a serious gaming session.

snooker and darts are not sports. who even thought of that?

Sigh....you can call it a sport if you want, but I won't compare it to running in track or playing soccer(football), 'football,' or any other athletic sport. They should just stick with the title of E-Sports.

As for the differences, being an athlete myself I would say that it takes more determination to work out, and really push yourself to improve in sports. Where as the only pain in 10 hours a day of games is the boredom factor.

@nforce - It's funny you use the word "intellectual" and then group all athletes into the categories of muscle heads and steroid junkies. My schools track team is somewhere around 90 kids, and there are maaaybe about 3 or 4 kids I would call muscleheads. Don't take hard work and determination and call it excessiveness or drug use, it simply doesn't add up.

bowling and poker players.... both are considered sports, enough said. Might as well call whistling a sport...or thumb wrestling.

So we have offically concluded that golfing is not a sport. Right on!

I think the stress without physical exertion is detrimental to physiques. Under stress the body will do minimum where it can afford minimum leading to a deterioration in physical characteristics.

"perhaps this is the occupational hazard of the professional gamer who can spend around 10 hours a day in front of a screen"

only 10? i would have guessed at least 16.

I'm 20, a gamer, smoke a lot of cigs n kush, and I'm healthy *cough cough*

It may be interesting to note that if professional gamers do increase their physical fitness, it may be beneficial to their other skills as well. Gaming is a very new sport, so optimum training regimens - physical or mental - are still developing with the sport. But for example, top level chess requires physical fitness - a major criticism of Vladimir Kramnik by his coaches was that he smoked and didn't exercise or eat well. He fixed those problems and went on to win the world championship. Perhaps there could be a parallel here?

The problem with "studies" is that anyone can launch them, despite a lack of qualifications or improper testing methods. They could've easily picked the 10 most out of shape gamers they could find to get the results they wanted.
The fact they are in poor shape does NOT come directly from professional gaming, but their own lazy habits. Playing a game for 8 hours a day doesn't prevent that person from exercising daily as well. The important fact is that they have the same mental prowess. A professional gamer with a healthy diet and regular exercise habits could clearly be on par with any other athlete.

Yes, yes.. .special pro gamers making it a sport. The people I play against from 8PM to 10PM every night before I go to bed, the people that never stop playing and I can never win against.

I call that, "having no life".

just play 8 hrs a day and do exercise for the other 2. Should be pretty fit then : )

As far whether or not gaming is a sport? No, gaming in general isn't a sport, but when a game reaches the point that professionals compete on a global level on a regular basis, I do consider those sports. So, Halo, a sport? Sure. Heck, even WoW. They make great money off of it, and their global competitions are globally televised. Or well, globally broadcast on teh intarwebs, but all their fans use the internet more than the TV anyway, so it's comparable. I mean, just about the only thing seperating these from physical sports is just that... they're not physical.

PC Gaming.
Sport for the parapeligics.

I tried to get into it.Was to much and I'm an athletic person who likes to workout and keep fit and eat healthy.I seen my health go down due to lack of exercise.So I quickly stopped that.

I mean I think the other main factor is the lack of a healthy diet.I see what most of those kids 12-25 eat at those lan centers.So I'm assuming many gamers eat the same...as I did to when I was in my teens.

Honestly it wouldn't be bad on your health as long as you maintained a healthy, balanced diet, and a good exercise routine.

I think its time for "1337 Gamers vs. 60-year-old Chain Smokers Physical Face-off Reality Show"

I saw a magazine cover extolling Tiger Woods as the greatest athlete of the (year, decade, century, millenium - can't remember which) and I laughed out loud. Yes, he's a top competitor in his chosen game, but greates "athlete"? What, because he can walk around a golf course? I'm sorry, as good as he is in golf, it doesn't compare to the athletes who will compete in the World Cup, or those who competed and are competing for the Stanley Cup or the Superbowl.

So now you know my opinion - I don't think gaming is a sport, but it can be a profession, like a professional golfer. I hope my sharing this with you made your day .