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People who say online gaming is “just a game” completely miss the point!
More than ever, the stakes are getting higher in professional gaming. E-sports should be taken seriously as an occupation and leisure form.
Riot Games, the developers of desktop juggernaut League of Legends, is even taking the game into Monday Night Football territory with its weekday broadcast of the game’s major tournament!
Sixteen years ago, National Hockey League goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov provided the sports world with one of its most excellent sound bites while being interviewed by reporters: “It’s only a game. Why do you have to be mad?”
Since that day, the phrase has exploded in popularity. Game developer Blizzard Entertainment has even used it as a voice line for the character Zarya in the popular online game Overwatch. While it’s become a famous meme for sports fans and gamers alike, the phrase “it’s just a game” has recently sparked controversy in the online gaming community.
Celebrity video game streamer Tyler Blevins — popularly known as Ninja — sparked debate on Twitter. He believes the phrase shows a weak mindset consistent with laziness, imperfection, and being OK with losing. Ninja suggests that you would not tell athletes like LeBron James or Tom Brady that “it’s just a game.”
Whether a sport or a video game, he believes in the importance of competitiveness, respect, and pride when taking a game seriously.
Blevins poses a good question: Why are sports taken more seriously than online video games?
Gaming = chill?
It has been reported that video game revenue has surpassed the global box office and streaming services worldwide. In a 2019 shareholder letter, Netflix stated that Fortnite, the video game popularised by Ninja, is more of a competitor to its service than HBO.
Researchers at the University of Syracuse estimate that eSports viewership will surpass every professional sports league in the United States aside from the National Football League by 2021. The rising popularity of online gaming in terms of revenue and viewership should only begin to highlight the seriousness of this form of leisure.
The concept of “serious leisure” has been popularised by University of Calgary sociology professor Robert Stebbins. The idea has been used frequently in discussions surrounding sports or physical activity but rarely discussed through video games.
In Stebbins’ definition, serious leisure refers to the “systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist or volunteer core activity that is highly substantial, interesting and fulfilling and where, in the typical case, participants find a career in acquiring and expressing a combination of its special skills, knowledge, and experience.”
The benefits of serious leisure include self-enrichment, self-actualisation, and a sense of identity, community, and accomplishment. When a person seriously commits to online gaming, they are hoping to acquire the skills, knowledge, and experience to become a professional “gamer.”
