
U.S. government recognizes gamers as athletes - Lusake
http://www.gamespot.com/news/us-government-recognizes-league-of-legends-players-as-pro-athletes-6411377
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Lusake
I love video games. The problem I have with recognizing video gaming as a
sport is mainly that the rules and playing fields change too often, and with
no regulatory bodies to provide checks and balances to these changes. The
developer of the game being played can change and patch whatever they want,
whenever they want, with no oversight.

Not to mention, the sport being played is essentially whatever the "cool" game
is at the time, which changes year after year. It would be difficult to
maintain interest in a game for even 2 Olympic cycles, let alone hundreds. Can
Starcraft 1 still generate massive world-wide interest in 2013? How will LoL
be doing in 2023?

Meanwhile traditional gaming and sports haven't changed a whole lot over the
hundreds or even thousands of years we have played them, they have stood the
test of time and are still capable of generating massive world-wide interest.
Video games cannot claim to have done this.

With that said Im not against awarding visas to pro gamers.

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kawsper
> traditional gaming and sports haven't changed a whole lot over the hundreds
> or even thousands of years we have played them

They change less frequent, but they do change. Wikipedia has a list of rules
and changes of soccer:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_the_Game_(association_f...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_the_Game_\(association_football\))

~~~
notatoad
i think the point though, is that the governing body for soccer has stayed the
same, and a soccer player's status continues to be recognized despite a change
in the rules. the structure of governance for whatever game is currently
popular gets tossed and re-established as soon as a new game gains popularity.
The organizations sponsoring these gamers for immigration purposes don't have
much in the way of permanence or reliability. it seems like a huge potential
for fraud or abuse.

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ChuckMcM
Heh. So they can get a P-1a visa now? That is an improvement over the mess of
an O-1 or a dicey Tourist visa. A long time ago when the robotics club invited
some Japanese Sumo robot competitors over there was a tremendous fuss over
what sort of Visa they could get.

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stephengillie
Are you an entrepreneur who failed to get a visa? Do you like video games?

Do we have an opportunity for you!

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mahmud
I might be wrong, but don't entrepreneurs usually need long stay visas to do
long term work? An athlete/performer visa only allows you to stay for the
duration, only. Hardly any residency.

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HistoryInAction
True, but I'm sure we can hack it:

"Individual Athlete - Time needed to complete the event, competition or
performance, not to exceed 5 years

Individual Athlete –Increments of up to 5 years in order to continue or
complete the event, competition or performance.

Total stay is limited to 10 years."

[http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b...](http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextchannel=19860b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextoid=19860b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD)

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jivatmanx
Is chess a sport? If so, this decision is logical.

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nawitus
You don't need motor skills for chess, but you do for e-sports. If racing is a
sport, why is racing in a simulator not? The only difference is the lack of
g-forces.

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rbanffy
> The only difference is the lack of g-forces.

And the heat (racing cars become hot, to say nothing of the fireproof suit),
the noise (they are _very_ noisy) and the fact you are actually risking your
life (or, at least, serious injury). The most damage Gran Turismo 4 can cause
is an RSI...

~~~
nawitus
Well, sure, but those are not determining factors in the definition of
'sport'.

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Tloewald
All this time, I've been a jock?!

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Sessions
I've actually been watching the current LCS despite not playing LoL for a
while (it was too addictive).

Games spectatorship pushes all the same buttons that real sports do, and Riot
is very intelligently pushing it in the same direction, with the excitable
commentators and highlighting the personalities of the top players.

The kids are making money by training to be the best at something that is fun
to watch, and businesses are making money off marketing them. Seems analogous
to sports in the important ways.

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grogenaut
Cool, yet another sport I can take an active disinterest in.

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pandaman
I am not surprised, this is the government that also recognizes pizza as a
vegetable.

[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45306416/ns/health-
diet_and_nutrit...](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45306416/ns/health-
diet_and_nutrition/t/pizza-vegetable-congress-says-yes/#.UeH9zRZHYb8)

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datalus
Maybe I should be a cyberathelete.... How crazy is this. Recently parents
everywhere discouraged the amount of time spent playing games. Now it could be
argued by the kid they're working on their professional skills.

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jbri
Spending all your time playing games at the expense of your education is about
as good a strategy as spending all your time playing sports in the hopes of
becoming a professional athlete.

Only a few people become good enough to get paid to play sports, and of those
people even fewer can get paid enough to turn it into a viable career. Banking
your life on getting lucky like that without any kind of fallback plan is not
a particularly sound decision.

~~~
ledge
There are many people who make a living off sports but don't do so
professionally.

As an example, I knew many D1 tennis players who could charge upwards of 70$
an hour teaching private lessons (of which the club would take ~20$). I know
one guy who is a pretty exceptional player but no where near good enough to
make a living on the professional tour, and he brings in about 50,000$ every
summer, then goes on tour with his band all winter.

I was merely a good high school player and even back then I was making 15/hr
coaching and 25/hr for lessons. That's more than I make now sadly!

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ThomPete
Hah. Back in 95 i was the guy people laughed at for claiming that one day
games would be considered a pro sport and guys would be able to score girls by
being good players.

Should have betted on that.

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ryandoom
I'm not sure there is much proof to the latter. :) I think the critical
components to groupies is fame and/or fortune. Although the female gaming
'athletes' may be in to you.

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peterjancelis
When Oculus Rift gamers start running all day long in their Virtuix Omni's,
they will indeed become athletes who optimize food intake and workout
schedule.

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jcooper2
What about binge eaters? I bet they are athletes too

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Jach
LoL: A more legitimate sport than NASCAR.

