Is this a sport?

This argument probably never gets old. Are esports a sport?

Wikipedia has this to say

"The word "sport" comes from the Old French desport meaning "leisure", with the oldest definition in English from around 1300 being "anything humans find amusing or entertaining"

With this definition it is certainly a sport.

But everyone likes to have his own definition.

I always thought it is something where you can get better through training. This would make things like drawing, writing and cooking a sport as well though. So it is not really fitting.

Back to wikipedia

"SportAccord uses the following criteria, determining that a sport should:

• have an element of competition
• be in no way harmful to any living creature
• not rely on equipment provided by a single supplier (excluding proprietary games such as arena football)
• not rely on any "luck" element specifically designed into the sport.

They also recognise that sport can be primarily physical (such as rugby or athletics), primarily mind (such as chess or Go), predominantly motorised (such as Formula 1 or powerboating), primarily co-ordination (such as billiard sports), or primarily animal-supported (such as equestrian sport)."

With this definition esport is certainly a sport.

It is a competition and it is a game for the mind and coordination.

The prize pool for certain tournaments is just bat shit crazy

Payouts for the first half of 2019

source

One more time wikipedia

The inclusion of mind sports within sport definitions has not been universally accepted, leading to legal challenges from governing bodies in regards to being denied funding available to sports.[11]

Whilst SportAccord recognises a small number of mind sports, it is not open to admitting any further mind sports.

There has been an increase in the application of the term "sport" to a wider set of non-physical challenges such as video games, also called esports, especially due to the large scale of participation and organised competition, but these are not widely recognised by mainstream sports organisations.

According to Council of Europe, European Sports Charter, article 2.i, "'Sport' means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels."

So if you believe esports are not a sport you are not alone.

Personally I believe esports are a sport. I was playing Starcraft 2 for a while not on any kind of Top level but was watching the tournaments etc.

The life of a pro is very demanding and they do a lot to reach those top levels.

I dont think every video game should be considered an esport but if you dismiss all to just clicking a couple of buttons really fast you do it no justice.

What is your opinion? Do you consider esport as an legit sport? What about chess and dart?