Sports and gaming have always been compared. What sports are games? What games are really sports? The Oxford English Dictionary is a good place to start.
Two words stand out for the definition of sport, “exertion” and “competition.” By this, we can extend the definition of sport to more than you think. Chess, esports, motorsports, firearm hunting and billiards definitely have an aspect of competition to them and require great mental effort.
Game is a form of play or sport involving luck, skill, or strength. Sports matches are commonly referred to as “games.” This establishes that any sport is also a game. But is Oxford the one truth on definitions?
Britannica says that the difference between sport and game is competition. Things can be a game or a sport depending on setting. A multitude of other organizations have their own definitions too.
You could argue that sports involve movement, ruling out stationary activities that most people wouldn’t call a sport because of the general expectation of the involvement of fitness in sports.
Overall, there are many biases involved in the definition of a sport. Sports publications want to rule out sitting activities, but esports pages disagree.
Governments have come in with their definition of what is and is not a sport. 24 of the 27 European Union member nations recognize chess as a sport. Countries like the United States, China, South Korea and India have recognized esports as a sport.
It would seem safe to assume that the Olympics, the largest multi-sport event in the world, is more traditional in their acceptance of sports, but both chess and esports are recognized as sports by the Olympics. There was an Olympics Esports Week in June of this year, and there will be another in 2024. The games featured Fortnite, Just Dance, online chess, online motorsports, and a collection of online games resembling Wii Sports.
On the other hand, games played in reality like cricket and motorsports have yet to be recognized as an olympic sport, which is ironic because online motorsports was played in the Olympics Esports Week.
In the end, it seems to be that everyone is making up their own definition of sport and their own definition of game, so why not voice your own opinion too? Join the discussion in the comments!
