2022-02-18T06:00:08+05:30
The International Olympic Committee has also explored the possibility of getting esports as an event at the Olympics.
Last week, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), the body in charge of organising the CWG, announced that the inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships and Commonwealth Esports Forum will be staged on the sidelines of the Birmingham CWG in August. This, the CGF said, was a step towards exploring the possibility of having esports as a medal event in future Games. This is in line with the interest esports — or electronic sports — has been generating in other multi-disciplinary sporting events like the Asian Games and Olympics, as these blue-riband competitions seek to attract new audiences.
«Esports is continuing to grow dramatically in terms of popularity and participation, particularly amongst young people, and we are continuing to look at ways to explore how it can align with the Commonwealth Sports Movement,» CGF president Dame Louise Martin said in a statement. «Commonwealth Esports Championships will allow us to review the long-term relationship between the Commonwealth Games and esports as we continue to evolve and explore future editions of our event and what they could look like.»
The interest of the Commonwealth Games Federation in esports follows in the footsteps of the Asian Games, which will have esports as medal events at the Hangzhou edition in September this year. The Jakarta Asiad four years ago had esports as a demonstration event.
Similarly, the International Olympic Committee has also explored the possibility of getting esports under its umbrella of sports. In 2021, it launched the Olympic Virtual Series (OVS) which was held before the deferred Tokyo Olympics and had events in five disciplines — baseball, cycling, rowing, sailing and motorsport.
The OVS was IOC’s way of exploring the relationship between, what they perceive to be ‘traditional’ sports, and esports and in line with the recommendations of its Olympic Agenda 2020+5.
All of this, despite concerns being raised in some quarters including current and former athletes, that esports which require players to be seated for hours, are antithetical to the spirit of the Olympics, which require some amount of physical exertion.
While explaining the rationale behind their interest in esports, the CGF put up some startling numbers. It noted that 65 percent of the two billion citizens who come under the umbrella of the Commonwealth are under the age of 30. To back their interest in esports, it cited data which said that people in the age group of 16-24-year-olds are more likely (marginally at least) to watch esports tournaments (32 percent of those polled) than traditional sports tournaments (31 percent) while 44 percent said they watch live streams of video games. The CGF also noted the growing use of smartphones in older age groups.
For organisers of muti-disciplinary events like CWG, Asiad and Olympics, the lure of attracting newer audiences is a massive attraction. After all, the viewership figures that NBC released after Tokyo 2020 showed that their overall TV audience was down by 45 percent compared to Rio 2016. Their prime-time viewership had sunk by 51 percent. On the other hand, NBC noted that the Tokyo Games were the most ‘widely streamed’ Games in history. Over six billion minutes of Tokyo Olympics content were consumed on their online platforms, an indicator of which way the wind was blowing.
As a sports nutritionist, Dr Ryan Fernando has worked with some of top athletes in the country, including two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar. His client list also includes chess players, so he knows a thing or two about the perils of disciplines which require an athlete to sit on a chair for hours at a stretch.
Ask him if he sees any concerns in the lifestyles esports players lead and he says: “With athletes who play high-performance physical sports, there is a healthy side effect that you will take proper rest… your sleep cycle will be healthy. You will eat correct food. So, there are positive impacts of pushing the body with the intensity as athletes do. Whereas in the esports scenario, you could still be uneducated about the travesties of junk food and how it impacts your health. The sedentary lifestyle that esports players have, coupled with the perception that you really don’t need proper nutrition to enhance your performance (is a concern).”
He points out that while some of the top gamers in the world are very health conscious, those below the elite level may persist with unhealthy lifestyles. In essence, he’s highlighting that youngsters in other sporting disciplines, who probably may not be able to afford nutritionists or physios in developmental years, still tend to lead healthy lifestyles because their ascent in sport depends on it. That’s not the case in esports.
“The top esports players in the world, they work out daily, have sports physios working with them on everything from their fingers to their knees and their neck. But below that level, players may go through years of playing while leading an unhealthy lifestyle and actually destroy their health. And then maybe when they’re at the elite level they will employ physios, nutritionists, etc.”
Fernando draws a parallel between esports athletes and chess players — or as he calls them, armchair athletes, since he has worked with stars of the 64 squares. “They train anywhere between eight to 10 hours a day, so their entire posture and muscles go into rigid stances. It’s almost like asking a person to stand still as a statue for eight hours.
“At the end of the day, there’s no comparison between athletes who play a proper physical sport and those who play esports. It’s two different requirements of the human body,” he says.
“If an esports athlete were to come to me, I would ask them how many hours they played, how many hours do you sleep, how much of your brain do you use and how they eat their meals. A lot of these gamers, I think, would believe they can eat junk food and drink aerated beverages, which is synonymous with gaming. It’s never been healthy,” he says before adding that if he were working with a world-champion gamer, he would focus on brain performance and a diet that keeps the brain alert.
Tirth Mehta understands the criticism about including esports in multi-disciplinary events like the CWG, Asiad and the Olympics.
But the man who won a bronze medal at the Jakarta Asian Games in hearthstone also believes that esports has a place under the Olympic sports umbrella.
“Even though esports doesn’t require that much physical activity compared to typical Olympic sports, it still holds its place in sport. Maybe it doesn’t need too much physical skills, but it does require a lot of mental skills. You can compare it to sports like bridge or chess, which have been at the Asian Games in the past. If bridge can be in the Asian Games, I am confident that esports definitely deserves a spot at these big-ticket events,” says Tirth, who says that contrary to popular belief that traditional athletes resented the inclusion of esports, all the athletes from heartland Olympic disciplines he spoke to at the Asian Games in Jakarta agreed that esports were a great addition.
“By nature, esports is different from typical sports. So, the criticism is understandable. But as a player I can tell you that esports requires the same number of hours to be put into training. The preparations are just as heavy.”
Tirth points out how physically demanding games like DOTA or League of Legends can be, where players can be required to make as many as 300 APMs (Actions Per Minute). He adds that many players do some amount of work in the gym to keep themselves fit. Most, particular those who play first-person shooting games, do a lot of work on their wrists and hands to sharpen their reflexes.
“A player is pressing 300 keys on the keyboard or mouse clicks in a minute! This is besides the quick thinking and hand-eye coordination that goes into being a successful esports player. It does require a lot of physical effort,” he says as he dismisses the perception of esports athletes being ‘couch potatoes.’
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