Should pro gamers be considered as athletes?

[JWeinCom]

Soleron said:

JWeinCom said:
No. It might take a great deal of skill and strategy, but so do many other things that are not athletic in nature. I'm not here to judge people who are professional gamers, but it's simply not the same class of activity as sports.

Overall, I would say that the desire to use the terms e-sports and athletes shows an inferiority complex. Pro gamers feel the need to latch on to a respected phenomena because what they're doing is not respected.

Why do people watch sports?

Why do people watch pro-gamers competing?

The reasons are exactly the same. It's about personalities, storylines and demonstrations of skill. That's the equivalancy, not whether the players are on a field of grass. I don't care whether it's ever popular or respected, just that people understand that the appeal is the same.

If anything, the people with the inferiority complex are gaming forum members who have found something they can finally look down upon without anyone calling them out on it.

It doesn't matter what the appeal is.  You can say people watch movies for personalities, storylines, and demonstration of skill.  You could say people watch chess because of personalities storylines and skill.  You can say that people watch stand up comedy for personalities, storylines, and skill.  You could say people see concerts because of personality, storyline, and skills.  This does not mean Robert De Niro, Bobby Fischer, Louis CK, or John Lennon are (or were) athletes.

Professional gaming is not an athletic event.  That doesn't mean it's better or worse than athletics, but it is clearly and undeniably a different thing.  The "appeal" doesn't matter in the slightest.  The activities are not similar except in the vaguest sense that they require some physical motion, strategy, and are competitive.