Should pro gamers be considered as athletes?

[ils411]

iceland said:

ils411 said:
Dear God No!

If anything, people who "train" in "playing games" as a damn "sport" and try to pass off as some diehard shmuck should be dragged to the streets, pointed at, and laughed at and humiliated till they crawl back into their mother's basements and hugg their knees and sob theirselves to sleep.

If you're not joking I feel sorry for you.

sorry, was i not getting my message through clear enough as you seem unsure as to what i was saying... 

let me rephrase that... people who would even consider themselves as "cool" or demand "respect" because they play video games "professionally" and people who think tha these people are "cool" or demand "respect" should be dragged to the streets, tied to the light posts, beaten with a stick and kicked in the nuts and sprinkled with lemon juice and salt and thrown in the dumpster after which they can crawl to their parents basements and cry themseleves to sleep...

there are things that can be considered as sports or professional competitions and video games are not one of those and should never be considred as one of those EVER!

...like that news i read once upon a time where this kid decided to quit school so that he can focus on practicing his "toy guitar" on guitar heroes so that he can go "pro"...WTF?! I wouldn't have issues if he quit school to focus on playing a "real guitar" to start or get in a band and play music for a living. But guitar heroes? come on!! major lameness to the highest order.