http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8623514.stm

Apparently, you can gamble on starcraft in South Korean.

I really thought people would find this interesting.

I certainly find it interesting, I confirms my theory that starcraft is truely a sport in every sence of the word

I think that athleticism is part of the criteria of a sport...

I don't, textbook definition aside. I think Golf, and Pool, are also sports, and will suffice..

I think a sport is defined as a mainstream and widely accepted competition of talent that takes place regularly between paid and trained professionals in front of an audience.

For something to be classified as a sport, it must again, be widely accepted by the mainstream. While it can be argued that competitive videogaming is widely accepted, it certainly doesn't meat the benchmark I would accept as being considered a true sport.

In my opinion, that benchmark is reached with more than 1 top competitor in said aspiring activity becomes a "household name."

So, imo, golf and pool are sports, just as sure as Tiger Woods and Minnesota Fatts walk(or walked in the case of the latter) upon the face of the earth.

...and before you try to make a case for golf being "athletic" let me say this. The act of swinging a gold club requires no real athleticism(exertion perhaps, but define exertion, is not the act of playing a game for 10 hours, exerting?), nor does it necessarily require actually standing to do so, and it requires no more finness than say, beating Mike Tyson on punchout for the NES, and it almost certainly requires less skill and more luck than being a top ranked world champion at Starcraft. Also of note, physical actions similar to a golf swing take place in all sorts of competition videogames, from the click of a mouse, to the steering of a wheel in Gran Turimo, to the firing of a lightgun.

Another sport that circumvents your logic is rally racing and NASCAR. It would boggle the mind not to consider racing a sport, when it is so popular and widely accepted, yet, by your logic, many widely accepted sports aren't even considerable as "sports" simply because people don't, what....run while competing in them?

Now, I admit, there are a few holes in my logic here, like "would American Idol be considered a sport then?" Competitive singing fits all the criteria, but something about it just doesn't seem like a sport sport to me. However, "sport" is just a word we call things, and does little to describe specific acts, so really, what we generally accept as a "sport" doesn't really matter. A rose by any other name, afterall.

Agreed, though I'm not in the least surprised to find out that Korea has bookies for starcraft leagues.  The truth is often stranger than fiction...

Doesn't pool require dexterity, and golf require strength as well as dexterity?

If you classify Startcract's "dexterity" of the keyboard as athleticism, then piano will become a sport...

I don't really classify NASCAR as a sport. I think it's classified a sport, because people think it's a continuation of previous and similar events, like Chariott Racing, that actually were sports.

Chess is a sport. So why can't Starcraft be a sport?

Shooting is considered a sport and it uses the same hand eye co-ordination and reflexes that SC does.

People are to lose with what they call a sport. Things like poker, chess, video games, nascar pool, and bowling are not real sports. They are activeites that can be competitive. You don't play chess and video games in gym class.