I was going to mention something about pontification, but then you showed up with that avatar D:

Give me a break. They're still doing something physical, and physically demanding. They are still taking part in ATHLETICS. This is semantic arguing at it's worst.

Nerds hoping to get pro-gamers recognized as "atheletes" is not going to happen, because sitting a fucking chair playing video games, is not ATHLETIC.

The sheer number of gamers who are hating on other gamers on this thread is mind boggling.
Guess it shows the nature of people on VGChartz

They're not hating on anyone, they're wondering why on earth anyone would label a gamer as an athlete and it's a perfectly good question and one I would personally like to have answered as well. Setting up the whole "so you would question the athleticism of those who compete in the paralympics" is a ridiculous form of argumentation and does nothing to promote gamers to athletes as these are two vastly different things.

There is no grounds for claiming pro gamers are athletes and I don't understand why it's such a big deal that they aren't.

This thead is great and Mummelmann put it well in his last sentence in the post above. I for one do not consider Chess players, darts players or snooker players as athletes, neither do some people in those sports/games, the players do not spend a lot of time trying to claim they are.

I find the idea of trying to justify calling pro-gamers athletes by trying to work out if Chess is a sport (which was discussed before in this thread) a joke as that isn't the question. Pro-gamers are not athletes, certainly not professional athletes (they might be athletic as they compete in non-professional sports). That doesn't mean they need to try and justify their profession and livelyhood by claiming it is. They should be happy with the fact they make money of something as trivial as a game which has a life cycle of only a few years if that.

The whole reason for gamers gaining athlete status is it allows foreign gamers to an athlete visa in countries like the US, which allows them to continue earning money through gaming in the country they are heading to.

Its not to do with whether gaming can be considered a sport, its about allowing professional gamers to continue to earn a living.

Here is the 100% truth of the matter:

1) Gaming is not a sport, it is a competitive activity.

2) Pro-gamers are not athletes just like Pro-Chess players aren't.

3) Pro-gamers and athletes are professionals.  They should both get a proportional amount of recognition based on how good they are at it, and how how popular the activity they partake in is.

I think events that are played in the summer olympics Are what considered as sports. no golf, chess, pool so go figure

Everyone in this thread is literally killing e-sports. Yes, they are considered athletes by the US government:

http://www.dailydot.com/esports/kim-violet-dong-hwan-recognized-athlete-us-government/

http://www.dailydot.com/esports/choi-polt-song-hyuen-athletes-visa-united-states-starcraft/

Check and mate.

No.

And if they are, it is nothing to be proud of compared to the any other.