I guess the discussion is about 'What is a sport?'. Let's start with the Curling in the poll question. Curling is a sport. Team members need skill and physical precision to move a heavy 'stone' across ice so precisely it lands perfectly in a small circle 130 feet away.

Curling is more of a sport than eSports are. I'd put eSports in with the same category of whatever Pool, Snooker or Darts is. Games that require precision and skill. It also needs more control to it. Most 'sports' have world governing bodies and eSports don't.

What people need to understand is that labeling esport as sport is not labeling every gamer as athlete. There are worlds between a world class pro gamer and your average gamer. I'm not calling myself an athlete because I jogged up the stairs that one time. News flash, in sports there are also pro athletes and amateurs. No one would call amateurs athletes because they don't have the strength and commitment. It's the same for gaming.
If you look at what pro esport teams put in training, it puts any amateur sportsman into shame. They do what no ordinary gamer could do and they do it competitively against other great pro gamers.

This debate just shows a massive image problem and that most people don't like to look past stereotypes to form an opinion.
And if you so badly want to define sports as "strenuous activities that require skill" try do what pro gamers do and not suffer from injuries and headaches.

The gull of some people devaluing other people's efforts just to make them feel better is appalling.

It may be competitive, and sponsored, but its certainly not a sport.

by definition, its not really a sport. As those require physical exertion. Then again you can't play games without physically pressing buttons or some sort of physical exertion. Hence the "really".

But its as much a sport as snooker, darts or even poker. If those can be considered a "sport" then so can gaming.

Agree 100% with this. Besides; as I've said a hundred times before, if chess is a sport, there's no reason why pro gaming shouldn't be.

If they want to call it a sport, I'd have no problem with it, the level of skill is such that I'd put some of the higher players on a par with athlete's. Going by the definition of the word, you'd be hard pressed to convince someone it was a sport, purely on physical exertion. However, definitions evolve other time, words gain, lose or take on new meaning's entirely. I imagine in the not too distant future, either the definition will change or become broader, or we'll have something that better reflects what it is that doesn't have negative connotations in wider society.

In short:Yes it is.I mean, if chess, bowling and dart throwing is considered a sport, as many pointed out, why esports, which requires far more reflexes and fast thinking/strategy, can not be considered as such?To develop a bit more my point, esport athletes train as hard as "regular" athletes, some times even more.You might argue:" oh bit they just uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh play games they love and sit their ass on a chair all day!".Well, but athletes from other sports dont play the games they love too?And isnt running/make exercises for others a pleasure too?How "sitting on a chair" for 8 hours straight, something that must be annoying to say the least, be "easier" or less dignified than other sports?

Esport requires from the person just as much as any other sport.It just simply dont require (much) physically, just more from the mind(by that I mean strategies,reflexes, fast thinking, etc).Go watch a match of SC2 and see what they do.Look them playing with the keyboard and how they react in the game.If after this you still say that their dedication to mastering the game dosent warrant them to be called athletes, then nothing will ever convince you.

It's a skill based competition and of course, since there is a considerable amount of money invested and at stake, the level of skill is at the highest levels.

E-sports is just the simplest marketable term for professional gaming. Key word here is marketing.

When I sit down on a couch or an easy chair and pick up a controller, I'm not "playing sports" or getting exercise or getting a good workout. I can game with a beer on one side, whiskey on the other and a bowl of chips and dip. This is not sports.

I could completely suck at throwing or catching a football or stumble around like a cripple and never make a basket on the court or never hit a pitch in baseball, but regardless of skill level, it's still sports.

But it's an evolving activity. I'm sure plenty of people made the Wii argument that "now video games are a physical activity and a sport" before others broke the controls down and made it clear flailing and jumping around was not in the least bit required.

We'll see how that evolves with VR gaming although a lot of it is still holding a controller, moving thumbtacks and pushing buttons and walking in place. There are some choice video clips of people playing VR for the first time flailing around like the first time they played the Wii. So we'll see how that pans out.

I'm still waiting for the point where video games are more like VR sports where the player's actions are reflected (and of course amplified) in game, which is a step closer to Star Trek holodeck simulations or the X-Men's Danger Room. At that point, it's not just a solid argument, it's legitimate simulated reality and VR sports are a pretty close approximation to the real thing.

The spectator thing and cheering and whatever doesn't make much of an argument for an activity being sports.

The same thing can be said for board games and collectible card games. I would have to resist the desire to engage in debate with anyone who wants to make an argument that Magic the Gathering or Monopoly or Words with Friends is a sport.

Chess is a sport, so eSports are too. They require a lot of mental dedication and focus.