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Kristi Leskinen " No gamer in the world deserves an X-games Gold Medal"

Pif

Banned
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The drawings meta humor on this one is quite something.
 
D

Doge

Unconfirmed Member
Congrats to EG for the gold. Good on them. I don't mind it. Before I use to share the same sentiment, but now I really do not mind it. Times are changing.
 

Zomba13

Member
That isn't really the case though. Her other tweets say gamers deserve their own medals and respect, similar to how an actor can win the academy award.

Everyone agrees gaming is a competition. It just isn't a sport IMO and definitely isn't an action sport like the X-Games.

Yeah. She lists (in following tweets) things like Actors getting Oscars, Musicians getting Grammys etc. It's perfectly fine to keep them separate and have their own things. I'm sure people would think it odd if Acting showed up in the X-games.

Same thing people said about the X-games when it started.

And they started their own competition. Which is what games/eSports should do and not latch on to other existing physical sporting events. Why not build out EVO into something bigger and all encompassing?
 
How will gamers ever garner respect if they can't earn the prestigious X-Games medal? They'll never be able to catapult their careers to the levels of fame that former X-Games winners have, including such diverse accolades as... appearing in video games?
 

Bossun

Member
You know what the problem with sportspeople are?

They can't comprehend that video games are a competition too, just like poker. Most of all they can't comprehend that gamers/nerds can actually be sports people.

That's really all there is to it I reckon.

So we do ONE competition for anything that has a competitive aspect?

Gaming can be a sport amongst gamers and games.
Comparing any other king of sport to sport gaming is IMO ridiculous and doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
 

Codeblue

Member
That pretty much nails it. Companies shouldnt be trying to enter the normal sports tournaments/competitions for the reason of expanding coverage of esports to get them more recognized, they are already surpassing normal sports in viewership anyway.

They should just be making their own tournaments instead of invading the more traditional sport tournaments like x-games or even the olympics (when it happens). Lets face it esports focus on dexterity, focus and strategy and while that does cover some sports out there, in a traditional athletes minds it will never be the same because all they see when they look at esports is someone sitting in a chair playing a game and making it look easy in that competive environment.

Hell as someone that loves rugby, cricket and soccer(football), I consider them competitions not sports and yes I watch dota2 and LoL tournaments with just as much respect as the sports I like listed. They are two different things and whoever coined esports was a fucking moron, but it stuck because it sounded better then the alternatives like e-championships or e-tournaments.

...its all fucking marketings fault.

I can't stand the esports label either, but I don't think renaming competitive gaming would reduce the amount of hate it gets.
 

Rembrandt

Banned
Giving people medals for playing Halo at a high level isn't any more stupid than giving them medals for skateboarding well.

Video games don't really seem to be in the spirit of the x-games, though, so can't really argue with her on that.

It is. You can argue how much but it's definitely not on the same level.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
How will gamers ever garner respect if they can't earn the prestigious X-Games medal? They'll never be able to catapult their careers to the levels of fame that former X-Games winners have, including such diverse accolades as... appearing in video games?

I know Chindogg is in a video game.
 

WaterAstro

Member
Why is gaming even at X-Games?

I'm all for e-sports to be legitimize, but that's just the wrong venue.
It just screams out marketing reasons rather than actually giving esports a rep.
 
I think she could have used a phraseology less antagonistic than "deserves," but more or less, I agree. Gaming shouldn't be part of the X-Games. The X-Games are a celebration of and showcase of extreme sports.

Which gaming most definitely is not. Not even close.

I mean, I love watching "e-sports" (even though I don't like that term). But gaming can have its own competitions and showcases, and not get shoehorned into competitions it doesn't belong in.
 
Pressing buttons isn't physical.

That's a new one. You press buttons with your fingers or other body part of choice, how is that not physical?

Execution in a fighting game isn't much of a physical skill, it's more of a mental skill. I mean you manipulate the buttons with your fingers but the skill is in mental process not physical exertion.

Correct, but unusually high physical dexterity helps (as opposed to, say, typical card games), therefore it is involved in the game, therefore the specific definition I grabbed is fulfilled (physical skill involved). Strategic and tactical elements of soccer, football etc. exist without breaking that.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
She is correct. But they sort of painted themselves into a corner calling it the X-GAMES then saying games don't count.

There's also the Olympic Games.

X stands for extreme and it's filled with a lot of extreme/action/adventure sports where people put their bodies on the line in death defying races, stunts, etc.
 
Correct, but unusually high physical dexterity helps (as opposed to, say, typical card games), therefore it is involved in the game, therefore the specific definition I grabbed is fulfilled (physical skill involved). Strategic and tactical elements of soccer, football etc. exist without breaking that.


But isn't there a difference between physical dexterity and mental dexterity? Fighting game execution falls into the second. You're just pressing buttons, that doesn't change, but the mental dexterity to react fast and appropriately is the skill. Which is different from physical dexterity where you're doing unusually precise things with your body.
 

JayEH

Junior Member
Ahh I mean who really cares at the end of the day. It was some weird corporate deal to try to attract a new audience and they got a medal, big deal. She doesn't have to respect it but calling them out like that is weird. People know that there is a difference between sports and esports. Actually I've really disliked the term esports for a while now but that's the name that is gonna stick. Anyway yeah nothing to get worked up about. I respect people who are good at video games and physical activities. And this is the freaking X games so once again who cares lol. If this is the Oympics then there might be a reason to get loud but not for this.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
I don't really disagree with her. You probably deserve a different kind of trophy for doing double backflips on a damn bicycle than you do for playing Halo.

Then again, it's all corporate bullshit.

If curling and golf are considered real sports, I don't see how something like Halo requires any less fine motor skill.

Wanna know how I know you've never played golf?
 

TSM

Member
The media conglomerates have realized there will eventually be big money for them if they position themselves properly for the future of competitive gaming. ESPN especially is struggling to find a future for itself in a world where cable TV seems to be winding down. I can definitely see why people that actually compete for an X-games medal would find it disrespectful for ESPN to include a non related event and hand out the same medal they would win.
 

Zomba13

Member
Yeah, they actually do .

So was GAF up in arms when COD gave X-Games Gold to their gamers?

Or is this another case of MS / Halo so everyone now HAS to chime in?

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It's more a fact that people are discussing games at an extreme sporting event not whether Halo itself should be there, but if games in general should.

I didn't even know CoD was at an X-Game and I also think that shouldn't have been there either.
 
I have no problem with this and I'm quite perplexed why anyone else would. If it somehow offends you then just don't follow those competitions. Problem solved.
 

Chronos24

Member
You know, being an athlete takes two things, physical AND MENTAL capacity. Granted most other x-games show off the truly physical side of a person's prowess, something like this lands on the more mental side. Just like a skateboarder plans their route and tricks, gamers strategize before competition. Many games and events take split second reactions and true mental focus, so do e-sports games. The comparisons go on and on. Just because these people aren't doing flips and tricks, doesn't mean they're not showing just as much skill. They deserve medals IMO.
 
Power boating and ballooning were considered for regular Olympic Games before they made a rule against engines.

This stuff is all relative.
Sure, motorized sports were actually in one Olympics. Like 108 years ago. And then they wisely took them out.

But discussions about the Olympics are really all tangential to the discussion at hand which is the X-Games.
 
I'll never be into esports. Just don't see the appeal. That said I have to agree with this woman. esports are not extreme sports and thus should not be awarded x-games medals. Otherwise lets just add checkers to the x-games next year.

Not discounting any of the people that play video games competitively, but these things are not the same.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
You know, being an athlete takes two things, physical AND MENTAL capacity. Granted most other x-games show off the truly physical side of a person's prowess, something like this lands on the more mental side. Just like a skateboarder plans their route and tricks, gamers strategize before competition. Many games and events take split second reactions and true mental focus, so do e-sports games. The comparisons go on and on. Just because these people aren't doing flips and tricks, doesn't mean they're not showing just as much skill. They deserve medals IMO.

Sometimes these comparisons remind me of speed chess.
 

canedaddy

Member
She's right. Gamers aren't athletes and esports shouldn't be intermingled with real sports. Gaming at the highest level is a hell of a skill and should be recognized as such, but not alongside true athletes.
 

FuturusX

Member
Eating a doughnut = fighting a doughnut = competition with a doughnut.

Eating a doughnut is a sport.

If you regard a doughnut as a worthy opponent then yes.

There are plenty of competitions that aren't sport or athletic related though.

Only if you apply some arbitrary definition of what constitutes a sport. Sport is competition, that's the the only definition that really matters.
 
Sure, motorized sports were actually in one Olympics. Like 108 years ago. And then they wisely took them out.

But discussions about the Olympics are really all tangential to the discussion at hand which is the X-Games.

Sure, let's play that game. X-Games staff wisely decided to put something else than extreme sports in.

This stuff, it's all relative.

Actually tangential question. Academy Award comparison made me think, are there, like, "movie jams" with high profile acting talent participating?
 
Sure, let's play that game. X-Games staff wisely decided to put something else than extreme sports in.

This stuff, it's all relative.
I don't see how it's relative. If you host a competition about extreme sports, I think it makes sense to limit the contestants to extreme sports athletes.

E-sports have their place. And it's not there.
 

Quonny

Member
It really isn't no matter how much people try to spin it like this.
I remember my dad reading articles in papers 20 years ago about how extreme sports athletes weren't real athletes. And weren't collegiate sports in the 70s considered lesser sports or not worth watching?

So, yeah, I'd say it's a bit ironic.

Not that it matters, though. Extreme sports are lame as hell.
 

RobNBanks

Banned
Yeah. She lists (in following tweets) things like Actors getting Oscars, Musicians getting Grammys etc. It's perfectly fine to keep them separate and have their own things. I'm sure people would think it odd if Acting showed up in the X-games.



And they started their own competition. Which is what games/eSports should do and not latch on to other existing physical sporting events. Why not build out EVO into something bigger and all encompassing?

1. You act like competitive games aren't doing their own thing and that X-Games didn't ask for these games to be there.

2. EVO wants nothing to do with anything else. The FGC has made it clear they don't want to be "esports" and they don't want money.
 
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