Legitimizing Laziness

Competition has always been a large part of American culture, and usually new and exciting types of competition have been welcomed into the fabric of sports played in the United States. In the past, these new additions have consisted of sports like skateboarding, freestyle BMX, and freestyle motocross. These sports may be new to the mainstream, but the keys to victory that are needed don’t differ from established sports like baseball and football; that is, certain physical attributes and a strong will to constantly get better are what warrant success. Recently, however, a new type of sport has started gaining momentum in the United States, but it doesn’t quite follow the traditional model of what a sport is. The sport is known as competitive gaming or cyber sports, and it consists of people playing videogames against one another, often in tournaments for cash and prizes. I believe that new sports should be welcomed by society and given a chance to prove their worth, but this is going too far. Competitive gaming, unlike traditional sports, serves to legitimize a lack of exercise and social contact because players are rewarded for their efforts in the virtual world instead of the real world.