Why It Sucks That Esports Are Coming To The Olympics
Donald Trump is US President, France is about to be ruled by a Neo-nazi and the Conservative party is likely to sweep the majority of the seats in the British Parliament, but I find something even bigger to be outraged about — esports are coming to the Olympics!!
This has probably been somewhat inevitable for a while now — during the Rio Olympics in 2016, for instance, eGames International Gaming Tournament has made its debut offering medals and ‘national pride’ rather than cash prizes for the winners. More recently, it was announced that esports are to become a medal sport at the 2022 Asian Games — with more than 10,000 participants in 2014 it is second only to the Olympics in its size and importance. It is now only a couple of years before we’ll hear esports being officially listed as one of the licensed sports in the International Olympic Games.
The concern here is that despite the incredible renaissance of arts in video gaming, mostly due to the generation of indie games that have come out since around 2007, these recent announcements are likely to cement the view of video games having a primarily competitive culture. The battle was probably lost a long time ago, when the term electronic sports or esports was invented. Many led the fight to call it ‘competitive gaming’ instead, precisely to avoid the associations with sports events, but of course ‘competitive gaming’ is not as easily translatable and snappy as ‘esports’.
It’s true — major video game tournaments for games like ‘League of Legends’, ‘DOTA 2’, ‘Counter Strike’ or ‘FIFA’ carry a lot of resemblance to Olympic sports such as judo or archery. By definition, esports can be easily classed as sports — they are competitive, require physical and mental fitness, there are strong behavioural codes and player ranking systems. However, in contrast to archery or judo— video games have a completely different side to them and that is a narratological, experiential, aesthetic value that the vast part of the medium holds. Admitting gaming into the Olympics will be a damaging blow to the communities enjoying games as culture, rather than a sport. Right at the moment when gaming is beginning to be taken seriously — galleries around the world are creating exhibitions on gaming, numerous academic articles are written on the political influence of games etc., we are having to defend it, once again, as a space for creative expression, emotional education and deconstruction of code for radical purposes instead of this infantile, testosterone-ridden competitive outlet.
In a game called ‘Joy Exhibition’ the player is tasked with learning to communicate with an alien race. This is made a little difficult by the fact that the aliens are completely mute. To help communicate, they player has been provided with ten canvases and a selection of randomly generated paint guns. So arm yourself, take aim, and paint your messages! ‘Bioshock Infinite’ explores the establishment of class relationships in a white-supremacist, dystopian city. ‘Depression Quest’ is a text-based video game providing an extra-ordinary insight into the decision-making process of a person suffering from intense mental health issues. ‘Else Heart.Break()’, ‘Quadrilateral Cowboy’, ‘Screeps’ — all will teach to code and break code. These are just a tiny selection of video games that worryingly could be overlooked as the industry moves towards selling video games as a sports commodity such as football rather than a cultural and educational asset many of the games ought to be seen as.
Another problem that becomes apparent with the inclusion of esports into the Olympic events is the creation of some superfluous nationalistic affiliations. While it may work well for the alt-right-sympathising part of the gaming communities, it creates an unnecessary barrier in enjoying competitive gaming for audiences uninterested with the players’ countries of origins. As it stands right now, teams are comprised of competitors from all over the world — they create bonds that are based on chemistry and interests, not nationality. For a medium that utterly defies borders with online gaming it seems completely regressive to now place such significance on the geographic placement of the players.
Although skate boarders have already lost that cause and are included in the Olympics, in 2015 over 7000 of them signed a petition expressing their wish for skateboarding ‘not to be recognised as an Olympic sport, or for skateboarding to be used to market the Olympics.’ They have also correctly expressed how unlikely it is that Olympic involvement would in any way support skateboarders or skateparks.
My passion for video games will be greatly tainted when they start being affiliated with a monstrous event that is the International Olympic Games — every four years, entire communities get violently dispersed to make space for the Olympic stadiums, billions of dollars of public money is passed on to private companies to build temporary buildings that rarely get used after the whole charade is over. Even the London Olympics in 2012 that were meant to be the most socially-conscious ever Olympics failed to create any sustainable engagement with the communities most affected by the event. Furthermore, cuts to the disability allowances, for instance, makes the Paralympic Games seem almost sinister.
One of the silver linings from esports gaining this mainstream recognition may be a push for establishing firm, unionised structures to deal with labour issues in the sector. Many professional gamers suffer from exhaustion, precarious contracts, early retirement with no social security and protection. Esports emerging on such a grand platform as the Olympic Games may shine the light on many shifty industrial practices that are currently common in the Wild West that is competitive gaming.
The fear is clear — to us, snobs, that have worked so hard to make gaming be seen as high(-er) culture, this slide will hurt. There is probably no stopping it — video games are coming to the Olympics, whether enough people read this Medium rant, or not. Too many sponsorship deals and TV contracts are at stake for this not to proceed. Perhaps with the inclusion of mixed-gender teams esports could pave the way for progressive, diverse take on competition. Maybe it will also vindicate a lot of people playing video games and currently, feeling and being told that they are simply wasting their time. How do we reap the benefits that come with legitimisation without suffering a loss in ambition to grow video games as a means of exquisite artistic, political and technological expression? Time will tell — until then, I’m off to get good at ‘Quake Champions’, prepare for that ‘national hero’ glory.
