Are E-Sports real sports?

Watching some experts play games on their computers versus outside in a stadium may be a similar kind of experience for the audience, but it's totally different for the players. Both require complex skills but traditionally these have always been physical skills, whereas e-sports are almost entirely mental. Are e-sports just the next evolution in sport?

admin: Can you give an example of an e-sport?

nzlockie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_sports

Aka these guys: http://www.esportsearnings.com/players

Interestingly, in the US, some e-sports players are legally recognized as "athletes" and the game as a "professional sport" ( http://pando.com/2013/07/15/95749/ )

admin: This is surely gaming, which is more than just mental. Its hand-eye as well, reaction time etc etc. Probably most comparable to Motorsport.

That being said, I wouldn't consider this a sport. At some point the line needs to be drawn between a game and a sport. At this point I have no logic behind that stance but there you go.
Could be a fun thing to try to define sport vs game.

I'll kick it off by saying that a sport needs to involve running, skating or swimming.
Struggling to think of any sports that don't meet this criteria... Although I have to work out where wheelchair rugby fits into that...

nzlockie: Sorry cycling, weightlifting, discus throwing, equestrian etc...

admin: I'm happy that all of those don't meet the criteria of sports.
Equestrian events, I'll admit MIGHT meet the definition... Specifically I'm thinking of Polo and that Mongolian one with the goat... OK I'm adding "riding" into the criteria.
The others, including cycling, I wouldn't count as sports. They are simply competition. To be honest I'd class most individual events in this category, including most athletic events.

OK I'm going to add that for an event to be classed a "sport" it needs to involve a team. Ie , more than one person. Contentious I know, but if we're going to make rules then there are some that won't make the cut. Sorry Tennis.

To clarify my position, a sport needs to have a "game" element to it, rather than taking an everyday activity, cycling, lifting, throwing - and making a competition to see who can do it the best.
A good sport will certainly incorporate some of these elements but it will be more than, "who can do this one thing the best".

Interesting that under my criteria, Paintballing is a sport. Hmmm.

nzlockie: OK, except that an e-sport can be a team game as well. In fact most popular e-sports are played in teams.

admin: True, but there's no running, swimming, skating, riding or jumping.
(Oh yeah, I added Jumping to cover volleyball.)

nzlockie: Oh well. I suppose professional wrestling is a sport in tag team matches then.

admin: Ugh. Well I need to make some sort of ruling along the lines of, "if the MAIN version of a sport is individual, then the team version is not a sport either."

Also, there's a category called, "Martial Arts", which covers fighty sports. Wrestling would logically want to join that.

Ultimate Frisbee. Also a sport apparently. Not sure how I can block it out, so welcome to the club!

New Rule I just found in the back of Leviticus somewhere... For an activity to be classed as a "Sport", there must be a professional level of it.

nzlockie: Have you never seen professional ultimate frisbee? You know there's professional yoyo trickers, right?

admin: Funnily enough, I've watched professional UF on ESPN while I was in the states. They also had 4 hours of Paintball, which I also watched. I actually don't mind UF as a sport. It was quite entertaining to watch and there was a bit of strategy to it, and a fair amount of skill and physicality. I'd rate it very similar to Aussie Rules.
Paintballing, I'm not so happy with, but maybe I can classify it under "War Games"? It's probably always going to meet the criteria for a sport though.

I've seen the Yoyo guys, but that's not a sport and I wouldn't be changing the rules to include it.

nzlockie: I guess my point though, is that in this day and age there's practically a professional level of ANYTHING. Maybe at the time the Leviticus thing made a bit of sense, but now it's on the long list of Bible verses that don't really apply much.

nzlockie: Hey, I think you made a post before, but it got eaten when we switched to the new server. This is the final one that we know can work so that solves all the hassles we have been having. Sorry about that.

admin: Yep I did and it was a goodie too.
I can't remember what it was now. Something insightful and profound.

I'm happy to sacrifice it to the new Server.