]Exercising isn't a sport: running, cycling, swimming. Its exercise.
Excercising isn't a sport, agreed. I don't agree on the others. They have systems for scoring and are individual and team sports. Physical exertion is not in question on any of them.
I don't agree, obviously. Nothing sporting about exercising. Same as an eSport.
If I had kids I'd be proud if they became good at SC2 or counter strike. Probably the most quintessential e-sports right there.
Sir, you're missing my point entirely. If one of my kids was able to compete in the eSports championship, I would be proud also. As long as it doesn't effect other area's of his/her life negatively.
Can be said for anything though. You seem to really want to make a blanket statement about video games (and I might actually agree). However, no one is saying video games are going to make you fit, and I thought we were talking about esports...
But exercise anorexia is a thing - several people in my family have it. A kind of body dismorphia where people don't eat enough and feel like they are fat so they exercise an extreme amount. Its sad, it ruins their bodies, and leads to lifelong problems which can lead to death. One might look at that and say exercising leads to body dismorphia - at least I never met a gamer who thought they were physically fit when they weren't.
Most everyone that I know who spends a lot of time exercising ... I don't like. They tend to be the worst kind of people who only do one thing - I call them gym rats. They can't do, or say, anything other than exercise and talk about sports.
I don't personally know anyone who has ruined their life playing video games. Even if you do, video games is a symptom, not a cause. Someone who is lazy, unmotivated, and has an addictive personality, will find ways to ruin their life - with or without video games. Conversely, its entirely possible to be both an avid video game player and perfectly healthy.
But, MSJ, you specifically seem to have difficulty wrapping your head around the idea that playing video games, and international esports competitors, are not the same thing. Maybe intellectually you do, but the discussions that keep arising speak to an underlying confusion that hasn't yet been rectified, and I fear there's nothing that can bridge the gap. Its like trying to describe "why not" to someone who thinks they can play in the NBA because they do pickup games on the weekends with their friends.
I suspect, MSJ, that you don't know what is normative for a typical 'video game player'. Again though, if we're talking about a typical video game player and not esports, we can talk about a typical "i go to the gym" person. I see more overweight, unathletic people at the gym than I do at the supermarket. Do I then conclude that working out, and being at the gym, makes people obese and dumb?
Tleilaxu, you clearly have an axe to grind. Please read more carefully before you make responses, it makes the conversations easier to have. So do multi-sentence posts.
ETA: Sorry MSJ, not trying to hound you. Doesn't seem like a lot of participation so I'm chiming in.