"Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree of skill, especially at higher levels. Hundreds of sports exist, including those for a single participant, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. Some non-physical activities, such as board games and card games are sometimes referred to as sports,"
Why have Chess? if its not a sport?
You said it yourself... sport is a form of physical activity.
And starcraft is certainly not a physical activity.
Im sure its possible to start a club or something like that but I doubt any school with their current views on video games would support it the way you’re talking about.
You may want to contact some university sc2 clubs and see if they have statistics on how their players perform better at uni compared to other clubs. There are a few in Aus.
You said it yourself... sport is a form of physical activity.
And starcraft is certainly not a physical activity.
Im sure its possible to start a club or something like that but I doubt any school with their current views on video games would support it the way you’re talking about.
Boardgame Such as chess are considered a sport tho?
You may want to contact some university sc2 clubs and see if they have statistics on how their players perform better at uni compared to other clubs. There are a few in Aus.
Much as I support the cause, I would cringe if any school agreed to do something because a bunch of students said that something made them do better.
Parox, not sure that's been proven. If anything I'm sure it could be said that training your brain to make fast decisions in starcraft 2 makes you better at making decisions in starcraft 2. It's an exciting prospect that it may improve things like multitasking, but it's not been proven based on what I've seen so far
Boardgame Such as chess are considered a sport tho?
*sigh* we're not talking about chess.
whenever someone tries arguing about 'esports = sports' with the... 'but chess it sport' argument.
i feel like chess is the older brother that that was told by mum that 'you get to be a sport'... where e-sports is the jealous younger brother that says 'but why can't i be a sport?'
if you want to compare than go for it, but at the end of the day a sport is a physical activity and playing starcraft is not that.
edit. sorry for taking it off topic, the argument about whether or not esports is a sport has probs already be done so ima let it go : )
whenever someone tries arguing about 'esports = sports' with the... 'but chess it sport' argument.
i feel like chess is the older brother that that was told by mum that 'you get to be a sport'... where e-sports is the jealous younger brother that says 'but why can't i be a sport?'
if you want to compare than go for it, but at the end of the day a sport is a physical activity and playing starcraft is not that.
edit. sorry for taking it off topic, the argument about whether or not esports is a sport has probs already be done so ima let it go : )
Chess isn't a sport, it's a game.
Starcraft 2 is a game, like Chess.
Chess is in schools, why not StarCraft 2?
^The logic in a nutshell, sport doesn't have anything to do with the discussion.
Im all for expanding the eSports-ness and everything.
Although knowing high school kids, most of them would attempt to participate just as an excuse for gaming.
As simon said above, this would have to be done outside of school hours, so that you have to actually put in hours and commit to it.
If it happens during school hours, your just asking for every student and their dog to come and procrastinate.
But anyway. say this is all well and good. So lets do a bit of brainstorming here.
What would a school provide by including eSports within its sporting curriculum?
Sports in schools as we know it currently provide playing fields/courts, equipment, general coaching and some form of inter-school league/tournament to participate in.
For eSports the playing field is online so no worries there.
Not entirely sure how many schools are willing to fork out the money for enough gaming rigs to support a "team" and I dont think many kids would find it convenient to bring their own rigs to school every week. Laptops are also an option but I wouldn't want to be using a laptop in a... "eSports training environment"
I'd have no idea on the actual facts for this, however I would be surprised if there are more than even a third of high schools in which they have a staff member who is into eSports and would be able to be a team coach. Perhaps in the future next generation of teachers there may be more as the eSports demographic becomes older. Or perhaps someone can volunteer to coach their local high schools eSports team/s?
As for inter-school leagues and tournaments, this website here is pretty much proof that this would be no problem in setting this up should there ever be a green light for eSports to commence in highschools.
just my 2cents
(ok that was a bit longer than i expected lol. sorry if i bore you guys :P)
Much as I support the cause, I would cringe if any school agreed to do something because a bunch of students said that something made them do better.
Parox, not sure that's been proven. If anything I'm sure it could be said that training your brain to make fast decisions in starcraft 2 makes you better at making decisions in starcraft 2. It's an exciting prospect that it may improve things like multitasking, but it's not been proven based on what I've seen so far
Statistics from university clubs may help support what Paroxysm said with more facts if you're having trouble finding published studies.
Statistical support is not people saying it made them better, it's evidence of the fact.
Statistics from university clubs may help support what Paroxysm said with more facts if you're having trouble finding published studies.
Statistical support is not people saying it made them better, it's evidence of the fact.
But it's not acceptable evidence to use for this sort of thing. There could be any number of reasons why people who start playing SC2 at uni get better grades. It may be that there's a social element which makes them enjoy going to uni more, therefore they are attending class more, and attending more classes means better results. You'll get the same results for the knitting club if someone who really enjoyed knitting and talking about knitting joined. That doesn't mean SC2 causes you to have better grades, and anecdotal indication of correlation shouldn't be taken to mean causation.
But it's not acceptable evidence to use for this sort of thing. There could be any number of reasons why people who start playing SC2 at uni get better grades. It may be that there's a social element which makes them enjoy going to uni more, therefore they are attending class more, and attending more classes means better results. You'll get the same results for the knitting club if someone who really enjoyed knitting and talking about knitting joined. That doesn't mean SC2 causes you to have better grades, and anecdotal indication of correlation shouldn't be taken to mean causation.
As a trained biotechnologist and forensic chemist, I understand anecdotal evidence is not acceptable in a scientific community. The people Venom is proposing this to are not the scientific community, they are going to be average Joes and any evidence he can get will be good evidence for this case.
Any ideas you have to help him out with how to propose this to schools would, I'm sure, be welcomed.
training your brain to make fast decisions in starcraft 2 makes you better at making decisions in starcraft 2.
is 100% correct. Its like the current debate on whether schools are actually teaching kids or simply teaching them how to pass tests.
In terms of an actual school subject its really quite absurd to make a computer game a subject. When I was at school I had athletics as a subject. It wasnt an actual subject, it was to do with the amount of time I actually spent training every night and lowering my workload to a manageable level. I would spend around 4-5 hours a day training (weights/practicing etc) along with attending interstate carnivals and trips to the AIS. After all this, my first year out of school I had a knee reconstruction, the end of my sporting 'career'. My question to anyone thinking this is do you really need to drop a subject to become a pro gamer? I dont think so.
The main reason there is no co curricular activity for sc2 in schools is because there is no one to sponsor it. There is no state carnival run by the government to see who the best sc2 players are for the national squad. There are no development teams, nothing. This is the reason you can play a wide variety of sports during school, because eventually if you have the genetics and the will you could represent the country/state/club in it. There is money in it, there are sponsors willing to pay for trips/equipment. Unfortunately in SC2 the majority of the best players have trouble paying for flights and accommodation. Let alone 10 kids who are probably around Gold level. This is probably one of the biggest limiting factors. Basically until more money is invested and more people are willing to host/run events etc a school co curricular activity on the same level as current sports will never happen. Also just remember that co curricular activities aren't a bunch of kids rocking up every week to kick a ball around, there is a whole support team that makes sure it can happen too.
In my mind make an SC2 club at your school, if you run it well and maybe get other schools to join in you basically have what you want. You might even be able to get it listed as a co curricular activity. Just dont expect the school to fund your trip to America to try and get into MLG.
As a trained biotechnologist and forensic chemist, I understand anecdotal evidence is not acceptable in a scientific community. The people Venom is proposing this to are not the scientific community, they are going to be average Joes and any evidence he can get will be good evidence for this case.
Any ideas you have to help him out with how to propose this to schools would, I'm sure, be welcomed.
But we're talking about kids' education, which is about the most important thing in all of society. I feel that when we say to children and their parents that SC2 will give them better grades, it had damn well better be verifiable and true. It's not right to dupe them into thinking that something is a certain way when you can't be absolutely sure.
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