this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (7 children)

I refuse to wrap my mind around “professional” video gamer.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 10 months ago (2 children)

So guess you can't fathom professional chess players, professional race car drivers, professional footballers, professional boxers, or professional athletes of any sort for that matter?

They're all games.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I’m going to pretend that we’re not now trying to call button-mashing “athletic.” Such exertion!

[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago (9 children)

Yep, because professional chess players are well known athletic masterpieces 🙄

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The term "professional" has nothing to do with athletics...

As long as you're getting paid to do it you're a professional something. Just means it's your profession.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (6 children)

I get the common usage of the term. It just seems weird that society is so bored that it’s willing to pay people to play games. although It’s probably no different in the abstract than paying any other performer or service provider for entertainment. I guess it’s fun to watch?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago

I guess it’s fun to watch?

No shit, Captain Obvious

[–] Detheroth 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hundreds of years ago, society was so bored that we all gathered together to watch people kill each other in an arena. If we were lucky we would get to see bloodshed and the emperor will release the lions!

Humans have been playing games far longer than the digital age has been going on for. Why would anyone pay to watch people throw a ball around for hours? I guess it's fun to watch?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Hundreds of years ago, society was so bored

I think "thousands" would be more accurate. We only have written records going back a few thousand years, and what we've gathered from what went on in Göbekli Tepe and other such places, they pretty much did something just for fun as well. I think trying to chase away the feeling of being bored is a quintessential human trait. In other words, our need for novel things is what actually elevated our species to be unlike any other.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I agree that it’s a little weird but it’s no more weird than professional sports.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You say this like professional sports haven't existed for literally millenia

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Bread and games.
Entertainment is a huge market.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

So it's about the amount of physical exertion, not about it being a game?

So you can't wrap your head around the concept of professional chess players? Professional poker players? Darts? Curling?

Hell, in rally, you just literally sit in a car. Such physical exertion! (And I'm Finnish and have been in an actual rally car, before you're going to try and make a point about how physically demanding you think it is.)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Hey hey, you leave curling out of this. You go sweep a rock until it barely crosses the hog line a few times and check your heart rate.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

So now it's about heartrate? Playing Mario Kart and Dark Souls can get your heartrate into the 120+ range. And that's casual videogamers, playing simple games.

https://www.esportwissen.de/en/performance-in-esport/

During professional competitive play, heartrates go up to 180+ bpm. That's on the level of racing car drivers. Way more than chess, archery, or shooting of any sort would ever have.

So guess the Turkish shooter doesn't qualify for you either? Archers? Magnus Carlsen isn't a chess professional, he's just a really lucky dude with a lot of money for some random reason?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Curling is at least a legitimate sport.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

actually professional motor sports are quite an exertion in a lot of professional contexts because they drive for hours with no rest and they’re doing a lot of movement of the wheel and pedals - it’s not just driving down an interstate for a couple of hours

… i did upvote you, so i mostly agree, but… yknow

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Well yeah, they are. Some more exerting than others. They vary from drag races to endurance ones, and some go really fast.

My point is rather that in driving, the physical exertion mostly comes from having to keep up mental focus and a static position — much like when gaming.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Chess is an athletic competition?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've commented elsewhere on the death of modern Olympics.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

you realise the olympics used to include poetry and art, right?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The future is now old man. What is your take on professional chess player?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

More like captain obvious troll. Find better bait, this shit is low quality

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

That’s cool granddad, you must be such an open minded and pleasant individual

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Man, you really pissed off a bunch of yahoos who scream "hax" while getting teabaged

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I did seem to find a soft spot, didn’t I?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I refuse to wrap my mind around “professional” ~~video gamer~~ ~~sports athlete~~ ~~musician~~ ~~dancer~~ ~~sculptor~~ ~~painter~~ ~~writer~~ etc.

People are called to create content. The style of content has changed throughout history, but there have been people saying the same as you for as long as art has existed. The fact that creators have found ways to monetize that content is a net boon to society, because it means we’re truly in an age where art and entertainment can be consumed and appreciated, while the artists and creators are able to focus on their content creation full time.

A key defining factor of the renaissance era was that artists were actually properly funded and could focus on their art without being bogged down by a day job. And that’s a large part of why there is so much impactful art from that time period.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not sure if you’re an artist yourself or if your handle is meant to poke society’s nose. :)

Either way, yes, I know what art is. I also know that it is very much in the eye of the beholder. I just don’t happen to agree that playing video games rises to either an art form or a profession. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If playing a game pays the bills, why shouldn't it be a profession?

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