Pro gamers are now considered professional athletes by the US Government

In a Gamespot interview with Riot’s Magus and Nick Allen, the conversation turned to that of competitive gaming. Riot Game’s Nick Allen spoke about the US Government and what they consider pro gamers to be, saying:

“The United States government recognizes League of Legends pro players as professional athletes, and awards visas to essentially work in the United States under that title”

This a great development for pro gamers, who have been known, in the past to have trouble with obtaining a working visa. This is also a strong step on the whole for those who consider esports to be a valid, competitive sport in itself, as opposed to a purely recreational activity.

[jc48573]

olympics? Daigo can become a coach for the National team.

[wishingW3L]

talking about Daigo, he already beaten a few poor souls today at Evo. But now we have a new guy that goes by the name of "Infiltration" and to be honest, he's not just better than Daigo, he's MUCH better than Daigo.

[iamnsuperman]

Using the word athlete is unusual as I wouldn't call the athletes. Professional players would be more suitable

[pompombrum]

Agreed.. I don't think spending 12+ hours a day on your butt drinking energy drinks and eating pizza constitutes being an athlete and makes a complete mockery of real athletes. Having said that though, many pro gamers are great at sports but something about them gaming and calling themselves athletes really rubs me the wrong way.

[blackmanone]

A sad sign of the times? When I saw Wall-e I couldn't imagine a future where we looked like that. A few years later and I can't imagine a future where we DON'T look like that.

[admiralvic]

Not like "pro" gamers being considered athletes is that different than bowlers having the same title.

[RememberThe357]

Bowers actually have to move. Pro gamers aren't athletes because there is no physical activity, like chess players.

[Sitdown]

Government approved athlete list:

#890 Cheerleaders/pro gamers

[BuffMordecai]

What a joke, just like the US government. Whoops I quess I'm on the NSA watchlist now for criticizing this administration.

[theDECAY]

I don't really think this has anything to do with this "administration." It's not like Obama signed this into law or something.

[Gamingisfornerds]

Pro gamers...athletes?

Lol, give me a break.

[M-M]

I don't care who declares video gaming as a sport, or if video gaming itself are considered "athletes", video gaming is NOT a sport in my eyes.

[wishingW3L]

why is not a sport?

[SpitFireAce85]

Well for one thing its a lot less physical demanding then any sport i know off..And i get the feeling the government i just trying to get something out of it...

[DarkBlood]

well yeah i think its standard goverment procedure to bank on anything thats extremely popular lol

at least thats how i view them to be when it has to do with money

[pompombrum]

See I don't consider it a sport either but as I see it, if they can call chess a sport, why can't gaming? It requires more sport like qualities than chess does.

[wickedthumbz]

How about Nascar and poker? Are they sports because they both don't require much movement but are pro sports and the players are athletes. Or how about darts??

[Gamingisfornerds]

They are all NOT sports.

Are you saying poker players are athletes? Lmfao. I think I've seen it all now here on N4G.

[khowat]

Video game and video game tournaments are massive competitions where competitors require skill and training

whether are not video games and pro gamers are sports or athletes respectively is your personal opinion and is decided by you and the US government clearly already has decided for themselves

[pompombrum]

When gamers have to balance their bodies needs to the physical demands of their respect sport, require physical, mental and psychological perfection and understand what it means to dig deeper, they can call themselves athletes.

[wishingW3L]

You guys remind me to those old-school surfers that denied Surfing as a sport for competition because Surfing was for the soul (the so called Soul Surfers). lol

I don't care about Surfing as a sport though but I accept it.

[MiasmaDodo]

surfing takes athleticism...

sitting down pressing buttons is not a sport.

[smokelocc]

Started from the bottom now we here!

[the worst]

what a joke

[StockpileTom]

As a gamer and an actual athlete...I find this classification... disturbing. Just the body of work to put into it is so different...

[SpitFireAce85]

Hey maybe we can have something as big as the Fifa world cup but for games and instead of having it once every 4 years we can have it once a year.AND yes i know we have some gaming competitons televised we need to make it bigger.

[RememberThe357]

How can you be an athlete when what you do isn't athletic?

[MiasmaDodo]

I love video games with all my heart.

but being a gamer, even professionally is not athletic.

Some people need to get off the couch or turn off the system.
I play games a lot, still go to the gym and do P90X

[wickedthumbz]

I love that idea. Gaming brings in tons of money, so this could lead to bigger checks for pro gamers and in turn pump more money into our gaming economy. Teams and stuff like that would be awesome!

People say that it's not athletic but is Nascar? Nope how about poker? Don't think so but yet these are pro sports. Don't take it too critical because there are "sports" that require less skill and less movement and they are called pros. It's just something to help us and pump money into the world.