At the same time that video games (certainly the most “successful” ones) are being accused of causing addiction and dependence, they are slowly entering the noble galaxy of Olympic sports!
At the Asian Games held in Jakarta this past August, 6 video games were selected as “demonstration” events. Four were individual: Pro Evolution Soccer, StarCraft, Hearthstone and Clash Royale. The other two were team-based: Arena of Valor and League of Legends. The official inclusion of video games in the program of the Olympics (or similar-scale) events is heating up.
It couldn’t have been any other way. It is a “competition industry” whose revenues are estimated to reach 1.65 billion dollars by 2020. A survey in England with questions about “love” for the ball or gaming found that 72% of respondents preferred an enjoyable digital game to kicking a ball on the lawn.
So instead of families being terrified of “digital heroin,” perhaps they should wonder if there, glued for a few months to the chair and the screen, they have a budding world champion…