In essence, Esports leagues appear to be trying to make gaming appear to be a sport without actually making it into one. Like the addition of coaches in MLG games like Gears of War and Halo. That seems like a completely ludicrous addition to professional gaming and one that doesn’t even make it more like a sport. Why does a gamer need a coach?

To make gaming in to a sport, they should make organizational changes. Let’s continue to use MLG being an example. A Halo 3 team in MLG should have to be sponsored by a corporation or person. A sponsor does not just pay for trips to Meadowlands and provide you cool gaming rigs. That individual should own the team and they make the roster changes. If Ogre 1 and Ogre 2 don’t like Walshy anymore, too bad. They do not have a say, the sponsor does. Teams shouldn’t be just a group of friends that got together one day and also have played together since. They should be solid foundations that may exist years from quite simply, with our without it’s current player roster.

They should implement a regular season. As opposed to going to a handful of tournament events or competing in some online ladder, the teams involved in the season are set at the beginning of the season. No more can teams join or leave after the season is underway. Thus, schedules are set for each team. In the event you are scheduled to play a team, you go to that location and play them. Real sports teams and players travel a lot. It appears gamers sit at home training for the next event. You train during the off-season in a sport, and play during the season. Why would competitive play be held online whenever you have network issues, potential cheating, and lag? It will not make sense. So there’s no reason they shouldn’t be traveling around the country to play their next scheduled opponent.

Each team might have the same number of games played. After the season is over, playoffs could be seeded and played in the tournament-style events like Meadowlands. That should be how playoffs are done. Right now it appears they have no relevance at all the than winning you money and giving you points.

There must also be a scouting combine. You cannot simply up and join an MLG competition one day. You may have to enter in to a separate league and compete there until you are invited by a team owner to join an MLG team. That would give legitimacy to the league and also probably weed out a lot of want to-be’s and posers because they aren’t going to want to compete and travel a whole lot.

Another idea I had for American professional gaming could be to hold state tournaments which may recognize the very best players which live in each state. These players would then be eligible to compete on the main MLG or professional circuit. I think something like this would be more feasible than a minor leagues for gaming. And c’mon, who doesn’t like saying aspects such as I went to states in 2009.’

Physicality doesn’t matter
A great football deal of men and women say gaming isn’t a sport because it’s not physical. I am not saying this since it is debatable regardless of whether sports require physical activity. In the end, NASCAR is considered a sport by some and the driver just sits there. Bowling can also be considered a sport and that involves very little physicality. It’s also debatable regardless of whether gaming has no physicality in the first place. Gaming requires reaction time and motor skills as well as critical and analytical thinking, just like real sports. I think the real reasons that men and women say gaming is just not a sport is really because of the ones outlined above. It just seems more like a hobby and doesn’t conduct itself in a professional or sports-like manner.