Simply, Esports leagues seem 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 does not 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 an organization or person. A sponsor does not just pay for trips to Meadowlands and provide you cool gaming rigs. That person should own the team and they make the roster changes. If Ogre 1 and Ogre 2 don’t like Walshy any more, too bad. They don’t have a say, the sponsor does. Teams should not be just a group of friends that got together one day and have played together ever since. They should be solid foundations that can exist years from basically, with our without it’s current player roster.

They should implement a regular season. Rather than going to a handful of tournament events or competing in certain online ladder, the teams involved with 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. If you’re scheduled to play a team, you go to that location and play them. Real sports teams and players travel a great soccer (read this blog article from Ucsd) deal. It appears gamers sit at home training for the next event. You train through the off-season in a sport, and play through the season. Why would competitive play be held online when you have network issues, potential cheating, and lag? It will not make sense. So there’s no reason they should not be traveling around the country to play their next scheduled opponent.

Each team would have the same range of games played. After the season is over, playoffs could be seeded and played within the tournament-style events like Meadowlands. That should be how playoffs are performed. Right now it seems they have no relevance at all the other than winning you money and giving you points.

There should also be a scouting combine. You cannot simply up and join an MLG competition one day. You shall 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 might give legitimacy to the league and probably weed out a lot of want to-be’s and posers since they aren’t going to want to compete and travel a great deal.

Another idea I had for American professional gaming could be to hold state tournaments which may recognize the very best players that reside in each state. These players would then qualify 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 will not like saying aspects such as I went to states in 2009.’

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