Esports pilot at the Commonwealth Games - is it a good idea?

E-sports, otherwise known as competitive video gaming, is being featured as pilot event at Birmingham 2022 sanctioned by the Commonwealth Games Federation for the first time ever.

Though independent of its governance, the pilot is said to offer an opportunity to explore how e-sports can align itself with the games in the future. This decision has been met with a mixed response from the public and sports organisations.

However, many have criticised the move, with many drawing distinctions between the concepts of gaming versus sports. One leading youth sports charity also suggested that it wouldn’t be wise to associate sports with sedentary activity given the number of overweight children in Britain.

Simon Hill, Esports media personality, says: “How would I defend these sports as a sport? I think, you know, with it being so popular - and it’s creating such a high level of entertainment, it’s getting out there in different ways now and it’s also helping a lot of people.

“I mean, through, obviously the pandemic, what was great I think with the likes of esports is there were still tournaments happening from homes and it was keeping people’s mental health in check, and it was giving people an outlet.

“I mean, personally, you know, if, if they think something that brings people joy is a bad thing. I think they need to reevaluate their answer. You know, their opinions are valid, everyone’s got their own opinions.

“But I think if you look at the core strength of what esports brings, I think there’s only good things to come out of that.”

“I mean, it’s great, the you know, the Commonwealth Games have accepted esports now as part of its genre and what they can deliver and what they can bring. So, certainly exciting times and hopefully I’ll get to be part of it one day.”

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