Michael ‘ODEE’ O’Dell is the manager of ‘team dignitas’ (sic), a multi-gaming organisation which employs teams and individuals to compete in tournaments of all levels including international. Has commented on whether eSports deserves to be regarded as a real sport and speculated on the potential growth of eSports at this time:

“dignitas\ODEE: Esports is a unique phenomenon of the modern era and I personally regard it as a modern sport due to the dedication, commitment and skill needed to compete at the highest level.”
[Taken from interview with author]

Being a manager of an eSports team obviously requires a high level of dedication to the sport and its development. The players do have to practice for many hours a day to maintain form. Those players who are members of teams have to arrange “meet” in cyberspace to practice tactics and to develop new strategies, team captains have to know the positions and status of all team members whilst coordinating strategies ‘on the fly’, all of which can only be effective as in any other sport with hours of dedicated practice.

Daniel ‘ddk’ Kapadia, a senior player for ‘team dignitas’ is able to give the unique insight of a professional player who competes at the highest level:

“dignitas\ddk: To me, I understand 'sport' as a standard for competition in modern times. We see things like darts, shooting, car racing defined as sports - which denies the typical definition of "sport". Gaming could be considered a mix between darts and car racing, because of the reactions needed and hand-to-eye coordination, which any tennis player or pool player would need.
The problem is it's not socially acceptable in our country yet, a lot of other countries have seen it accepted as national sports, such as Korea, China and so on.
Gaming at a high level in my opinion takes more mentally than any other sport, making competing in it harder. The physical aspect in sport takes away from the mental aspect, for example: motor-memory can assure you hit a perfect shot every time, in gaming, no one shot is the same - there are far more variables to consider.”
[Taken from interview with author]


* Daniel 'ddk' Kapadia - professional eSports caster and eSports athlete

The passion displayed by ‘ddk’ for his sport and gaming in general is as great as that of any other sportsman for their chosen sport. His views on the social acceptability of eSports in our country are typical of those involved in eSports and computer gaming in general. There is a stereotypical view of computer gamers inhibiting the growth of eSports in the UK however the general public as witnessed by the growing numbers of pay-per-view spectators, along with growing crowd numbers at live events, cannot be ignored for long. Competitive eSports are slowly being recognised throughout the world (and as in the case of Korea) accepted as valid sports. The argument for them being accepted as such in other countries cannot be denied.