Essentially, Electronic sports 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 doesn't even make it more like a sport. Why does a gamer need a coach?
To make gaming into a sport, they should make organizational changes. Let's continue to use MLG as being an example. A Halo 3 team in MLG should have to be sponsored by an organization or person. A sponsor will 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 do not like Walshy anymore, 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 as well as have played together since. They should be solid foundations which will exist years from generally, with our without it's current player roster.
They should implement a regular season. Instead of going to a handful of tournament events or competing in certain 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 that you are scheduled to play a team, you go to that location and play them. Real sports teams and players travel a great deal. It appears gamers sit at home training for the next event. You train throughout the off-season in a sport, and play throughout the season. Why would competitive play be held online when you have network issues, potential cheating, and lag? It does not make sense. So there is no reason they should not be traveling around the country to play their next scheduled opponent.
Each team would have the exact 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 performed. Right now it seems they have no relevance at all other than winning you money and giving you points.
There should also be a scouting combine. You cannot simply up and
site join an MLG competition one day. You will 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 also probably weed out a whole lot of want to-be's and posers since they aren't going to want to compete and travel a lot.
Another idea I had for American professional gaming will be to hold state tournaments which may recognize the best players that live in each state. These players would then meet the requirements to compete on the main MLG or professional circuit. I think something like this could be more feasible than a minor leagues for gaming. And c'mon, who will not like saying things such as I went to states in 2009.'
Physicality doesn't matter
A whole lot of folks say gaming isn't a sport because it isn't physical. I'm not saying this since it is debatable whether sports require physical activity. After all, NASCAR will be considered a sport by some and the driver just sits there. Bowling is also considered a sport and that involves very little physicality. It's also debatable whether gaming has no physicality in the first place. Gaming requires reaction time and motor skills and 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.
