What do you consider to be a sport? Football? Baseball? Soccer? These are all sports in the sense that they have a physical aspect to the game, but technology has given us access to a whole new industry of competition. eSports, is bringing a new definition to what we see as “sports.” On February 19, 2014, the International eSports Federation contacted the International Olympic Committee to see what would be necessary for eSports to gain recognition and become part of the Olympic Games.

For the past several years, eSports have been on the rise. The competitive playing of games like: Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), League of Legends, and DotA 2 (Defense of the Ancients 2) have started to be aired on television alongside professional games from the NBA or NFL. TBS airs ELEAGUE, which broadcasts Competitive CS:GO and brings in about 271,000 viewers.

The reality is that eSports joining the ranks of the “real” sports that currently surround us. Having a possibility of joining the Olympic Games shows video gaming is no farce, but instead is a change that comes with the technology that this new generation brings to the table. With that in mind, games developers are now seeing new potential for the near future. T. L. Taylor said that they “are really waking up to the publicity power of these communities,” Taylor is an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (The New York Times).

Even after this potential Olympic inclusion, most people would say that eSports don’t count as a sport. This is because it doesn’t have a physical aspect to it like most traditional sports. There is also the mental ability that goes into traditional sports. What it takes for an entire football team during a game to run a play is incredibly difficult, physically and mentally. Every player has a job on the field, and unless everyone does their job, the play will fail.

In a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), it requires a large amount of skill and coordination to secure a victory. Teams will spend hours going over strategies and preparing. This is no different from what any other traditional sports team would do.

The eSports wave is not going to be “just a fad,” they are sports as much as any other sports. The competitive nature, the mental ability, and the team roles that need to be fulfilled give eSports the credibility and reputation to break into the mainstream.