The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has said that there’s little chance of esports being featured as part of the Olympics. During the 2018 Asian Games, Bach stated that the violence in video games is what’s stopping them from being considered:
“We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination,” he said. “They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted.”
Of course, many have pointed out already that violence and the Olympics have some cross-over, with plenty of combat sports like Judo and Boxing still considered official Olympic sports. Bach himself won the Gold Medal for Fencing during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. When quizzed about this potential hypocrisy, Bach said:
“Of course every combat sport has its origins in a real fight among people, but sport is the civilised expression about this. If you have egames where it’s about killing somebody, this cannot be brought into line with our Olympic values.”
This isn’t the first time this stance has been taken, and a ruling like this will likely do nothing to quieten the demand for esports to form part of the Olympics in some way. Big names in the gaming industry, such as Blizzard, Riot Games and Epic Games, recently made the case for esports at the Olympic Esports Forum that took place in July, and the team behind the Paris 2024 Olympics have been one of esports’ biggest supporters.
If you want our take, this decision from the Olympic President seems out of touch. He’s calling them “egames” for starters, but the idea that all competitive games promote violence doesn’t hold weight when you look at games like Rocket League or Hearthstone; two massive esports communities that would certainly fall in line with Olympic values. It’s not like we’re asking for a Mortal Kombat tournament in between the track and field events.
Besides, at this point in time, the global esports scene is thriving, and will continue to do so with or without Olympic backing. The question isn’t really whether or not esports will ever be in the Olympics, but does it need to be? Answers on a postcard please.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
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