My primary concerns with professional video gaming…

While I like the idea of video game leagues and things like that, I do have a couple concerns… 

The first is that there aren’t physical limitations to video games really… In physical sports, even if you are addicted to them, your body can only withstand practicing and performing so many hours a day, after a certain point, it very much becomes counterproductive… Whereas in video games a person can easily spend all of their waking hours playing and practicing, and with a desire to keep up with the top performers, many will do just that… which then it can easily consume a player’s life… I definitely worry about the impact this would have on children and young adults with the dream of becoming a professional video game player… 

Plus… much like chess or anything like that, many of the top performers you are actually trying to keep up with, might very well be some sort of savant or a person afflicted with certain mental abilities that help them perform… So, you may be trying to reach rather unattainable goals at times to begin with… So, time that could have been spent acquiring other skills that would allow someone to flourish in society, would have been wasted… 

Then, the second concern I have is how much professional video gaming relies on gambling essentially, most of these tournaments, if not all, people have to buy into and compete for top prizes. Which this combines two potentially very addictive activities, gambling and video game playing… so that could definitely have some very negative effects… 

I am a video gamer… I get it… I think it will all be much more relatable to chess than physical sports though as far as skills required…  

I just worry about the implications it may have when millions of kids are trying to chase the dream of becoming a professional video game player… Plus, there is so much we don’t know about the impacts of video games on people yet…