Electronic Sport, at the borders of modern sport?
Résumé
The common discourse tends to oppose modern sports and video games. Where sports are considered as a synonym of outdoor activity and energy expenditure, video games carry the reverse representation: an indoor activity not conducive to physical effort. However, one specific form of practice of video gaming, which the gaming community’s actors call e-sports for electronic sports, is specialized in the organization of confrontations between players during video game competitions. The aim of this presentation is to question the definition of electronic sports through four criteria regularly used to define modern sports: the competition organization, the rules and regulations, the motor relevance and the institutionalization. Bodily techniques of casual and regular gamers was filmed during more than a 20-hour period, and four e-sports events organizers and representatives of French e-sport associations were interviewed. The first results show that just like in modern sports, motor skills are the main purpose of competitive video gaming. On the other hand, electronic sports develop an original sporting model with regard to its institutionalization by delegating the organization of major competitive events to private companies, disconnected from legitimate sports organizations.