The Indian esports community is appealing to the government to recognize esports as a sport. The community wants the distant association of esports with rummy, poker, gambling, online gaming, and RMG activities to end.
The Olympic Council of Asia (AOC) and the International Olympic Council (IOC) recognize esports as a sport. India won a medal in Asian Games 2018, and esports will be a medal game in Asian Games 2022. In India, a lot of people confuse esports with online gaming, gambling, rummy, Teen Patti and RMG. This confusion has really hindered the success of esports in India.
Esports are organized online or offline video game competitions. They are played for fun and recreation, competitiveness, and sportsmanship. They are not played for profits. Although normally there is a money prize involved in esports competitions, people would still play games like PES, Free Fire, and FIFA21.
Esports athletes compete based on their skills and talents to determine the outcome, just like in other sports. The outcome is not dependent on luck or chance. Compared to other card game such as Teen Patti. Even if you can play teen patti online with cash, the game is still based on luck.
Additionally, esports is device agnostic. In fantasy cricket, for instance, the outcome depends on the performance of a third person you don’t have control over; it’s a game with a significant amount of chance. Teen Patti, sports betting, rummy, poker, and online gaming are purely based on chance. The main objective of playing these games is money. Please note that playing Fruit Ninja or Candy Crash against the machine is not esports.
Esports is mainly a physical sport where players require quick reactions on their devices, and their hands should sync with their minds and should complement each other. Like athletes in other sports, esports athletes train their bodies and instinctive reactions in the competitive environment. In esports, players have to multitask; they use more than one body part at the same time; for example, they may need to use their fingers, ears, and mouth simultaneously.
When dribbling or making other moves, an esports athlete needs deep internalization when making such moves. Just like other athletes in traditional sports, esports athletes require consistent practice and determination to succeed.
The Indian esports community is appealing to the Indian government to recognize esports as a sport. The community wants the Indian government and Indians, in general, to stop associating esports with rummy, fantasy, poker, online casino, RMG activities, and sports betting. This will allow for the nurturing of Indian esports athletes so that we can win more medals as a country.
Although the Indian government has not given sufficient support to the esports community in the country, recently, it has been warming up to it. In 2019, ESFI and SEPC held an international esports tournament with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce support. This was the first esports tournament sponsored by the Indian government. The Indian esports community hopes that the government will recognize esports as a sport and do more to support this incredible sport going forward.