Should Video Games be included in the Olympics Games?

[Gabryel Karolin]

Definately. Running really fast for a hundred meters is a ridiculous thing to do for a living, and the winners are mostly on dope anyway. Computer games is something most everyone does for recreation these days so it would do much for going back to the olympic ideal, also its harder to cheat.

 

[Hitti-Litti]

Never. It would be ridiculous. Also teenagers should NOT be encouraged to spend even more time on computer(I know, I'm writing this on computer...).

 

[West 36]

We have Olympic video games. I'd hate to see sometime in the future a video game section of that video game.

And no. Ping-pong is in it, we don't need to go further.

Although seeing civ competitions on TV with narration of how well or poorly the contestants are doing would be hilarious. Deciding which version and patches and all that to use though would be confusing however.

 

[Gabryel Karolin]

So watching ping-pong, in your opinion, is worse than watching people who spend their whole lives, from teens to retirement, perfecting their ability to jump as far as possible.

At least ping-pong is fun and social. I can hardly watch some of the olympic contests for fear of laughing myself to death over the sheer absurdity of it all. Imagine an old man telling about his life to his grandson, the highlight, his life achievment after years and years of hard excersise and diet; "Once, in 2008, I jumped 2 cms farther than anyone else in the world had before, and that is why I can now die happy".

 

[Zhuge_Liang]

DOING the long jump? that's something to ridicule! You can do that in the upcoming game for PS3 and Xbox360, Beijing 2008!!! It's complete! Long jump players can now rest, sit back and enjoy the game. Now that's what I call "Parallel Olympics"!!!

 

[Bigfoot3814]

No. Playing video games does not require much athletic ability. Then again, neither does curling. Either way, video games are not sports, despite how much some people would like them to be.

Here's how I define a sport: If taking steroids doesn't help you win, it isn't a sport. Sorry, video games.

Spoiler :

 

[Hitti-Litti]

So watching ping-pong, in your opinion, is worse than watching people who spend their whole lives, from teens to retirement, perfecting their ability to jump as far as possible.

At least ping-pong is fun and social. I can hardly watch some of the olympic contests for fear of laughing myself to death over the sheer absurdity of it all. Imagine an old man telling about his life to his grandson, the highlight, his life achievment after years and years of hard excersise and diet; "Once, in 2008, I jumped 2 cms farther than anyone else in the world had before, and that is why I can now die happy".

I would be happy if I had proved that I was the best long jumper ever. Long jump is easy to do, so very many people have tried it. I'd be proud if I was better than 6 billion people in something.

 

[Gabryel Karolin]

I would be happy if I had proved that I was the best long jumper ever. Long jump is easy to do, so very many people have tried it. I'd be proud if I was better than 6 billion people in something.

But you wouldn't. You would be the best of the couple of thousands who for whatever crazy reason decided that that is what they want to dedicate their lives to.

Now videogames on the other hand, million of people play, so people can relate to it. Even people who don't see it as sport express this view on computer games forums as Bigfoot demonstrate . And as I mentioned earlier it would be in the spirit of the Olympics, amateurs and all that.

 

[Sims2789]

Video games aren't sports, even though they require skill, reflexes, etc.

 

[West 36]

So watching ping-pong, in your opinion, is worse than watching people who spend their whole lives, from teens to retirement, perfecting their ability to jump as far as possible.

At least ping-pong is fun and social. I can hardly watch some of the olympic contests for fear of laughing myself to death over the sheer absurdity of it all. Imagine an old man telling about his life to his grandson, the highlight, his life achievment after years and years of hard excersise and diet; "Once, in 2008, I jumped 2 cms farther than anyone else in the world had before, and that is why I can now die happy".

No, ping-pong is fine, I have trouble seeing it as Olympics worthy though. But its more qualified than video-games, for sure.

 

[bhsup]

Ping pong is borderline, but power walking is about as stupid as video games.

 

[West 36]

Ping pong is borderline, but power walking is about as stupid as video games.

That's competitive now?

 

[scy12]

Having some kind of popular video games competitions with coverage wouldn't be such a bad idea. But yes not on the Olympics.

 

[Aramazd]

That's competitive now?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_walking

 

[West 36]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_walking

Thats... awesome? Can't believe it's been around in the Olympics so long too. Watching must be riveting.

 

[Zelig]

Ping pong is borderline, but power walking is about as stupid as video games.

Table tennis is at least a sport though, by far the worst olympic events are the equestrian ones, they might as well include a dog show and car race.

 

[Ansar]

Only if it's Dance Dance Revolution

 

[greenpeace]

Its debatable, but what is not debatable is that we must have a Stoned Olympics (some swearing)!

 

[Brighteye]

Why not? The Olympics is already a joke when it comes to achievement. These people dedicate every moment of their lives to their training regime. It's all planned, all timed and most of them will be doping in some way. The Olympic achievements no longer reflect any sort of reasonable boundary.

The additional activities in the Olympics just make the point clearer. So why not include video games too?

 

[Zhuge_Liang]

Only if it's Dance Dance Revolution

Quite TRUE!