Overall, Esports leagues appear to be trying to make gaming appear to be a sport without actually making it into one. Like the addition of coaches in MLG games like Gears of War and Halo. That seems like a completely ludicrous addition to professional gaming and one that will not even make it more like a sport. Why does a gamer need a coach?

To make gaming into a sport, they should make organizational changes. Let’s continue to use MLG being an example. A Halo 3 team in MLG should have to be sponsored by an organization or person. A sponsor doesn’t just pay for trips to Meadowlands and give you cool gaming rigs. That person should own the team and they make the roster changes. If Ogre 1 and Ogre 2 do not like Walshy anymore, soccer agent too bad. They don’t have a say, the sponsor does. Teams should not be just a group of friends that got together one day and have played together since. They should be solid foundations that may exist years from basically, with our without it’s current player roster.

They should implement a regular season. Instead of going to a handful of tournament events or competing in some online ladder, the teams associated with the season are set at the beginning of the season. No more can teams join or leave once the season is underway. Thus, schedules are set for each team. If you are scheduled to play a team, you go to that location and play them. Real sports teams and players travel a whole lot. It appears gamers sit at home training for the next event. You train throughout the off-season in a sport, and play throughout the season. Why would competitive play be held online whenever you have network issues, potential cheating, and lag? It does not make sense. So there’s no reason they should not be traveling around the country to play their next scheduled opponent.

Each team would have the exact same range of games played. After the season is over, playoffs will be seeded and played in the tournament-style events like Meadowlands. That should be how playoffs are executed. Right now it appears they have no relevance at all the other than winning you money and giving you points.

There must also be a scouting combine. You can not simply up and join an MLG competition one day. You will have to enter into a separate league and compete there until you are invited by a team owner to join an MLG team. That could give legitimacy to the league and additionally probably weed out a great deal of want to-be’s and posers because they are not going to want to compete and travel a lot.

Another idea I had for American professional gaming will be to hold state tournaments which may recognize the very best players that reside in each state. These players would then be eligible to compete on the main MLG or professional circuit. I think something like this will be more feasible than a minor leagues for gaming. And c’mon, who will not like saying things like I went to states in 2009.’

Physicality will not matter
A whole lot of men and women say gaming is not a sport because it isn’t physical. I am not saying this because it is debatable whether or not sports require physical activity. After all, NASCAR is considered a sport by some and also the driver just sits there. Bowling can also be considered a sport and that requires very little physicality. It’s also debatable whether gaming has no physicality within the first place. Gaming requires reaction time and motor skills and critical and analytical thinking, much like real sports. I think the real reasons that folks say gaming is not a sport is really because of the ones outlined above. It just seems more like a hobby and also does not conduct itself in a professional or sports-like manner.