Those who believe that “professional” gamers somehow act more serious or mature than your average, knuckle dragging, mouth breathing Call of Duty fanatic might want to watch this video...
Who am I kidding? “Cyber athletes” hardly have a reputation to speak of. Hence why advocates of e-sports are so upset with the above in the first place, which they believe casts everyone in a negative light. Well, they’re right.
The ESL (the E-Sports League, its largest governing body in Europe) has even issued the following statement to Eurogamer as a “defense” of sorts:
“eSports events such as the recent Electronic Sports League European Finals are highly competitive and evoke a huge amount of passion and excitement among the participants. This is no different to sports such as football and rugby, where competitive spirit and banter are part of the mind games that take place between teams. The events are always conducted in a professional manner, and this film does not reflect the generally sportsmanslike behaviour we saw over the weekend.”
Well, they do act a lot like your average European football fan, I’ll give them that.