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The Forum > Article Comments > 'Dad! I did my first specky!' > Comments

'Dad! I did my first specky!' : Comments

By Dennis Hemphill, published 15/7/2010

What defines an activity as a sport? Is playing virtual sport a sport?

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If you are playing sport on the field as part of a team within a match, then you are playing sport. If you are playing a computer game about sport then you are playing a computer game. If you are watching a game of sport as a spectator, you are not playing on the field you are watching it. But if you are watching the game and you are immersed in it and part of this game includes that there are spectators, then you are part of the game in this sense. Your involvement as a spectator in this context means that you are playing the game in your role as a spectator, perhaps? If you are playing a computer game about sport and you are immersed in its reality then you are playing sport through a computer game. You are a spectator and a player all at one time. My 11 year old son plays outdoor soccer and has good tactical and physical soccer skills. He also sometimes plays a soccer computer game. He has excellent computer games hand-controller dexterity so he is good at this game too. He plays two kinds of soccer. One kind is where he gets dirty, wet and muddy, exercises his young body and has plenty of social interaction after the game. The other is where he gets to lie on the lounge room floor out of uniform, without a time restriction, without the discomfort of playing in winter weather, and with drinks and snacks within easy reach. I prefer him to play outdoors soccer because it's healthy for him to exercise. I know that part of me doesn't want to accept that playing soccer on a computer game is sport. As a parent I tend to worry about the amount of time my child spends at his computer in general. I suspect that this parental concern colours my view on this topic. However, I cannot deny that my son is playing sport in both kinds of games – because both are about soccer. I’ll ask my son the soccer player, what he thinks.
Posted by dotto, Thursday, 15 July 2010 11:36:13 AM
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Dotto,

If your son is not physically moving and using his body he is not playing sport...he is sitting in fonrt of a computer playing a computer game...and that is not sport. It is pretty simple in my opinion...don't kid yourself.

I am not necessarily saying that computer games are bad, because I think that, in moderation, they teach various skills including hand-eye coordination, some strategic thinking, and problem solving, but they remove the player from immediate contact with an opponent. There is something stimulating in hearing and seeing your opponent, looking into his/her eyes, and actually using sporting equipment; it makes the competition real and consequences of mistakes may not just include losing, you also have an opponent who looks you in the eye and this makes the mental game far more acute than if you are on a keyboard in front of a screen. Also, turning a computer off is no substitute for sitting down after a game and socialising with your own team and your opponents. Spotr is meant to be tactile not remote.

Sport is a combintation of physical strength and/or endurance, mental alertness and toughness,physical coordination, and a competetive spirit. Without the physical strength or endurance an activity is not sport...ie Darts, Snooker, Pool, computer games, and Wii games.
Posted by Phil Matimein, Thursday, 15 July 2010 12:01:58 PM
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Phil, when an athlete visualises sports practice it activates a physiological response that mimics actually physically doing the sports action. The neuromuscular patterning that the athlete uses is alerted and activated, and while he/she may be only doing this with their mind, do not be fooled – the body is connected to this process. In fact this is the body-mind at work. So, if my son plays soccer and this knowledge has already been programmed into his body-mind, then when he plays a computer game about soccer, do not be deceived Phil he will be there in that game. His heart rate will be elevated, his eyes will be fixed on his opponent, his sympathetic nervous system will be switched on and his endocrine system will be sending out adrenaline. It’s called “Being There” in the game and playing it to win like any other athlete. Having said this, I would much prefer that he played sport outside in a way that he can engage in it in all the ways you have described and I won’t kid myself about this. But that's what I want and I'm not the one playing soccer am I? I think your description of exercise is far more beneficial than my description as a form of healthy exercise. However, I still believe that they are both about playing sport.
Posted by dotto, Thursday, 15 July 2010 3:27:45 PM
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Take your point Dotto,

But I must disagree...whereas I have used the mental preparation appraoch, though visualisation successfully and 100% agree that the neaural pathways are imporved by this process - which can imporve performance, it cannot prepare you for the actual event itself, which is the combination of physical and mental skills. Visualising in your head is one thing, playing on a computer does not do the same thing, becasue you are not seeing your own body move and controlling it, you are seeing another figure on the screen. It is a false arguement, in my view. Also, he may visualise in his mind, but unless he uses those skills in reality he will lose the connections when the computer game is replaced by another pursuit.

Also, a missed tackle in soccer causes a goal...no real consequence on a computer, but 10 sets of eyes on you from your team-mates in a real game. Get a tackle wrong and you could injure yourself or your opponent - this doesn't happen on a computer and therefore, in my opinion, your son is not learning about sport on his computer, and is certainly not playing sport.
Posted by Phil Matimein, Thursday, 15 July 2010 3:41:55 PM
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Thanks Dotto and Phil for your thoughtful comments.

Dotto has reluctantly agreed that the computer version of soccer is sport. Like Dotto, I think that there are a number of fitness and social benefits from participation in the on-field soccer match that are lacking in the computer soccer counterpart. But I think Dotto’s main point is that the computer version of a sport is simply a different sport, with its own type of mind-body engagement and skill set.

Phil’s main point seems to be that computer sport lacks the physicality and direct contact with opponents to be called sport. In his words: Sport is a combination of physical strength and/or endurance, mental alertness and toughness, physical coordination, and a competitive spirit. Without the physical strength or endurance an activity is not sport...ie Darts, Snooker, Pool, computer games, and Wii games.

Clearly, there is some degree of strength,endurance, etc. in each of these activities, including computer sport, that is relevant to the process and outcome. The dilemma now seems to be about what degree of physicality is necessary for an activity can be called sport or not.

But where do we draw the line? If it is only a matter of degree, then wherever we draw the line will be arbitrary. This gets to my other point in the essay: that where we draw the line will often be wrapped up in our habits, interests and prejudices. For example, it might be easy for someone who has played years of high-contact rugby to dismiss darts as ‘real’ sport. And even moreso for computer sport.

Maybe it would be useful to think of the physicality of sport as lying on a continuum between the most direct and immediate (e.g., boxing) to the most indirect and mediated (e.g., computer sport). Soccer would be closer to boxing, and darts would be closer to computer sport. Hmm, now this is got me wondering where horse or motor car racing would sit on this continuum.
Posted by DHemphill, Friday, 16 July 2010 11:29:47 AM
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Hi Dennis, my interpretation of sport is when the human body is moving as many parts of their body as possible, fully circulating the bloodstream and using a variety of muscles and bones keeping them active for long periods minus repetitive strain in addition to burning up fat and toning muscles throughout the body.

I rate computer games as a hobby not a sport.

Best of wishes.
Posted by we are unique, Sunday, 18 July 2010 12:48:16 AM
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