Esports at the Olympics may still happen, however they might not be your favorite games. According to Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, the only games being considered must share “Olympic values.”
This information comes from South China Morning Post. In an interview there, Bach shared his ideas for which games would, and would not, be acceptable for the Olympics.
“We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people. This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing,” Bach told the South China Morning Post. “And there we have to draw a clear line.”
Games that would be approved include sports games and other non-violent competitive games.
“So if ever somebody is competing at playing football virtually or playing other sports virtually, this is of high interest,” said Bach. “We hope that, then, these players are really delivering sports performance. If [fans] at the end would even play the sports in the real world, we would even be more happy.”
Before you cheer (or boo) esports in the Olympics, this is still in the planning stages. One of the biggest reasons the process takes such a long time is because there’s no official ‘esports’ organization like there is for other major sports.
“These discussions are going on. It will still take some time because this industry is now shaping itself,” Bach said. “It’s a successful industry, but it is not yet really established in an organisational way.”
Bach is also concerned for the quality of esports athletes, and how they may approach gaming at such an international stage. “You have to have somebody who is guaranteeing you that these athletes doing video sports games are not doped, that they are following technical rules, that they are respecting each other,” he said.
One of the reasons for considering esports for the Olympics is to attract new viewers to the international athletic spectacle. This can be seen in the new inclusions for the 2020 Tokyo games: skateboarding, surfing, sports climbing, karate, and baseball/softball.
So what do you think? Do you want to see esports in the Olympics? Would you be more interested if the most popular esports games like League of Legends or CS:GO could be represented? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
