In essence, E-sports leagues seem 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 does not even make it more like a sport. Why does a gamer need a coach?

To make gaming in to 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 provide you cool gaming rigs. That individual should own the team and they make the roster changes. If Ogre 1 and Ogre 2 do not like Walshy anymore, fantastic soccer too bad. They don’t have a say, the sponsor does. Teams shouldn’t be just a group of friends that got together one day and also have played together since. They should be solid foundations that may exist years from simply, 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 certain online ladder, the teams linked to the season are set at the beginning of the season. No more can teams join or leave in the event the season is underway. Thus, schedules are set for each team. In case 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 seems gamers sit at home training for the next event. You train during 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 shouldn’t be traveling around the country to play their next scheduled opponent.

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

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

Another idea I had for American professional gaming would be to hold state tournaments which would recognize the very best players that reside in each state. These players would then meet the requirements 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 doesn’t like saying things such as I went to states in 2009.’

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