Esports and the Media

The debate is open. In the last decade the opinions and criteria in favor of its recognition as a sport discipline has meant the upcoming inclusion in the 2022 Asian Games, the development of an official event around Paris 2024 Olympic Games and a possible inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (Álvarez, 2019). E-sports have been subjected to an analysis on the relevance of their conceptual definition by the academic community and experts, in terms of whether their characteristics agree or are comparable with the characteristics of other sports. Specifically, critics of e-sports emphasize the absence of the physicality that defines the semantic nature of the term and its relationship with physical exercise (Coakley, 2008). Undoubtedly, like chess, e-sports require fine motor skills that allow the fast and precise use of muscles (Haibach et al., 2017; Jenny et al., 2016), and involve a brain effort capable of assuming 20% of a person's energy, even more so when he or she is a professional (Álvarez, 2019). Also, they are charac- terized by the competitive level of their events, the formal organization of leagues and collegiate bodies, as well as their operation in relation to an industrial, commercial and economic system very similar to tra- ditional sports (Hou et al., 2020). Finally, it is not an individual sport, and its projection to competition has resulted in the highest revenues for professional players, organizations and sponsors (Newzoo, 2021).