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Gold-Medal Gamers? Warcraft Creator Wants Video Games In Olympics

By Phil Watson

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Competitive video gaming is a thing and has been for awhile, but World of Warcraft creator Rob Pardo wants video games included in the Olympic Games.

Rob Pardo, the former chief creative officer at Blizzard Entertainment who helped people worldwide annihilate countless hours and virtual creatures with his creation, the insanely popular World of Warcraft, things competitive video gaming belongs on the larger stage of the Olympic Games.

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Also known as e-sports, competitive gaming has drawn huge audiences—live and virtual—for top-level competitions.

According to the BBC, a recent major event in Seoul, South Korea, sold out a 40,000-seat stadium and had many more watching online or at meeting sites around the world.

But does that make is an Olympics candidate? Pardo says yes.

"“There’s a very good argument for e-sports being in the Olympics,” Pardo said. “I think the way that you look at e-sports is that it’s a very competitive skill set and you look at these professional gamers and the reflexes are lightning quick and they’re having to make very quick decisions on the fly.”"

Pardo estimates top level competitive gamers are clearing 300 “actions per minute” at top levels.

However, the video-game developer—who also was lead designer on Starcraft: Brood War, often credited for being the tipping point in e-sports –admits it’s a battle of semantics over just what a sport is.

"“That starts getting into how you define sport,” Pardo said. “If you want to define sport as something that takes a lot of physical exertion, then it’s hard to argue that video games should be a sport, but at the same time, when I’m looking at things that are already in the Olympics, I start questioning the definition.”"

Chess advocates have made the same argument for Olympic inclusion for decades, but the International Olympic Committee classifies chess as a “mind sport.” E-sports would likely fall in the same categorization.

My initial reaction was to chuckle a little, but when I thought about it I eventually hit the chess argument. Competitive? Yes. A sport? Sure. An Olympic sport? Not so much.

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