The Petition to Legitimize eSports Has Been Signed

A few months ago, the professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player, William "Leffen" Hjelte, generated a controversy after being deported and later denied a visa to the United States. A movement surged under the name #FreeLeffen which advocated for the goal of having eSports recognized as "legitimate sports" by the United States government. This would allow players like Leffen and MK Leo to apply for P1 visas.

A petition was created to have their request considered by the federal government. It required 100,000 signatures in under 30 days to be submitted for review.

Recently, the signature goal was accomplished, and, at the time of writing this article, it has gathered over 111,000 signatures, shockingly surpassing the 100,000 mark by an 11% margin. This feat was not accomplished by the Smash community alone. The gaming community as a whole came together to get this petition signed.

So what do you think? Is this legitimization good for competitive scenes? If you want to sign this petition, you still can do so here

 

Hooray! Someone send Sakurai to Washington D.C.

 

The title is a bit misleading, as it gives the impression that the White House has already responded. AFAIK that's not true; we've only been promised a response.

 

Remember, just because we got 100K signs that doesn't we are guaranteed to get it legitamized. It just means it will get reviewed

 

Remember, just because we got 100K signs that doesn't we are guaranteed to get it legitamized. It just means it will get reviewed

Better to go out with a bang then die trying

 

Now i have an excuse to play smash more. Nice.

 

Better to go out with a bang then die trying

Yup that's definitely true. I really hope it gets approved though.

 

It's nice to see the FGC stand with us as opposed to berate us for once.

 

the original Greek meaning behind the word "Athlete" is "one who competes for a prize". It never said anything about it being a physical activity, just implied.

Any person who enters a form of competition is, by the original definition of the word, an athlete. So competitive gaming should be considered a sport. Heres hoping this passes.

 

The title is a bit misleading, as it gives the impression that the White House has already responded. AFAIK that's not true; we've only been promised a response.

Therefore, the petition has been signed. It's not really misleading, you're just interpreting it incorrectly.

 

the original Greek meaning behind the word "Athlete" is "one who competes for a prize". It never said anything about it being a physical activity, just implied.

Any person who enters a form of competition is, by the w definition of the word, an athlete. So competitive gaming should be considered a sport. Heres hoping this passes.

Yes but language evolves, and if you think that the modern definition of an athlete or sport encompasses any activity not physical, then your blinded by your love for esports and smash. Sorry I love smash too but it's definitely not a sport. Hope the white house doesn't waste their time with this as our government officials should have much more important things to do than worry about an issue that at most is a minor inconvenience for less than a percent of the population in the US.

 

Hooray! Someone send Sakurai to Washington D.C.

Sakurai doesn't represent or have anything to do with competitive smash

 

Yes but language evolves, and if you think that the modern definition of an athlete or sport encompasses any activity not physical, then your blinded by your love for esports and smash. Sorry I love smash too but it's definitely not a sport. Hope the white house doesn't waste their time with this as our government officials should have much more important things to do than worry about an issue that at most is a minor inconvenience for less than a percent of the population in the US.

It's a damn good thing opinions like yours are falling out of favor, slowly but surely

 

• Athletic or artistic visa, issued to athletes and performing artists (and their supporting staff) performing at competitions, concerts, shows and other events.
  • Cultural exchange visa, usually issued to athletes and performing artists participating in a cultural exchange program.

Esports are not an athletic sport. Nor are they a sport. Hopefully the feds don't allow this.

 

Yes but language evolves, and if you think that the modern definition of an athlete or sport encompasses any activity not physical, then your blinded by your love for esports and smash. Sorry I love smash too but it's definitely not a sport. Hope the white house doesn't waste their time with this as our government officials should have much more important things to do than worry about an issue that at most is a minor inconvenience for less than a percent of the population in the US.

In the very same petition site, they made a lengthy response in extremely nerdy terms about why building the death star isn't possible. Look it up, it's real. If they have time for that they have time for us.

EDIT: Found it
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pe...unding-and-begin-construction-death-star-2016

 

• Athletic or artistic visa, issued to athletes and performing artists (and their supporting staff) performing at competitions, concerts, shows and other events.
  • Cultural exchange visa, usually issued to athletes and performing artists participating in a cultural exchange program.

Esports are not an athletic sport. Nor are they a sport. Hopefully the feds don't allow this.

if thats the case then why are you even here lol you can disagree and say its not a sport, thats fine or whatever, but to say "hopefully the feds don't allow this" and deny foreign players the chance to compete is just sh**ty for you to say GTFO

 

if thats the case then why are you even here lol you can disagree and say its not a sport, thats fine or whatever, but to say "hopefully the feds don't allow this" and deny foreign players the chance to compete is just sh**ty for you to say GTFO

Don't tell me what to do. I don't tell you what to do. I'm just saying we already have enough immigrant problems, we don't need to make it easier for possibly terrorists to get visas for something like "esports".

 

Sport: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

Athlete: a person who is proficient in sports[...].

By definition, Smash is a sport.

By definition, Smashers are athletes.

If chess is considered a sport, then there is no argument for Smash and other games to be excluded.

 

Thanks ZeRo and Etika.

 

We did it xD

 

Hopefully the feds don't allow this.

Why do you have so much hate in your life?

 

Haven't they given P1 Visas too some League teams? i doubt this situation is any different. Just besides working with an organized team, It's working with an individual person. But they're both important for the competitive scene and if League players were seen as Athletes so should popular smash players.

Edit: did my research. ;^) Government recognizes the LCS as an official sporting event and recognizes the players as official athletes. Anyone saying that esports are not actual sports are fairly wrong now. Only thing that might not work for Leffen is that there's no actual "Season" for smash compared to League. It's just an annual tournament. Hard to see it as an official Sport if it's just an annual tournament. Could go either way imo

 

I think e-sports has been nothing but cancer for the smash community, however, if it will help get leffen and some others a visa, i will reluctantly support it.

 

I think e-sports has been nothing but cancer for the smash community, however, if it will help get leffen and some others a visa, i will reluctantly support it.

How so? As I see it, it's made smash all the more popular. How is that cancerous?

 

I think e-sports has been nothing but cancer for the smash community, however, if it will help get leffen and some others a visa, i will reluctantly support it.

How has it been cancer? If you are for Leffen coming then how would you dislike the esports scene? Leffen and pretty much all of the competitive scene wants it to be a legitimate esport. It makes us known, allows for more tourneys worldwide, and makes the community grow.

 

How so? As I see it, it's made smash all the more popular. How is that cancerous?

Popular =/= good. Esports has ruined the smash community by:

1. Nuzzling and quietly killing pm so TOs can get on nintendos good side and hopefully get money.

2. censoring commentators to keep it e for everyone.

3. adjusting rules for smash 4 just to keep the spectators interested(2 stocks instead of 3)

We were always grass roots and did fine as grass roots, and then e sports came along and split the already seperated community farther.

 

Next there should be a petition to legalize PM.

 

Popular =/= good. Esports has ruined the smash community by:

1. Nuzzling and quietly killing pm so TOs can get on nintendos good side and hopefully get money.

2. censoring commentators to keep it e for everyone.

3. adjusting rules for smash 4 just to keep the spectators interested(2 stocks instead of 3)

We were always grass roots and did fine as grass roots, and then e sports came along and split the already seperated community farther.

Dude pm was cool and all but that was a mod of brawl, something nintendo didnt like. The purpose of pm was to make it brawl, but fix all the things that prevented the game from being competetive (tripping, combos, you know?). Now we have smash 4, the near perfect fusion of competetive gameplay and "fun", what the devs (and most of the community wanted). Of course nintendo is going to support TO's for smash 4 tourneys. Of course TO's want to make money, they sacrifice more than you think making tourneys happen. 2 stocks instead of 3? Whats so good about 3? All that does is drag out the match, plus, 2 stock is hype man.


Cencoring commentators.... are you being serious? What, you want? Them to be like,

"****ing **** man did you see that ****ing nair on ****ing mario's ****ing head you ***** **** ****?!?!"


.... dude. Really?

 

Yes but language evolves, and if you think that the modern definition of an athlete or sport encompasses any activity not physical, then your blinded by your love for esports and smash. Sorry I love smash too but it's definitely not a sport. Hope the white house doesn't waste their time with this as our government officials should have much more important things to do than worry about an issue that at most is a minor inconvenience for less than a percent of the population in the US.

No its not a sport its an esport to be honest there should be a distinction I don't want to affiliated with the NFL FIFA MLB association we should be our own thing just have our assoiaciaions and leagues

 

First of all, e-sports are not sports. It's never going to be called a sport and it's silly that people are fighting for that definition. People should really be signing a petition to have the government issue Visas for e-sport players.

Similar situation... college cheerleaders are injured more than any other athletic competition and because it is not classified as a sport the athletes are not entitled to proper equipment, training, and insurance. Calling cheerleading a sport is not a good solution - giving the same rights to athletes and they do sports is a better one.

IMO this is how things should be defined since it's actually more reflective of what people think of when we say sport.

1) Game - A competition where 1 or more players can win. eg. e-sports, golf, darts, pool, etc.

2) Athletics - A contest that is won strictly by physical strength, speed and endurance as it relates to skill. (Dexterity and hand-eye coordination do not count.) eg. Track and field, figure skating, Swimming, Cheerleading, etc.

3) Sport - An athletic game in which ones performance DIRECTLY impacts the performance of an opponent. e.g. Basketball, Hockey, Football, Tennis, etc.

So... Golf is not a sport because your shot does not impact any one elses ability to hit the ball.. The 100M dash is not a sport it's athletics. If you could push each other while running it would be a sport. It would be a stupid sport... but a sport because you can affect the other runners.

 

Come on man. Sports and Esports are clearly different. A sport is simply put, a physical competitve activity. Now look at this miracle...

Electronic....

Sports....








Esports. Guess what it means. An ELECTRONIC sport. An ELECTRONIC COMPETETIVE ACTIVITY. They are two very different things.

 

We can quibble over semantics about physical activity all day. The relevant thing here is giving international players visas to allow them to compete, which necessitates defining esports as as sports from a legal standpoint.

 

A sport is essentially just a game being played in front of big audiences for the enjoyment of the spectators, at it's core. If games as radically different as golf and wrestling are both considered sports, gaming could and should be considered a form of sports entertainment.

Like, you probably won't see them in the Olympics anytime soon, but there's no denying that e-Sports are a legitimate form of sport. As long as it fills the basic qualities of a sport, it's a sport; it needs a competetive scene, major events, sponsors, players, etc.

Smash has all that, so to claim it's not a sport, in spite of literally fitting the criteria, is just nonsense.

 

So Smash Bros. is now officially an eSport! Awesome!

 

Yo, Diosdi I don't wanna be that guy, but technicaly Leffen was only denied entry. The deportation thing was a joke he started.

 

Smash needs an actual official circuit of sorts to be an eSport. Right now, it's just a bunch of competitions by a ton of different people and, despite us smash fans knowing that the game won't randomly just stop having events, there isn't a guarantee there will be continuous tournaments for players to attend. (If people some reason stopped hosting tournaments, and players didn't have anything to go to for months, they aren't really being progamers). League has LCS, Starcraft has WCS, Dota has TI, etc.

 

Come on man. Sports and Esports are clearly different. A sport is simply put, a physical competitve activity. Now look at this miracle...

Electronic....

Sports....

Esports. Guess what it means. An ELECTRONIC sport. An ELECTRONIC COMPETETIVE ACTIVITY. They are two very different things.

Everything is technically an "electronic sport."

Could you imagine American/gridiron football without satellite/radio/television broadcasts, lighting, scoreboards, video scouting reports, electronically produced equipment, footballs, mouth guards, clothing, drugs or even video footage?

That would be the death of the sport of American football forever, as it would any sport. That is what all sports are without ELECTRICITY, the single greatest discovery in the history of humanity so far.

Sorry, but electronics are in everything these days (and thank goodness for that). The term "electronic" to differentiate anything these days is a relic of an older mentality that not everything is connected by electronics or made by electronics. People don't seem to antiquate just how electronic our world is.

In fact, everything you touch these days not found in nature is produced through electric technology, including the birth of damn near every person in the 1st and 2nd world these days. And heck, even then, the average human creates about 100 Watts of energy per hour, so technically we are electric in a sense.

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Additionally Merriam Webster defines sport as "An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment."

Video games fit under that description more so than chess, poker and probably even darts and pool since button pressing and the technicality of them are very specific and much narrower windows.

Despite that, technical execution is not necessarily a requirement for something to be considered a "sport."

And if you listen to any athlete, they will tell you that all sports, whether it be associate football, cricket, baseball, boxing, or Super Smash Bros., is 95% mental and 5% physical.

 

If we can have a supreme court ruling stating that action figures are not dolls, there's no reason we can't have a ruling for esports.

 

we don't need to make it easier for possibly terrorists to get visas for something like "esports".

That logic is hilarious. Let me just spend hours and hours over the course of several years so I can rapidly improve in an esports game to get sponsored by a team and apply for a visa to compete in America, just so I can commit acts of terrorism when I get there.

 

That logic is hilarious. Let me just spend hours and hours over the course of several years so I can rapidly improve in an esports game to get sponsored by a team and apply for a visa to compete in America, just so I can commit acts of terrorism when I get there.

Best to ignore these type of people. It will only leave you pulling your hair out of frustration due to how dense and irrational they are.