Far beyond a mere label, discussion has to look at all the changes that would be seen by devs, teams and Esports athletes
For a long time, the discussions around bar tables in Brazil were limited to cruel doubts such as "to serve the beans over or under the rice?", "to eat the coxinha through the top or the 'butt'?" or "to use or not ketchup on pizza? But recently, another theme has come to dominate Brazilian debates: Are sports or not sports?
In all fairness, the discussion is not a relatively new one - not least because the competitive gaming scene has been around for a good few years and its classification as a sport has been under discussion ever since. But the subject resurfaced after a controversial speech by the Minister of Sports, Ana Moser.
In an interview to UOL in January of this year, Moser was emphatic in saying that, in her conception, she considers Esports only as part of the entertainment industry, and not as a sport.
"In my view e-sports is an entertainment industry, it is not sport. So you have fun playing video games, you have fun. The Esports athlete trains, but Ivete Sangalo also trains to put on a show and she is not an athlete, she is an artist who works with entertainment. The electronic game is not unpredictable, it is designed by a digital, cybernetic programming. It is a closed programming, different from sports", said the minister in the occasion.
Naturally, the controversy raised has caused much buzz (and division) among Brazilians.
On one side, there are those who argue that electronic game competitions, in fact, should not be framed as a sport. Some highlight the absence of physical exercise during the practice. Others point out the difference between virtual and real fields. There are also those who highlight the impossibility of turning sport into an intellectual property of some dev - who can disable the game or servers at any time.
On the other hand, there are people who see several benefits of sports in esports. And this goes far beyond the strategic competitions and all the daily preparation dedicated to the pro players (nutrition, gym and psychological follow-up, for example), since the practice also involves causes such as social impact, personal growth, and interpersonal relationships - factors seen in traditional sports.
But the fact is that this is something very particular. After all, there is no clear requirement that "something" requires physical activity in order to be considered a sport or not. Consequently, it is natural to encounter clashing opinions on the subject.
Therefore, to limit oneself to a debate on whether a certain practice should or should not be considered a sport may be something like "raining in the wet. And much more important than that would be to analyze the need for this label, as well as the feasibility and consequences of this framework here in Brazil.
And, well, that's basically what TecMasters tried to find out by discussing the topic with legal members and active players in the Brazilian e-sports scene. The main points of this discussion you can check out below.
Framework feasibility is not as simple as it seems
The first major point to be debated is whether it would be feasible to make esports a sport here in Brazil. After all, unlike practices such as soccer, volleyball or basketball, e-sports do have an owner - in this case, the game developers or publishers themselves.
To better illustrate the situation, it is worth looking at the case of soccer. There is no single owner and the sport is managed by federations and confederations spread around the world. On the first shelf is FIFA, soccer's governing body. Further down this "shelf" are the regional confederations (such as Conmebol here in South America), followed by the national confederations, and finally the local federations.
In theory, this division allows all federations and confederations to create different leagues and tournaments, which stimulates and encourages the practice worldwide. Despite the regrets, it would be difficult to imagine a World Cup without the finger of FIFA or a Brazilian Championship outside the management of CBF.
The problem is that with Esports the situation is quite different. You have to remember that each game is an intellectual property of its respective developer/publisher and all events and championships (national or international) are their responsibility.
And that's where the big complication comes in: to be closer to being framed as a sport, Esports might need to be distributed by federations and confederations, leaving the domain of the devs. But this is something that would hardly occur, as Marcelo Mattoso Ferreira, partner at Barcellos e Tucunduva Advogados law firm and active in the Games and Sports market, points out.
"It would hardly be feasible. Games today have a whole universe and community around them (licensing, influence, intrinsic values, community building, etc.). This is the devs/publishers' biggest asset and the game is just one of these catalysts. That is, it is unlikely that any pub/dev will give it up and hand it over to some entity. That's exactly why you can't fit the esports "model" to esports. There are particularities that separate them", pointed out the lawyer.
The understanding highlighted by Ferreira goes against what part of the players in the scenario think. For Rafael Queiroz, General Manager of Team Liquid in Brazil, the discussion about esports is necessary, but distributing the domains of electronic games among federations and confederations is not the best way out.
"The esports ecosystem is a triangulation between the publisher, organizations and fans, and maintaining this ecosystem is complex, costly and peculiar, because there is no single rule to make the competitive scenario of a particular game a success. This fact depends on several factors that need to be controlled by those who, in fact, own the rights," emphasizes Queiroz.
As much as developers refuse to comment on the topic, it is really hard to imagine that they would give up their respective intellectual properties and hand over the games to federations. Not that this is impossible, but in the end it is they who would have to dictate how events and tournaments are run.
"What there may be is a cession of use of the game for certain competitions and, even then, under the quality control of the dev/pub itself," Ferreira added.
Sports as sports can be beneficial, but...
But more important than a mere label would be to analyze whether the framing of esports as a sport would be something beneficial for the scene (including teams, staffs and athletes). And like almost every point in this discussion about e-sports, this cutout also has different understandings.
"The legal and political insecurity in Brazil is clear and the lack of dialogue and understanding about our market is evident in the legislative houses of the country. There is no way there is no divergence on the subject," said the general manager of Team Liquid in Brazil.
On the one hand, there are people like Queiroz who highlight positive consequences, such as "more access to investments to foster some grassroots scenarios (which are already scarce for traditional sports in Brazil), breaking the information barrier for the non-endemic public, holding more events, and supporting young people in vulnerable situations to start a professional career.
It makes sense. After all, recognizing Esports as sports would bring even more visibility to a market that is expected to be worth about $200 billion by 2023, according to consulting firm Newzoo. And more visibility would mean more investments.
Consequently, these applications could be redirected to the creation of more leagues (national or international), something that would be good for both the athletes and the community. Not to mention the social impact behind it all, as schools could be created to democratize e-sports and introduce the career to those who do not have the same access as individuals with higher purchasing power.
In addition, this framework could bring more legal support to athletes and team staff. And this would result in contracts aligned with what is already seen in traditional sports, which could avoid abusive clauses in contracts not necessarily beneficial to the athletes.
"Well, then there's little reason why we shouldn't discuss Esports as sports, right?", some may be thinking. The answer is more complicated than it seems. This is because members of the competitive scene are also wary of this interest on the part of the public authorities.
For some, it would not make sense to put electronic games under discussion by entities that are not familiar with the theme. Even because it would not make sense for a federation that does not understand the particularities of each game to have dominion over the intellectual properties. Just as it would make no sense to put together totally distinct games (such as CS:GO, League of Legends, Starcraft, Fifa, among others) in the same cake.
Furthermore, there is a fear that too much state intervention could strangle the competitive scene. This is because a wider dominance of different games could limit the potential of games and discourage developers, athletes and even the enthusiast community.
In the end, there seems to be an understanding that there are benefits involved, as well as points that need an understanding between the organizations. But this will only be solved through dialogue, and not via private opinions that end up closing doors for discussions.
Source: Tecmasters.