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Online Multiplayer Gaming Should Be Considered A Sport

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Sports have always been regarded as feats of brute strength and physical ability. This has been believed since the first Olympics in Rome, where only the biggest and best competed. The truth, however, is far from this. Modern sports now require high mental capability, in order to sufficiently assess the situation and make a decision. Many people believe that all sports should require physical exertion; a growing debate assesses this, with the opposing side believing that online gaming should also be considered a sport. Online multiplayer gaming should be considered a sport, for a number of positive reasons; one of the most prominent among these is the similarity of mental work between games and sports. Physical sports, as before mentioned, require a large amount of mental processing. This was proven by a study carried out at the University of Illinois. 18 college athletes and 18 non-athletes were brought into the lab. The volunteers wore virtual reality glasses and, in a simulated environment, were asked to cross a busy road. The athletes performed better than the non-athletes. They did not, however, perform better because they sprinted across. The athletes seemed to be better at checking for traffic before taking a step. As said by Laura Chaddock, one of the psychologists conducting the study: “It actually seemed like these athletes were somehow able to think faster.” A similar study was conducted at the National Academy of Sciences. Perceptual tasks, which

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