The definitions of e-sport are few, and in any case are not the subject of an absolute consensus within the ecosystem. E-sport, or competitive video game, can be defined as the practice of video game within organized competitions. This practice can be carried out on a professional or amateur basis, in online or physically organized competitions, such as at the Gamers Assembly, which the city of Poitiers has been hosting for 22 years.

In the field of e-sport, France is undeniably a pioneer: its associative fabric is among the oldest and densest in Europe, both among the teams that compete and among the organizers of competitions. This network of volunteers who deploy treasures of energy to enable as many people as possible to come together around a common passion deserves better than being accused of trivializing obesity and myopia (the prevalence of which among e-sportspeople). absolutely unproven).

As e-sport has become more professional, France has once again been able to hold its own: the LFL, the French league of League of Legends, is among the most followed of the regional leagues. Its level is internationally recognized, its recruits are highly contested among the highest leagues, and its audiences are constantly increasing, boosted by very high-level competition and a high-quality narrative, with a strong attachment from the spectators around of their teams and the figures that make them up.

“France wants to be a land of e-sport. »

Watching esports is impossible to reduce to “watching video games on TV” – at least in good faith. We get attached to teams, jerseys that we have seen evolve for years, players that we have followed since their youngest age, who maintain a close link with their community through social networks. Their matches are commented on by people who are themselves passionate about video games, who don’t hesitate to scream and let their emotions explode on air. Our competitions hold the attention of the best players on the planet, who readily acknowledge their perfect lack of understanding of our language, but admit to being captivated by the level of play of our teams, and remember the warm welcome that the French public was able to reserve them, shaking the Zénith de Paris in 2014 and 2018, then the AccorHotel Arena in 2019, during the final of the League of Legends world championship, one of the biggest meetings in e -sport of the year. Finally, what difference does it make, to scream in front of an esports competition, or in front of the Rugby World Cup?

Also, Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on Twitter, if it was able to make people react in that he congratulated the participants of the ZEvent 2022 for carrying out actions made necessary by the social policies carried out in France for several decades, bears nevertheless a clear message: France wants to be a land of e-sport, where it is apprehended, understood and encouraged at the highest level of public authorities. While the exact size of the global esports market is difficult to grasp, the growing character of this entertainment industry can only encourage us to rejoice in this symbol, and not to brush it aside with contempt on the grounds that it is about something as intangible as a video game.

This apprehension by the political power is also encouraging in view of one of the biggest challenges that the industry will have to meet in the years to come: a better apprehension and legal structuring around e-sport and associated professions. This includes providing better protection for esports players, especially younger ones. The e-sports ecosystem exists, it is an undeniable fact: should the law turn away from it on the grounds that some people do not understand it?

“Companies investing in teams or competitions make no mistake about it. »

On the recognition of e-sport as a sport, Mr. Peltier’s remarks may leave you perplexed: if there is a subject on which the actors of e-sport find a consensus, it is of course the principle of not trying at all costs to be assimilated to sport, even less to have our own events at the Olympic Games. This debate has not waited for this day to rage, and many limits have been identified to too rapid an assimilation: integration into the (already busy) schedule of players, the appropriate structure for organizing these competitions, or the organization around them. A plethora of conversations have taken place on this subject, and the consensus is that nothing should be rushed, nor seek at all costs to model traditional sports: e-sport has enough particularities that make it interesting. What e-sport players are asking for is rather that the seriousness of their ecosystem be recognized, even supported, rather than being despised without even trying to understand it.

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Moreover, companies investing in teams or competitions are not mistaken: many are those who support the e-sports ecosystem, aware of its ability to reach a very engaged audience. Airbus was able to have its team in the past, and today, Olympique Lyonnais, in partnership with the computer equipment manufacturer LDLC, has one of the most important French teams.

Finally, about the alleged physical inactivity of players, an old woman from Arles of video games, which found a particular echo on the set of Thierry Ardisson in 2017, when he did not hesitate to resuscitate the image of a gamer obese and pimply, watching video games while eating chips and pizza, in front of a Squeezie who came to present his work. Mr. Peltier warns e-athletes about the passivity he identifies in playing video games, without ever being moved by the fact that the « obesity epidemic » (the relevance of the expression in question) Europe is experiencing stems from a number of other factors, including changes in eating habits and a much wider increase in sedentary lifestyles, including among people who do not play video games. One could be tempted to warn Mr. Peltier about the cardiological risks or the visual acuity, of the activity consisting in writing enraged forums from a desk, on a computer screen.

“Let’s stop once and for all reducing sport to an activity that absolutely requires intense physical activity. »

Despite everything, the sedentary lifestyle linked to the intensive practice of video games is a problem taken very seriously by e-sports teams: the idea of ​​a player spending 16 hours a day in front of a screen is a thing of the past. Today, the structures fully integrate physical activity sessions into their supervision (weight training, basketball, running), monitoring of their players’ diet by chefs and nutritionists, medical monitoring (in particular by physiotherapists) and above all, the learning of a real disconnection and an unfeigned rest, so that nobody, today, encourages anyone to play whole days of video games.

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Finally, let’s stop once and for all reducing sport to an activity that absolutely requires intense physical activity and profuse sweating: chess and petanque have long been accepted as sports, and that’s a good thing. E-sport is close to sport through the rigor of its training, the technical analysis of their support, the development of team strategies and synergies and the seriousness in the organization of competitions.

Society has nothing to fear from e-sport: no one will ever call for the world dreaded by Mr. Peltier, where children are locked up 16 hours a day in front of a screen, without physical activity or human contact. On the other hand, anyone who wishes to take an interest in a high-level competitive practice, organized around a video game, where the social link is ensured by communities of exceptionally lively supporters, such as the ultras of the Kcorp, Solary or Vitality teams. , and get together in front of shows organized and produced by highly talented French entrepreneurs, such as ZeratoR, OTP or O’Gaming: these people will always find an e-sports community ready to welcome them with open arms.

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