Journal Journal: Games vs sports 2
I feel that the perennial debate over the difference between games and sports is viewed very, very wrongly by our society. Games are viewed as being childish fripperies, whereas sports are serious tasks that require tactics and dedication. This is utter balderdash. Here is how I would define the difference between a sport and a game:
The activity in question shall be known as X.
if (X.winner(fitMan, skilledMan) == fitMan) {
xIsASport = true;}
else{
xIsASport = false;}
In other words, if a skilled but unfit man can be beaten by an unskilled but very fit man, it is a sport. Examples would be long distance running, football / soccer, or weightlifting. If the converse is true, then the activity is a game. Examples include chess, Call Of Duty MP, WoW PvP, darts, snooker... the list goes on.
I think it is clear from this brief series of examples that games are by far the superior pastime, and yet sports are given a huge amount more time, money, and respect.
Of course, this is somewhat a strawman argument - I am defining common words to mean what I want them to mean so that my argument holds. However, I do feel that this is the most sensible way to delineate the two concepts of game and sport - to establish a continuum with no clear or strict boundary, but which most activities will clearly settle on one side or the other of.
Now that that's off my chest, I'm off to play a game. Or maybe a sport. We shall see...