Traditionally an athlete is defined by a person who is trained in or above average at sports, games, or exercises that require physical skill. A professional gamer doesn’t necessarily fit into the definition of an athlete, but they truly have so many similarities that a professional gamer could also be also seen as a professional athlete. Hard work, dedication, and skill are all necessary to make it in either profession, and although they require different types of physical ability, both require an above ordinary physical ability to achieve their status. In addition, they both have sponsors, are known by many, and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for playing their sport or game exceptionally well. The similarity that makes professional athletes and professional gamers most alike is that both require an incredible amount of skill and dedication. Not any average person can pick up a video game controller and play at the level of a top pro gamer just like not any average person can pick up a basketball and be the next Michael Jordan. People argue that gamers don’t work as hard, but they have to put just as many hours of work that traditional athletes put in training. Some athletes push their body to the utmost limit and put out tons of work controlling and improving their diet. So playing a video game for hours a day equates to completely changing your diet and hours of rigorous physical training? No, it does not, but we are not comparing the sports, just like golf doesn’t require as much physical abilities and intense physical training as soccer does. Every sport is different, but they all require lots of dedication and skill. Critics of professional gamers even go to far as say professional gamers are video game addicts for playing as much as they do to prepare for a gaming tournament, but would they call Michael Phelps and addict for swimming as much as he does? Or any traditional sports athlete for that matter. All athletes put hours of hard work training dedicated to the sport they play. Pro gamers and pro athletes train extremely hard and focus most of their time doing whatever they have to do to be the best at their sport. Pro gamers and pro athletes are the best at what they do due to their dedication and natural skill. Unfortunately not everyone who plays a video game during their downtime for fun is a professional gamer and not everyone who goofs around with a bunch of friends playing football at the park are professional football players. In order to be considered a sport, physical activity must be involved and the majority of society will agree that professional gamers do not use any physical abilities when they are playing video games, but the truth is if we really get into specifics of what an actual pro gamer does to perform at the level that they perform. The pro gamer has specific physical capabilities above and beyond the average casual gamer. Just like a professional athlete does to surpass the average ability of someone who casually plays a physical sport. For pro gamers it’s the ability to react, it might only involve your hands, but using your hands is a physical ability. The reflex time has to be incredibly fast and the actions that a pro gamer does with their hands within split seconds affect the outcome of the video game being played. Any athlete who plays a physical sport professionally uses a variety physical abilities, but the physical abilities are almost capable by the average person. The same goes for the average person controlling a video game controller. The difference is how the professional uses the control, how fast they move their finger, how fast their reflexes, it’s how they run, how they shoot a basketball, how they kick a soccer ball, etc. Both pro gamers and pro athletes use physical ability in a different way but both possess the physical abilities that the average person does not have. Another similarity is both professional athletes and professional gamers get sponsors and make hundreds of thousands dollars doing what they do, some gamers even make millions. Pro gamers are nowhere near the amount of what traditional pro athletes make, but they both definitely get paid above the average person. Big name brands will go out of their way to sponsor both traditional athletes and gamers. It is an actual career and they make a living off of it. In recent years completive gaming has become more and more popular. Twitch.tv is a streaming website and the largest gaming community in the world. Twitch streams gaming tournaments, completive gamers, and even casual gamers. Giving professional gamers the platform that televised sports is giving professional athletes. Some gaming tournaments have even been broadcasted on ESPN a network that primarily focuses on traditional professional sports broadcasting. Both pro gamers and pro athletes are watched and appreciated by thousands of viewers through technology. The United States national government has even acknowledged professional gamers as athletes issuing some athlete visas to international professional gamers so they can travel to the U.S. for gaming competitions. Competitive gaming is growing and can possibly one day be big as televised sporting events. By no means are professional athletes and professional gamers the exact same thing, but they are definitely very similar and both should be appreciated equally. Rather than society saying a one is superior to the other. If society needs to add digital in front of the term professional athlete to justify a professional gamer being an athlete then so be it, but don’t discredit the pro gamer for being less than a traditional pro athlete. Whether a professional gamer or professional athlete they are just both titles. No matter how many times you reword their titles they fall under the same category off anything considered professional and have too many similarities for one to be discredited.