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"Dear IOC" : considerations for the governance, valuation, and evaluation of trends and developments in eSports / Dees B.W. Postma, Robby W. van Delden and Ivo M. van Hilvoorde
In this article, the authors argue for the inclusion of esports within the Olympic program. In many respects, esports “act” and “behave” just like traditional sports. They argue that esports and traditional sports share many of the same values, like the values of meritocracy, competition, fair play, and the value of having a “level playing field”. Yet, in esports, many of these values remain underappreciated, losing out to negative values such as physical inactivity and game-addiction. To preserve what is worth preserving, they borrow from value sensitive design to ameliorate the design-tensions that are foregrounded in esports. Thereby, paving possible ways toward the inclusion of esports in the Olympic program. Ultimately, the question for the IOC should not be “does it look like ‘real sport’, as we know it?”, but rather: are they sporting, rule-led, and fair activities worth preserving and setting an example for a new digitally savvy generation?