It was tough to pick this week's topic. On the one hand, I had found an interesting news story that has to do with gaming and the people who don't get it clashing yet again. On the other hand, the people who don't get it are this time played by the Olympic Committee, and who really cares about them anymore?
The scoop is that some competitive gaming advocate is trying really hard to bring LANs to the Olympics (presumably with medals for which team plays the best Counter-Strike, not who can chug the most Mountain Dew: Code Red, or who can get laid the least), but the Olympic Committee is having none of it. I would quote the exact arguments for you, but they are so weak that it is sufficient to say that they consist of "Gaming IS a sport!" and "Nuh-uh!".
Personally, I still wouldn't watch the Olympics if they included gaming. But with half of the sports on the roster being so niche and rare that nobody even knows how they are played (what the crap is "skeleton" or "nordic combined" anyway?), why not add a place for one of the fastest growing competitive diversions in the popular culture?
As an aside: I know a lot of people want gaming in the Western world to be treated with as much pomp and celebrity as it is in places like Japan and Korea... But why? Gaming is for nerds, and I am happy with that. I don't want to watch jazzed up tournies of nerds who think they have a skill worth being idolized about, being idolized by sheep audience members, all for playing a game that is ten years past its expiration date (*cough* Starcraft) with such a science that the fun is entirely sapped from the game play experience.
But maybe that is just me.
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