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There are people in this world who consider electronic sport as a sport like any other and there are some who don't think that electronic sport should be considered as a sport and according to them its only a waste of time.It's a fact that eSport is a million dollar industry and the players are considered as superstars.

The Problem

One of the biggest problems that the players are facing is the fact that obtaining VISA for such purposes can be extremely hard in some parts of the world.There are tournaments that are happening in the USA in various of games and players that are from China, Russia, countries in Balkan region are struggling to obtain the required documents ( Visa ) to be able to travel there and attend the tournament.

Are they athletes ?

People who enjoy gaming and watching professional players aka the community has no real problem against their idols making good amount of money.That's all sport for them and they totally deserve the money that they are making with their hard work.It's not like they are sleeping, playing and making money.They need to be mentally prepared for the tournaments and the intense actions that are happening.Is the government prepared to call them real athletes is the real question.USA is actually doing that which is quite impressive. They consider the players as athletes and they have the support required which makes it pretty easy to obtain VISA's for people that are from USA.

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The Solution

USA is one of the most developed countries in the world.Would the rest of the world do the same as USA ? The only solution that I can think of at this moment is other countries following the same action that USA took for their people who represent the country and their teams.Every country should start considering esport players as athletes and provide them a VISA in order for them to attend the tournaments.

Conclusion: Is eSport popular enough for its players to be considered as athletes?

The question is has eSport proven itself enough in order for countries around the world to be able to consider the players as athletes? My personal opinion is yes it has.eSport has been around for a very long time and it has been making quite a good amount of money for organizations , companies ( sponsors ) and many other involved in the industry.There are countries in the world starting to create their own electronic sport federations in which they are going to have players representing them and that is another proof that eSport is enormous business and players have all the rights to compete around the world without struggling to get where they need.

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Thank you for reading , I appreciate the support and if you wanna see other articles similar to this one , you should visit :

eSports Superstars Are Making Millions!
What does it take to become an esport superstar?
eSports in the Olympics - Yes or No ?
Matchfixing in eSports
Women in eSports

Sources:

Forbes