When man was born, he was ignorant. As the human being progressed, languages were slowly developed. One of these languages is now currently known as English. And like some languages, was derived from a base language known as Latin. Words were created and meanings attached to them. "Sport" is one of these English words. The first definition I read for this word is the following:
"A Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively."
When reading this definition please take into account that man has been communicating with each other for a long period of time. As human beings we have natural instincts, one of them being a competitive attitude. Before the time of any words resurrecting a term regarding "sports" there were "sports". If you're still following me, I commend you.
Moving on to my point, I will lend you an example. Casting stones further than the other was competition however minute of an activity you may find that. Moving any muscle on your body may even be referred to as "physical exertion". Yes I say this, but however, I say this not trying to define what is and is not physical exertion. What I am getting at, is that at the time of the derision of terms for a language, "sport" (or whatever the equivalence of the word is in other languages), would be attached to the meaning of a physical activity simply because that is what was involved during that time period. A VERY horrible example of that would be if when man suddenly appeared on earth and the competition variable was changed from casting rocks to computers with counter-strike on them, man might naturally try to better himself at this game thus later on changing the definition given to the term known in English as "sport".
I know this article (if you can even classify it as that) is very here-and-there and probably very incoherent, and for this I apologize. I am simply just stating the thought I had in my head, which came quite unexpectedly might I add, to sort of justify for the people who believe definitions define everything, that a "sport" is only a "sport" because history made it the meaning it is today. Also the fact that electronic sports are a very new thing for society and havenâ??t made it quite far enough for the current definition to be changed (if it ever is changed) in order for the world to adapt to it just as they did for all other sports currently being played today. Though it is quite sad that things we love have to be accepted by a majority for a definition to be changed, we can still refer to eSports as OUR sport however an audience may look at and define it.
Note: And yes I am quite aware that throwing something further than someone else isn't a sport now but you can also say that throwing stones further than someone else has evolved into a game that is now played in the Olympics..