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M$3 June 14, 2009 01:23 AM

Could Tetris become an Olympic sport?

A recent CNN article mentioned there were people trying to get Tetris into the Olympics, is this a realistic goal? Don't sports need to have a physical aspect to them? If they succeed would this open the door to other video games? Would calling video games Olympic sports discredit other sports?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/12/tetris.anniversary.olympics/index.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749589@N07/3623923332/
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June 14, 2009 04:58 AM
Well, obviously Digdug would have to go in first.

http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/dig_dug.jpg
Asker's Rating:
• There are a lot of good answer to this question, but I believe this answer proves the point with 1 simple image. If Tetris is added, what is stopping more video games from being added.



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June 14, 2009 01:28 AM
Probably not but damn it would be the only chance I would ever get at a gold medal. :)

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June 14, 2009 01:32 AM
Maybe . Its really hard believe me.

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June 14, 2009 01:33 AM
I don't think so. Tetris is more of a technical skill. Olympic sports are usually physical skills. You bring up a good point, if they allow Tetris, where do you draw the line? I think it's more realistic to have video game competitions. They could have 1 big competition called The Video Game Olympics. But no, Tetris should not be included in the real Olympics as a sport.

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June 14, 2009 01:40 AM
@jeffhoard, this is a great question and for someone like me who is a diehard Tetris fan, I would like to say it could certainly be an Olympic Sport, as I know what it takes to compete in the game, yet I wouldn't put it in the same exact category of the Olympics such as running, figure skating, etc. as it's more of a mind sport than an athletic sport. The Olympics honors the best athletes, not the best minds or video game players.

However, with this being said, there is a possibility to make it an Olympic sport if they include certain physical requirements or rules in the game of Tetris, such as, "you must stand up and keep your feet moving" as you're playing the game. Or, if you would have to jump over a rope every time you completed a row of blocks (ie. 1 jump for 1 block to 4 jumps for 4 blocks).

When I was a teenager, I entered the Nintendo World Championships, and made it to the semifinalist round. I saw people standing up next to me, and saw the determination of the people who played the game of Tetris. I even would break a sweat playing this game, so it certainly qualifies as a physical activity. Then again, I was an interesting case, as I had a tendency to move my feet and my whole body as I played the game of Tetris.

Definition of a sport is quoted below from Wikipedia:

____quote____

"Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively."

____quote____

There are certain characteristics that I would say that make this game a sport, and by the definition of a sport it certainly holds true.

1. It's played competitively
2. It has rules
3. It could be considered physical (as I said I would break a sweat standing up and playing Tetris for a period of time) as long as you're standing up and actively moving while playing.

In order to make it a sport, I would require the following: Must stand up to play and with the movement of your body (ie. moving your feet) in some way. Likewise, I don't believe you can play this game completely still, as the thrill of watching the pieces makes your eyes move, and it really takes a lot of eye hand coordination.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris
http://www.answers.com/topic/sport


Tags: tetris, sport

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June 14, 2009 04:48 AM
maybe you would have to play it while running on a treadmill :D

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June 14, 2009 05:05 AM
That's what I was thinking, or playing a Dance Dance Revolution type game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JzcqALklRs

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June 14, 2009 01:42 AM
could it? Yes. Should it? No. The Olympics are a symbol of the beauty and strenght of the human body. hundreds of athelets push themselves to new limits and adding Tetris would only affect the prestige the Olympic games have been desperately hanging on too for so long now. Perhaps in the future once gaming has evolve we could see a new type of event involving blocks and humans pushing their thumbs to a new level of blistering. Unfortunantly i would guess it will take a couple of new generations inorder for this to even become plausible. There is simple too many old people that would lack the vision to see the skill tetris takes.

Heres a list of games witing to be introduce or reintrodice to the Olympics:
Air sports
Bandy
Baseball
Billiard sports
Boules
Bowling
Bridge
Chess
Climbing
Cricket
DanceSport
Golf
Karate
Korfball
Lifesaving
Motorcycle sport
Netball
Orienteering
Pelote Basque
Polo
Powerboating
Racquetball
Roller sports
Rugby
Softball
Squash
Sumo
Surfing
Tug of war
Underwater sports
Water skiing
Wushu

After going throw that list and the current 26 summer games in the ollympics what sport could tetris take the spot of?

Besides read this: " In order for a sport or discipline to be in included in the Summer Olympics program (but not necessarily be contested at the Olympics), it must be widely practiced by men and women, in at least 75 and 50 countries, respectively, spread over four continents"

That means even if in the US has a large group of people practicing tetris they need to get one country from 3 continents and then and additional 50 to 70 countrys have to widely practice the sport.

List of possibilities:
Japan-->video game fanatics and our hope in asia
Europe-->large amount of countrys with resources to play tetris
Australia--> there more outdoors type of people, but hey they could do it
Africa--No, not enought monitary resources to play
Americas-- Only US maybe Mexico or a South American Country

The world just dosent have the economic backing to play tetris it is a luxury sport to much of the world. people in some countrys are lucky to have a television and tetris would not meet their budget.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_sports
http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/index_uk.asp


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June 14, 2009 01:50 AM
I think it would discredit the other sports NOT to include it, a sharp mind competing in Tetris is as much, if not more of a sport than many of the ones included in the Olympics.

I certainly wouldn't include a vast majority of Video Games, but Tetris
is world renowned for the last 25 years for it's difficulty and for challenging
millions of minds, it's about time it was considered for this position.

Many of the so called "Athletic" sports in the Olympics should be disputed.
Tetris should not. The Olympics have grown old and tired due to their
lack of being "Now". This is no longer the world of the Greeks and Romans.
We need to include sport from all aspects and genres to have a legitimate
Olympics.

Tetris ftw.

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June 14, 2009 01:51 AM
the game could be a great object of contests but I think that tetris as an Olympic sport is simply ridiculous, and maybe beefymexican is right.

Tags: tetris, olympic, sport

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June 14, 2009 03:26 AM
I think it would be a disgrace to the Olympics to have a non physical, non athletic event such as a video game in it. It's unbelievable to me that it would even be considered.

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June 14, 2009 04:56 AM
Your talking 2D tetris.

However, VR tetris is another possible. Tron engagement of 3D tretris would be amazing to watch, as competing teams struggle for the high score.
Source(s):
Tron


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June 14, 2009 05:19 AM
It's extremely unlikely that Tetris will ever be part of the Olympic Games, since it does not fit the conventional definition of "athletics." Neither do a lot of Olympic events, but these events are either traditional (like shooting) or at least involve physical activity (like synchronized swimming). However, the International Olympic Committee does recognize a large number of "sports" that are not included in the Olympic Games, including bridge and chess. Tetris might fit in with this group (although the game equipment might have to be standardized first), but chess and bridge probably have a better chance of becoming Olympic events than Tetris does. Tetris is certainly no less athletic than bridge (or shooting), but it would be the first Olympic event to require electronic hardware in order to play (as opposed to its use for scoring purposes), which is probably a bigger conceptual hurdle for a lot of traditionalists than its "unathletic" nature.
Source(s):
http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/recognized/index_uk.asp


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June 14, 2009 05:57 AM
I think the answer is simple. A big NO.

Reason 1: The better a person is at Tetris, the long the games lasts. The judges would have a hard time declaring the winner because the Tetris events would last endless hours. That would be very unappealing for television.

Reason 2: You have to draw the line somewhere. Www.dictionary.com define a sports as "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature." Video games are great sources of fun, but the beauty of the Olympics is having events that test both the body and mind.

On WikiPedia.com it says, "The Ancient Olympic Games were a series of competitions held between representatives of several city-states from Ancient Greece, which featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events." The Olympics started out as a test of physical and emotional strength, often to show that one person was more tough than the other. They wanted the strong, toughest guys for the job. Tetris on the other hand is not physical and requires skill, but not much emotional strength. In a way Tetris is almost a mockery of what the Olympic Games represent.

Reason 3: Video games in general are not sports. You can play sports on video games, but you can lay on the couch and eat potato chips off of your stomach while you get good at them. I think a true sport, and true activity worthy of being at the Olympic Games should take training and hard work. The person should work physically to prepare.

Therefore, while a fun game, Tetris should not be an Olympic Sport.
Source(s):
Www.dictionary.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games


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June 14, 2009 09:51 AM
Tetris does nog belong to the normal Olympics, but it DOES belong to the Cyber Olympics!

The Olympics are indeed about physical competition, which Tetris is not. For the same reason, games like chess, checkers and backgammon are not enlisted in the Olympics. Therefore, tryingto get Tertis accepted is futile. However, not all is lost. Computer games have their own 'Olympics', called the 'World Cyber Games'.
Current events revolve around games like Starcraft, WarCraft, Virtua Fighter, etc. There is no reason why Tetris should not be a part of that.
Here are some links with more information on the Cyber Games:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cyber_Games
Main website of the event: http://www.wcg.com/6th/main.asp
Source(s):
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cyber_Games
Main website of the event: http://www.wcg.com/6th/main.asp


Tags: world, games, cyber

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June 14, 2009 11:58 AM
Tetris, the video game, should not be in the Olympics. As much as I would love watching that, it should not be in the Olympics. I've always thought it was the easiest video game there is, anyway. It's like the video game anyone can play, and many can master. If they're going to put a video game in the Olympics they should at least put in something difficult like Ghosts N Goblins...
Maybe they should put Human Tetris in the Olympics...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll2kajMH2u0

... maybe not. The Olympics are good the way they are.

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June 14, 2009 01:34 PM
This is highly unlikely. The Winter Olympics that are scheduled for 2010 in Vancouver are getting flak as it is because they aren't allowing Women's Ski Jumping as an event.

This in itself is a matter of equality - Men's Ski Jumping already exists. If the Olympic Committee can't agree to allow an event to have both a male and female component for sexual equality, what is the likelihood that they'll add another game.

You need to keep in mind that the Olympics are highly conservative, and the last thing that's likely to happen is for them to do a 180 and add an unconventional event.
Source(s):
http://www.wsj2010.com/


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June 16, 2009 04:10 AM
Playing video games is not a sport its a hobby.
Its not even that physical anyway so NO it will not be an Olympic sport

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June 16, 2009 03:57 PM
I'd imagine not... unless strong, fast-moving thumbs become a sign of sporting prowess.

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June 17, 2009 12:58 AM
i sincerely doubt it because there is no actual physical activity involved. it is true that you use ur thumbs an awfully lot, have to be very fast as the levels progress and have the ability to think quick but it doesnt strain someones physical ability to do something hands on. it most likely falls into the Major League Gaming area. what makes it more interesting is that it can be considered as a type of strategy game like chess. people can go ahead and have major competitions for it but it will never be considered an olympic sport. the link below can help. if u have further questions just ask the official olympic counsel below
Source(s):
http://www.olympic.org/uk/utilities/faq_detail_uk.asp?rdo_cat=24_52_0


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