In the summer of 2019, over
+
over:
oltre
12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting
+
to shout:
urlare
and cheering
+
to cheer:
fare il tifo
. Thousands more were watching online. But this wasn’t a football, basketball or tennis match
+
match:
partita
. It was e-sports, or competitive computer gaming
+
gaming:
videogiochi
. The prize money for the winners: £3 million.
professional gamers
Millions of people in the UK play games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time
+
full-time:
a tempo pieno
job. Did you know that football teams
+
teams:
squadre
such as West Ham and Manchester City employ
+
employ:
ingaggiare
e-sports players? They send
+
to send:
mandare
them around the world to compete in football video game competitions. It’s not easy being a professional gamer, though
+
though:
tuttavia
. They practise for ten or more hours a day, five or six days a week. They do exercises like typing
+
to type:
scrivere
something and trying to type it faster and faster
+
faster and faster:
sempre più veloce
. They also study videos of other players and plan ways to beat
+
to beat:
sconfiggere
them.
olympics e-games?
As well as
+
as well as:
così come
playing games, many people like watching them, too. You can watch games on video sites like Twitch and YouTube and in the UK there’s a TV channel showing
+
to show:
mostrare
e-sports 24 hours a day. They can be exciting
+
exciting:
emozionanti
to watch: Just like other sports, there are close
+
close:
combattute
games, last-minute victories and amazing
+
amazing:
sorprendenti
performances. Sometimes online viewers
+
viewers:
spettatori
can interact with the game. For example, some games rename
+
to rename:
rinominare
characters in the game with the names of online viewers! But are e-sports really sports? Are players athletes
+
athletes:
atleti
? Some say no. E-sports players don’t need to run, jump
+
to jump:
saltare
, throw
+
to throw:
lanciare
or make major physical movements. At the moment, the UK government classifies e-sports as kinds of games, not as sports.
But others say yes, e-sports are sports. Players do need some physical skills
+
skills:
abilità
, especially hand-eye coordination, reflexes, accuracy
+
accuracy:
precisione
and timing
+
timing:
tempismo
. If darts
+
darts:
freccette
, snooker
+
snooker:
tipo di biliardo
and shooting
+
to shoot:
sparare
are classified as sports, then perhaps
+
perhaps:
forse
e-sports should be, too. In fact, the governments of China and South Korea do classify e-sports as sports, and they will be an official medal sport in the Asian Games starting from 2022. Next step
+
next step:
prossimo passo
the Olympics?
popularity
For many e-sports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that e-sports are growing
+
to grow:
crescere
in popularity and importance. If e-sports are not as important as ‘normal’ sports at the moment, they definitely will be in the near future.