Phenomenological Critique of the esports Experience: Focusing on Similarities with Drone Weapons

抄録

 A common question on esports asked often, including in everyday conversations, is whether it is a sport. This paper attempts to clarify what the esports experience means to humans to begin with, which must be considered before discussing whether or not esports is a sport. To this end, the paper examines how to clarify the difference between esports and conventional sports phenomenologically.

 To examine the difference phenomenologically, we must first and foremost adopt the perspective of an esports player. When that happens, the first thing we see is a screen. We could find in Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology the philosophical basis for believing that the presence or absence of the screen impacts the essential difference between esports mediated by the screen and conventional sports, which are not, in terms of depth perception. And the issue of depth perception is also deeply connected with that of modern technology—specifically, it is a matter of remoteness. The symbol of modern technology that shares this characteristic of remoteness with esports is drone weapons.

 The comparison between esports and drone weapon suggests that, as with the “humane” aspect of drones, remoteness might make esports more “humane” (moral) than conventional sports. However, the debate on drone weapons has also taught us about the problem of its remoteness, that is, the fact that remoteness reduces our bodily sense of resistance to violence toward others. Therefore, we should not to conclude that esports is ethically wrong, but look into how we must interact with esports based on such a characteristic.