Games and Culture 7(5) 349-374 ª The Author(s) 2012 On the Digital Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1555412012454222 Playing Field: How http://gac.sagepub.com We ‘‘Do Sport’’ With Networked Computer Games Emma Witkowski1 Abstract In the following article, the author explores the notion of playing computer games as sports by sketching out the labors and sensations of Counter-Strike teams playing at pro/am e-sports local area network (LAN) tournaments. How players are engaged physically in practice and play is described in this qualitative study through the core themes of movement, haptic engagement, and the balanced body. Furthermore, the research describes how technologies in play are laboring actors too; the players and technologies in this study are rendered as networked, extended, and acting in and on the same fields of play. In asking is there a ‘‘sport’’ in e-sports, this study questions the legitimacy of a traditional sports ontology and simultaneously tackles the notion of engagement with computer game play as a legitimate sporting endeavor. Keywords e-sports, physicality, haptic engagement, movement, balance, Counter-Strike 1IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Corresponding Author: Emma Witkowski, IT University of Copenhagen, Rued Langgaards Vej 7, Copenhagen, 2300, Denmark Email:
[email protected] 350 Games and Culture 7(5) Introduction ‘‘Fun and challenging,’’ ‘‘adrenalin,’’ ‘‘competition,’’ ‘‘adrenalin,’’ and ‘‘adrenalin’’; these first, short-winded, explanations on motivation were made by five teammates talking about why they play their sport. The sport they engage in is the multiplayer first person shooter (FPS) Counter-Strike: Source (CSS); a game that was part of a local area network (LAN) tournament called The eXperience.