Hot Topic - could gaming be an Olympic sport?

Interest in e-sport has never been higher, thanks to Black Ops 2, Halo 4 and other rivalry-nourishing online contenders, but has the notion of grown men duking it out via buttons passed that tipping point between niche and general appeal? Could there ever be such a thing as a Gaming Olympics?

Here to argue the whys and wherefores are OXM editor Jon "Jonty" Hicks and Alice "insulted Ed's taste in music once, doesn't get a nickname" Scoble-Rees. The ultimate decision lies with you, intrepid reader, via the poll at the end of the article. For more sporting adventures, read the results of the OXM Summer Games. There's a picture of Matt jumping on an invisible trampoline.

It's professional and all-inclusive

Granted, gaming may not be a high-impact sport, but I've seen darts players. If darts is a sport then gaming definitely is. Gaming is an activity that rewards pure skill and requires true dedication to master; there isn't a steroid yet that'll improve your StarCraft tactics, so the field is even and open to everyone that qualifies.

Being so reliant on mental acuity rather than physical prowess makes it more inclusive than any sport could manage. There's no such thing as the Para-League Gaming circuit because (barring the provision of custom controllers) there doesn't need to be. There are plenty of existing e-sports leagues to draw from, too. The cash prizes people win in pro-gaming are big, running into tens of thousands. Even year-round amateur matches on the GameBattles network offer prizes in excess of $1,000.

Gaming in the Olympics would validate what is now more hobby than professional occupation. Get some good commentators involved and it'd be a great way to show the world how rich, involving and challenging our pastime can be, in the same way the Olympics made us all care about cycling and dressage. And to state the obvious, it wouldn't require any effort to encourage it on a youth level. Just imagine the popularity if competitive gaming became an option on the curriculum - and it would help the self-esteem of anyone that hates running round a pitch.

Flip the page for Jonty's withering rebuttal.