Doing real sports does not always mean you have to run or jump. Chess is a sport as well. Sports is about competition, about achieving the best results within a given set of rules. Therefore I think, that e-sports is absolutely comparable to real sports. I remember how I was sweating, while playing Starcraft at 160 actions per minute (with peaks of over 200 apm).
That is quite some time ago...
For me it was the competition, the league, my team, the friendships, the nights on teamspeak, and of course it was about being the best.
However, life isn't endless, and I'm not sure what advice to give to young gamers. Spending too many years in virtual worlds can turn into a huge loss eventually, since there is only one youth! I guess, it's always about keeping a certain balance in life.
I think your pretty much spot on on how i look at it myself, unfortunately this is not the majority thought. You can debate that Chess is a sport. E-sports includes many elements of traditional sport – so why should it be viewed any differently from dressage, ice dancing or billiards?
What team did you play on (if any)? Do you still talk/see the people who you've met through playing Starcraft?
I played in the PGL Germany (Starcraft Broodwar, 3v3). We made the third place one season, I believe in 2004. Our clan tag was ToR. Unfortunately, I can't find old statistics online, as the league does not exist anymore, and the name PGL was reused quite often. Maybe I should check, if my old hard disks still work, since I used to save many game replays. Yes, there's some players I met online, who I still hear from every now and then ;)
Cool, i did not know Broodwar 3v3 was that big? 2004 is a bit before my time haha. It's a shame those memories (stats) are lost, always nice to look into it once in a while. Same goes for Call of Duty - a lot of matches were played on clanbase, which sadly is not there anymore. Same goes for the biggest forums. I think you totally should search for old gameplays and record them! I know i would watch yours ;)
Crazy Koreans :)
In South Korea they already had Starcraft academies, where they would give out scholarships to talented players, and practice for hours each day. Also they already had tv channels showing Starcraft games back then, I'm sure they still do all that :) Actually I just found an announcement, that there will be a Broodwar remake with polished graphics soon:
Look at the scene at 00:16 and you'll see what I'm talking about, SC BW was a monster :)
I remember watching Broodwar - but i guess this was in a 'late stage' 2005-2006-ish?, never really played it though. I have some friends who are pretty good in SC2, most notably Harste. Still enjoy watching some matches ever now and then, gaze at the skill people have haha. I know it was big in Korea! Looks so cool those vids :)