Although the games themselves do not involve much physical activity compared to other sports, a lot of professional RTS players (Starcraft, League of Legends, etc.) end up on surprisingly strenuous exercise regiments to improve their reflexes and hand-eye coordination and gain the physical benefits mentioned (Cardiovascular benefits, muscle development, coordination and control over muscles) as a side-effect of preparing to compete at a professional level.
Certain kinds of war games might also qualify as a rationalist sport if they were modified a bit. If military war games were made less fake, airsoft and paintball made lessdangerous, and laser tag made more realistic they would each meet all of these desiderata.
Certain kinds of war games might also qualify as a rationalist sport if they were modified a bit. If military war games were made less fake, airsoft and paintball made less dangerous, and laser tag made more realistic they would each meet all of these desiderata.
Them being fake doesn’t seem like a huge hindrance for a sport. They’d still be a way of stretching both the intellectual and physical muscles, especially if you don’t arbitrarily handicap one team.
Airsoft is actually something I play occasionally, and the article you linked only mentions getting hit in the eye for which there are already safety measures in place (goggles). Mitigating the eye-damage, I don’t think airsoft is more dangerous than other popular sports.
Both of these are excellent points. Regarding military war games, what I had in mind is that the rules should be realistic (to maximize the number of possible strategies) while still being difficult or impossible to game; neither of which seems to be the case for military war games as they are currently played. This might entail (as in HPMoR!Quirrell’s war games) that there should be no formal rules at all but a judge to decide who had won by practical real-world standards, but this would probably severely limit the popularity of the sport.
I have not played airsoft and so was unaware of these safety measures. What are the risks and rates of injury after accounting for common safety practices? It seems like the only other dangers would be those common to all sports involving running around in rough terrain. Assuming there are rules in place for players being eliminated from the game once they are shot (and not being allowed to give information to team members about enemy positions, etc.) this seems like the perfect rationalist sport.
Without going into a “definition war”, I think not having a clear objective for winning makes it more into a game than a sport. Wiping out 90% of the enemy team could be a decent victory condition, but that’s just the first thing that comes to mind and other ideas are likely better.
I have not played airsoft and so was unaware of these safety measures. What are the risks and rates of injury after accounting for common safety practices?
They seem to be about similar to other sports that have similar movement-types. You run, jump, slide… just like in other sports and those actions have the same risks. I haven’t done a lot of large-group games, but with decent precautions (eye protections and regular-powered guns) it seems like you just get sprained ankles and little cuts.
It’s easy to forget that first person shooters already have plenty of game modes with strictly defined victory conditions that make fun to play watch matches. Team Fortress 2 has arena mode, which seems like it has very appropriate win conditions for a war game. Teams must eliminate each other, or capture a central point that unlocks after a set amount of time to win. It discourages fleeing and hiding if your team is mostly eliminated, because you’ll lose anyway when the point unlocks. In general all you should need is one clearly defined goal for at least one team, and a time limit.
I really like HPMoR style war games for a rationalist sport myself, using Airsoft or paintball, whichever comes out safest. One fun possibility is real life Trouble in Terrorist Town, which has the fun rationalist twist of trying to identify who the traitor(s) might be. I find the game incredibly fun to watch, which is something positive for a sport. Larger scale games with less betrayal mechanics might be more fun/interesting as well. War games is a very versatile specification for a sport, but should allow for consistent rules for specific tournaments or leagues.
Although the games themselves do not involve much physical activity compared to other sports, a lot of professional RTS players (Starcraft, League of Legends, etc.) end up on surprisingly strenuous exercise regiments to improve their reflexes and hand-eye coordination and gain the physical benefits mentioned (Cardiovascular benefits, muscle development, coordination and control over muscles) as a side-effect of preparing to compete at a professional level.
Certain kinds of war games might also qualify as a rationalist sport if they were modified a bit. If military war games were made less fake, airsoft and paintball made less dangerous, and laser tag made more realistic they would each meet all of these desiderata.
Them being fake doesn’t seem like a huge hindrance for a sport. They’d still be a way of stretching both the intellectual and physical muscles, especially if you don’t arbitrarily handicap one team.
Airsoft is actually something I play occasionally, and the article you linked only mentions getting hit in the eye for which there are already safety measures in place (goggles). Mitigating the eye-damage, I don’t think airsoft is more dangerous than other popular sports.
Both of these are excellent points. Regarding military war games, what I had in mind is that the rules should be realistic (to maximize the number of possible strategies) while still being difficult or impossible to game; neither of which seems to be the case for military war games as they are currently played. This might entail (as in HPMoR!Quirrell’s war games) that there should be no formal rules at all but a judge to decide who had won by practical real-world standards, but this would probably severely limit the popularity of the sport.
I have not played airsoft and so was unaware of these safety measures. What are the risks and rates of injury after accounting for common safety practices? It seems like the only other dangers would be those common to all sports involving running around in rough terrain. Assuming there are rules in place for players being eliminated from the game once they are shot (and not being allowed to give information to team members about enemy positions, etc.) this seems like the perfect rationalist sport.
Without going into a “definition war”, I think not having a clear objective for winning makes it more into a game than a sport. Wiping out 90% of the enemy team could be a decent victory condition, but that’s just the first thing that comes to mind and other ideas are likely better.
They seem to be about similar to other sports that have similar movement-types. You run, jump, slide… just like in other sports and those actions have the same risks. I haven’t done a lot of large-group games, but with decent precautions (eye protections and regular-powered guns) it seems like you just get sprained ankles and little cuts.
It’s easy to forget that first person shooters already have plenty of game modes with strictly defined victory conditions that make fun to play watch matches. Team Fortress 2 has arena mode, which seems like it has very appropriate win conditions for a war game. Teams must eliminate each other, or capture a central point that unlocks after a set amount of time to win. It discourages fleeing and hiding if your team is mostly eliminated, because you’ll lose anyway when the point unlocks. In general all you should need is one clearly defined goal for at least one team, and a time limit.
I really like HPMoR style war games for a rationalist sport myself, using Airsoft or paintball, whichever comes out safest. One fun possibility is real life Trouble in Terrorist Town, which has the fun rationalist twist of trying to identify who the traitor(s) might be. I find the game incredibly fun to watch, which is something positive for a sport. Larger scale games with less betrayal mechanics might be more fun/interesting as well. War games is a very versatile specification for a sport, but should allow for consistent rules for specific tournaments or leagues.