NationStates Jolt Archive

what is the difference between a game and a sport?

I know I classify things on my own, but I am not sure on what my criteria are exactly.


please help.

To quote one of my favorite comedians, Tim Wilson, "If you can't get your nose broke in it, dammit, it ain't a sport."

Sports are physical. Games are either plugged in, need batteries, utilize a board, or involve cards.

Sports are physical. Games are either plugged in, need batteries, utilize a board, or involve cards.

So what about tag etc?

Sports are physical. Games are either plugged in, need batteries, utilize a board, or involve cards.
so is bowling a sport then?

so is bowling a sport then?

Kinda.

so is bowling a sport then?

I'd say yes, but I may be biased since I've bowled for over two decades. :p
No, it's not as physical as football, or football (English version), but I think it's just a different sort of activity. Plus, it's versatile! You can bowl on your own, or as a team. There are certainly tournaments, and it requires a lot of coordination to be a good bowler, but you can get into it without any real instruction to just have fun.
Personally, I prefer 5-pin over 10-pin. 10-pin's a lot easier than 5-pin, and that's evidenced by the scores. There's USUALLY perfect games thrown in 10-pin. Much, much more rare in 5-pin, because the ball isn't half the size of the lane. :p

Sports are physical. Games are either plugged in, need batteries, utilize a board, or involve cards.
There's one sport/game I've never managed to classify through that way: Darts. What is it? Why is it here? What is it's purpose? (WHAT is it's favourite colour?)

I'd say yes, but I may be biased since I've bowled for over two decades. :p
No, it's not as physical as football, or football (English version), but I think it's just a different sort of activity. Plus, it's versatile! You can bowl on your own, or as a team. There are certainly tournaments, and it requires a lot of coordination to be a good bowler, but you can get into it without any real instruction to just have fun.
Personally, I prefer 5-pin over 10-pin. 10-pin's a lot easier than 5-pin, and that's evidenced by the scores. There's USUALLY perfect games thrown in 10-pin. Much, much more rare in 5-pin, because the ball isn't half the size of the lane. :p
oh, I bowl, I compete, I have trophies, I met my husband on a league........I still think bowling is a game.

I don't think the ability to compete makes something a sport or chess, boggle, and D&D would be sports.

oh, I bowl, I compete, I have trophies, I met my husband on a league........I still think bowling is a game.

I don't think the ability to compete makes something a sport or chess, boggle, and D&D would be sports.

Maybe there's a grey area... :)
But I think you need the physical activity added in there... if you're sitting in a chair the whole time, using your brain muscle instead of any of the rest of your muscles, I'd have a hard time calling it a sport.
Now, where does a LARP fit in!? :D I've never done it, and I doubt I ever would, but I have friends who are into live action role playing... I still wouldn't call it a sport because it comes from a game. :)

I just lost the Game.

I dont know

I snowboard

some call it a sport

but I do it for fun

and it feels like exercise at teh end of the day

so I call it snowboarding

Maybe there's a grey area... :)
But I think you need the physical activity added in there... if you're sitting in a chair the whole time, using your brain muscle instead of any of the rest of your muscles, I'd have a hard time calling it a sport.
what about billiards then?

skeet shooting?

hunting?


seriously this has been bothering me for like 36 hours now, I can classify all of them, but I don't know why I put things where I do............

Game (http://www.answers.com/game): An activity which provides entertainment or amusement.
Sport (http://www.answers.com/sport&r=67): A physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

The links go to answers.com. I generally like to leave definitions to the professionals.

Game (http://www.answers.com/game): An activity which provides entertainment or amusement.
Sport (http://www.answers.com/sport&r=67): A physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

The links go to answers.com. I generally like to leave definitions to the professionals.

that would make watching tv a game

I just lost the Game.

Damnit! Now I did, too!

that would make watching tv a game
and duck duck goose would be a sport.........

that would make watching tv a game
True. Now that I think about it, game is actually a very difficult word to define. Obviously, tv watching isn't a game. But a game does not need to be competitive, or involve multiple participants.

and duck duck goose would be a sport.........
Duck duck goose could be considered a sport. Heck, if adults played it you wouldn't think for a second that it isn't a sport.

I just lost the Game.
Godamn you!! You complete utter bastard!

I just lost the Game.
DAMN IT! I knew I should not look in this thread

True. Now that I think about it, game is actually a very difficult word to define. Obviously, tv watching isn't a game. But a game does not need to be competitive, or involve multiple participants.

not so sure about the multiple people thing - you could possibly compete against yoruself in a game to beat your own score or something.


like making a game out of how long you can keep a yo-yo going or beating your old tetris score

not so sure about the multiple people thing - you could possibly compete against yoruself in a game to beat your own score or something.


like making a game out of how long you can keep a yo-yo going or something
No, I was saying that a game does not need to be competitive or involve multiple participants.

No, I was saying that a game does not need to be competitive or involve multiple participants.


oh whoops - then agreed

Duck duck goose could be considered a sport. Heck, if adults played it you wouldn't think for a second that it isn't a sport.

I vote we make it an event at the next winter Olympics. All the speed skaters sit at equidistant points around a rink, and have to tap each other's heads as they skate by. After a tap, the tapped skater chases the tapper for 3 laps, both flapping their arms in a "chicken dance" fashion. Whoever gets back to the original spot first wins. Last skater standing after all skaters have been chosen is eliminated, and has to enter the bronze medal playoff pool, where the contest is decided, in a very similar fashion, in a rousing game of "Musical Chairs" on ice.

I've been through this debate before...

Generally I think of the difference between game and sport is 'a certain degree of physicality'. Not everyone is going to agree with my definitions (naturally), but I would break things down into 2 camps...

1 - Sport and Athletic Competition: This would be the camp that covers everything that meets that 'certain degree of physicality'. I would define Athletic Competition as events where the winner is determined by judges scoring their opinion of performance (such as figure skating, diving, etc.), whereas sport would be defined by the winner of the event being determined by a score which is easily demonstrable (such as team sports like football, hockey, etc., and some 1 on 1 like boxing, etc. (and yes, I realize that judges and refs are required in some instances.)

2 - Games and Activities: This would be the camp that covers everything that doesn't count as sport or Athletic competition, which generally lacks that degree of physicality. I include the idea of Activities, due to the fact that some people think of fishing as a 'sport' (which it most definitely is not.)

That's my very general generalization. Generally.

I vote we make it an event at the next winter Olympics. All the speed skaters sit at equidistant points around a rink, and have to tap each other's heads as they skate by. After a tap, the tapped skater chases the tapper for 3 laps, both flapping their arms in a "chicken dance" fashion. Whoever gets back to the original spot first wins. Last skater standing after all skaters have been chosen is eliminated, and has to enter the bronze medal playoff pool, where the contest is decided, in a very similar fashion, in a rousing game of "Musical Chairs" on ice.
I imagined it as more of a summer sport, but it would probably be more interesting on ice.

Duck duck goose could be considered a sport. Heck, if adults played it you wouldn't think for a second that it isn't a sport.
I think it's a game, just like dodge ball (yes, I play both, I have kids)

I've been through this debate before...

Generally I think of the difference between game and sport is 'a certain degree of physicality'. Not everyone is going to agree with my definitions (naturally), but I would break things down into 2 camps...

1 - Sport and Athletic Competition: This would be the camp that covers everything that meets that 'certain degree of physicality'. I would define Athletic Competition as events where the winner is determined by judges scoring their opinion of performance (such as figure skating, diving, etc.), whereas sport would be defined by the winner of the event being determined by a score which is easily demonstrable (such as team sports like football, hockey, etc., and some 1 on 1 like boxing, etc. (and yes, I realize that judges and refs are required in some instances.)

2 - Games and Activities: This would be the camp that covers everything that doesn't count as sport or Athletic competition, which generally lacks that degree of physicality. I include the idea of Activities, due to the fact that some people think of fishing as a 'sport' (which it most definitely is not.)

That's my very general generalization. Generally.
As to fishing being a sport, I think that when alot of people reffer to fishing as a sport they mean it in the same way that other forms of hunting are sports, not in the "athletic competition" sense.

I think it's a game, just like dodge ball (yes, I play both, I have kids)
Yes but you don't play those games seriously. You only play them as an activity with your kids. Anyway, dodge ball is definately a sport. Didn't you watch the movie?

Gladiators (Solo Competitors with contact)
Wrestlers
Boxers
UFC Fighters
Martial Arts
etc

Athletes (Team Sports with contact)
Football (American and European)
Rugby
Hockey
etc

Games (Soft, low contact events)
Track
Field
Ultimate Frisbee
Cheerleading
Chess
Bowling
Golf

Yes but you don't play those games seriously. You only play them as an activity with your kids. Anyway, dodge ball is definately a sport. Didn't you watch the movie?
I did watch the movie and it sucked.......anyway.....

I can bowl with my children and also I can compete seriously, is it a game when bowling for fun with my kids, but a sport when I am bowling for fun with my husband but might win money?

Sport or game---most can be both.

A game is simply not on the level of Sport.

For instances you and your friends go play a friendly game of Hockey, Gordie played the SPORT of Hockey.

It is the level of competition, the intensity of the even that raises it to a level of sport.

All things can be Sport, cooking, fecking, fencing, chess, fighting, driving, swimming, spitting, finger breaking, drinking, eating, shooting, everything--sleeping.

IMHO

I did watch the movie and it sucked.......anyway.....

I can bowl with my children and also I can compete seriously, is it a game when bowling for fun with my kids, but a sport when I am bowling for fun with my husband but might win money?
Do you feel you have taken to the level of Sport, does it become intense and driving. Does it light a fire in you ? A desire to dominate to be the master of the moment? Or do you just like bowling with your husband and maybe winning a few bucks?

Sport or game---most can be both.

A game is simply not on the level of Sport.

For instances you and your friends go play a friendly game of Hockey, Gordie played the SPORT of Hockey.

It is the level of competition, the intensity of the even that raises it to a level of sport.

All things can be Sport, cooking, fecking, fencing, chess, fighting, driving, swimming, spitting, finger breaking, drinking, eating, shooting, everything--sleeping.

IMHO
so when I was a mathlete I really was participating in a sport?

did I mention that I lettered in choir in highschool?:p I would have lettered in bowling too, but I had to quit the team to work :(

I did watch the movie and it sucked.......anyway.....

..you might not have a soul

Do you feel you have taken to the level of Sport, does it become intense and driving. Does it light a fire in you ? A desire to dominate to be the master of the moment? Or do you just like bowling with your husband and maybe winning a few bucks?
I got pretty serious with it in my younger years, I won scholorships in bowling for college, I competed, trained, practiced intensly.

Now though it's cheaper than going to the movies, and I could get a rebate if I do well ( prize money)

so when I was a mathlete I really was participating in a sport?

did I mention that I lettered in choir in highschool?:p I would have lettered in bowling too, but I had to quit the team to work :(
Well letters mean nothing, just like trophies.
But yes, anything can be a sport---that is simply a matter of the competitors.

Perhaps for you nothing is sport, but that is you, not the event.

I suppose if you sit on your butt and play cards, board games then they aren't sports. Or things with simple rules like Twister and the like are just games.

Of course I don't consider curling a sport but it's an Olympic event. :rolleyes:

Bottom line Smunk, it is up to you if it is a Sport, when I say I mean the actual competitor---everyone else is just armchairing your effort.

If you take it to that next level--shweet.

If not, well shweet too, at least your doing something.

A Sport is an activity that involves physical abilities and skill in order to perform...or if it's on ESPN. A Game is pretty much everything else.

I did watch the movie and it sucked.......anyway.....

I can bowl with my children and also I can compete seriously, is it a game when bowling for fun with my kids, but a sport when I am bowling for fun with my husband but might win money?
I guess you could say that those activities generally aren't sports because they are not undertaken with a completely competitive attitude.
As to not liking the movie Dodgeball, I guess there's no accounting for taste.

A Sport is an activity that involves physical abilities and skill in order to perform...or if it's on ESPN. A Game is pretty much everything else.
The spelling bee is a sport! Who would have thought.

Sigh. I too just lost the game. Dang.

I guess you could say that those activities generally aren't sports because they are not undertaken with a completely competitive attitude.
As to not liking the movie Dodgeball, I guess there's no accounting for taste.
what's the big deal with dodgeball? I watched it, it wasn't great. It was pretty stupid, there were a few good parts I suppose, but in all it wasn't that good of a movie. I tend to be overly critical though probalby a mixture of the fact that I watch movies way too much, I wrote 3 screen plays, and my husband is an actor on the side. I think I know too much about the mechanics of a good movie to watch one that stupid and not think it sucks.

There's one sport/game I've never managed to classify through that way: Darts. What is it? Why is it here? What is it's purpose? (WHAT is it's favourite colour?)
I'd say darts is a game. After all, its not very athletic at all.

what's the big deal with dodgeball? I watched it, it wasn't great. It was pretty stupid, there were a few good parts I suppose, but in all it wasn't that good of a movie. I tend to be overly critical though probalby a mixture of the fact that I watch movies way too much, I wrote 3 screen plays, and my husband is an actor on the side. I think I know too much about the mechanics of a good movie to watch one that stupid and not think it sucks.
Stupidity doesn't phase me.

Stupidity doesn't phase me.
oh, then yeah.

I used to be that way, I can suspend my critical nature for movies that warrant it......maybe I should try again with dodgeball.

oh, then yeah.

I used to be that way, I can suspend my critical nature for movies that warrant it......maybe I should try again with dodgeball.
I can definately see that if you're going to look at movies in a critical way, Dodgeball isn't a quality film. But to me, it just seemed like everyone involved with the movie enjoyed the experience, and i guess that sort of thing rubs off on me.

that would make watching tv a game

it would also make sex a sport (well it requires physical ability and lets face it people get pretty competitive about it)