Abstract
This chapter discusses differences between sports and esports based on a robust understanding of the human body and of human movement within the theory of the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who provides a phenomenological perspective on human embodiment. The introduction presents the phenomenological approach, focusing on the main ideas of Merleau-Ponty on the embodiment of the human being, through two aspects: how humans appear in the world and how they relate to the world.
The two subsequent sections apply these ideas to sport and esport. The section 'Corporeality in sports and esports' focuses on corporeal presence in order to demonstrate in what way an athlete is bodily present in an athletic competition, and to distinguish it from the gamer's presence in front of a computer.
The theme of athletes' and gamers' recognisability is also presented, which is important for competing and comparing against opponents. The last section 'Space and movement in sports and esports', discusses spatiality in sports and esports, since competition itself is carried out in a different space: athletes compete in 'sport space', which is given by rules that modify the environment, while gamers compete in 'virtual space'.
The difference in movement enabled by these two kinds of spaces is also included. The sporting environment affords athletes with different opportunities to master various movements to fulfil the predefined challenges in the environment of the particular sport, becoming more fluent and efficient, while gamers are sedentary, operating avatars by means of manipulating gadgets, which refines their fine motor skills to enable their avatars to 'move'.