The International eSports Federation announced plans today for the formation of an Athletes Commission to represent players.
Moves to legitimize eSports internationally continued today with the International eSports Federation (IeSF) announcing their intention to form an ‘Athletes Commission’. The formation of such a group would provide a link between the participants themselves and the world organisers, and the IeSF hope it is the next step toward eSports gaining IOC accreditation.
Whether or not that will ever logically lead to eSports at the traditional Olympics is obviously a much larger question, but prominent voices in the eSports press have long championed the idea of a body dedicated to supporting the players. While many stars of the scene come from an online arena, their age and life experience often leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, and in traditional sports the first steps to fair pay for participants often followed the founding of a representative group.
The announcement is the first step in the process, with the IeSF stating that ‘The establishment of an Athletes Commission is one of the core criteria in the IOC recognition process, as it ensures the voice of athletes is heard’. The group plans to work together with eSports stars to implement this Athletes Commission, so presumably they have already contacted some of those required to turn their lofty ambition into reality.
According to their press release, ‘The process to establish the Athletes Commission will start with the 45 member nations of IeSF, encouraging athletes to register for all game titles’. The group goes on to state that ‘[the] IeSF plans to organise an advisory group of experienced members in the sports field to give insight and knowledge to the athletes representatives’, a move that some may not agree with.
The IeSF is a global organisation, based in Korea and made up of 45 member nations, whose stated aim is to have electronic sports recognised as a legitimate sport. Founded in August 2008 by eight nations, the group has grown in recent years and began hosting their own events in 2009. They currently exist as the eSports counterpart for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and also are registers as the official signatory of WADA for the world of eSports.
