Professional Gamer Retires After Career-Ending Injury to Thumb – Futurism

Career-Ending Injury

No matter where you stand on the can video games be sports? debate, it cant be denied that professional gaming has become a competitive commercial space, with many of the same things that make other sports so captivating like charismatic pros, major sponsorship deals, and massive events.

But now, a more unfortunate overlap between Esports and conventional athletics is emerging: career-ending injuries, as illustrated by professional Call of Duty player Thomas Paparattos Tuesday retirement announcement. Paparatto, who plays under the moniker ZooMaa, could no longer compete through an ongoing thumb and wrist injury, NBC News reports, marking the end of a prominent competitive gaming career.

Playing through the weakness and pain in my hand just isnt possible anymore, Paparatto wrote in his announcement.

Paparattos injury may seem minor compared to the shattered bones or brain damage that athletes face in contact sports. But the injuries that force players into early retirement will always vary by sport and regardless of any such comparisons, it means Paparatto is cut off from his livelihood with a professional team.

In all sports youll find people who put in the hours, unfortunately some will be injured and this also applies to eSports, Mark Griffiths, the director of Nottingham Trent Universitys International Gaming Research Unit, told NBC.

Personal tragedy aside, the emergence of career-ending injuries in eSports is interesting from an academic perspective because it symbolizes another way that competitive gaming is like any other sport.

Were at a really exciting point with games in our societies now, Oxford Internet Institute director Andrew Pryzybylski told NBC. Theyre no longer seen as a pursuit of social outcasts, theyre now part of the mainstream

READ MORE: Professional video-gamer, 25, hangs up controller over thumb injury [NBC News]

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Professional Gamer Retires After Career-Ending Injury to Thumb - Futurism