HBO discuss e-Sports

Of course it's a real sport. No real definition of "sport" requires you have to be extremely athletically built and throw/kick/carry/hit a ball. It's all about competition. Tae Kwon Do is a real sport by definition and no ball is required - it's a hand/feet to hand/feet sport. Like others have said, Chess is a sport. It's highly competitive and they don't do anything that requires top physical conditioning. The argument, "it's a game" is flawed, because all sports started out as a game. They didn't start out as a nation-wide phenomenon. They didn't start out extremely competitively. They all started out small - probably between a group of friends - and grew larger and more competitive as time progressed. The only difference is that it takes place in a virtual world, versus the real world.

League of Legends, being the top example for eSports right now, is highly competitive, requires strategy, and it requires intricate team work in order to win. It is by all means a real sport.