With the advancement of technology, virtual sports like Wii are becoming more popular. Busy citizens treat the games in the virtual sports consoles as entertainment and a valuable chance to exercise. However, I think virtual sports are not as good as real sports due to the lesser physical and mental benefits, and I’m going to explain in full detail in the following post. Read on!
One argument for virtual sports is that there is a much lesser risk of injury than real sports, so it would be safer for participants. However, this might not be true for many people. Virtual sports are usually played at home, and Hong Kong is notorious for its crammed living spaces. When the space for playing is so small, the risk of players accidentally bumping into things like furniture, or worse, fragile decorations at home would increase, which might lead to injuries. Another problem about crammed living spaces is that it only allows a small degree of movement, so participants are definitely unable to move and exercise enough using virtual sports. Without enough exercise, how can one’s health be improved? Therefore, virtual sports are not as good as expected.
Some people also claim that virtual sports could perk the interest of players in playing sports with the scoring system, which can raise their confidence. However, this is not true, either. Yes, people are interested in playing the virtual games because of their scoring systems, but being interested in virtual games does not automatically translate into being enthusiastic about real sports as well. What’s more likely to happen is that players will become used to indoor, comfortable conditions in which virtual sports are played, and this in turn makes them dislike the sunny, outdoor conditions of real sports. After ‘exercising’ in air-conditioned and sheltered conditions for too long, it will be even harder to adjust to harsher conditions of real sports, which is the actually the real source of joy and excitement of sports. This might cause players to not play real sports and instead, opt for the less healthy virtual options for the comfort.
Real sports, on the other hand, can bring actual health benefits to players. Through exercising under the sun, lots of sweat will be produced, and toxic chemicals within the body will be released along. This can help maintain or even improve the health of the player. Also, human skin can synthesize Vitamin D automatically under sunlight, and Vitamin D can lead to more absorption of calcium, which is good for our bones and healing of wounds. So, real sports can undoubtedly bring us health benefits. Regarding the risk of injury, as long as enough warm-up exercises are done beforehand, it should not be a problem. Injuries can be avoided, and as real sports bring much more health benefits that virtual sports cannot, real sports are much better.
Another benefit that gives real sports an edge over virtual sports is that real sports can cultivate teamwork among players. Certain kinds of sports like basketball and volleyball require a whole team to cooperate and work out strategies to win. This sort of teamwork cannot be achieved by virtual sports as the maximum number of players is four. How can teamwork be developed when only such a limited number of people is allowed to play together? Apart from cultivating teamwork, real sports can also train the perseverance of players. It is obviously harder to exercise under the scorching sun, with sweat pouring down our faces and being unable to catch our breath, but it’s all these challenges that train us to be more resilient as we plough through the difficulties and overcome the limitations of our bodies. We can be trained to persevere and not give up even when we feel like our bodies cannot take it anymore. The comfortable conditions of virtual sports are certainly no match to real sports.
Virtual sports are undeniably fun as they allow us to exercise and play at the same time, but real sports are what can truly benefit us both physically and mentally. Let’s all exercise more from today onwards and lead a healthy and fit life!