Why E-sports aren't sports, and why it doesn't matter

For starters I'd like to make it clear that I am not dismissing esports, I play a lot of competitive games as a casual player and I thoroughly enjoy watching LCS every weekend.

I've seen esports supporters argue until their dying breath that e-sports are sports and should be considered as such. However, Webster's Dictionary defines a sport as:

"an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment."

Esports certainly involve skill and teamwork, however the physical exertion is not there.

I wouldn't be so opposed to calling esports sports if the sporting community would be more welcoming about it. There have been some pro athletes who have spoken up about supporting esports (Gordon Hayward, Dwight Howard, Jeremy Lin, Chris Kluwe) but as a whole the communities seem to dislike each other.

So why are we so desperate for their approval? Why do we need to be considered sports to be legitimate? We had 32 million people viewing worlds last year. Those numbers will only continue to rise.

So let's just be satisfied with the term e-sports. It's a unique form of competition that offers a lot of things that traditional sports don't. We may not be under the same umbrella as football or basketball, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.