I play it with hotas and it works fine. You’ll absolutely still want to keep a keyboard and mouse handy though because the RTS/management half of the game is really not that well controlled with a flight stick.

But we probably all make it onto some list ^^

I agree for the most part. A company holding an iron grip on the game and keep the competitive scene alive as a marketing tactic is a recipe for disaster if we are to take it seriously as a long term sport. A company will not hesitate to shut things down if they unanimously decide they no longer want it to exist.

Regarding whether esports are sports or not is kind of arbitrary. The same as how we call competitive chess and darts and formula 1 sports despite being more mental than physical in nature.