Esports in Education: The future of engaging learning

The author of this article is Hank Chou, Associate Manager, Acer HQ

Traditionally, there’s a debate over video games having negative effects on kids as most people have the stereotype that gaming leads to increased violence and more deviant behavior. However, with video games having evolved from pure PC/Console single-player gaming to multiplayer online competitive gaming, there are more facts and evidence showing that esports have a lot of benefits when it comes to the competitive and social aspects of gaming.

The benefits are pretty easy to see and understand, especially for esports in education. Schools play a vital role for kids’ development as the educational structure helps develop habits, skills, views, mindset that will foster students’ social, physical, mental, and academic abilities. As esports gains more popularity among young people, it’s a no brainer that schools can adopt this trend to leverage its benefits to facilitate learning and boost students’ academic or career performance.

Communities Help Grow Esports, and Vice Versa

Esports is being built around communities across different game titles, collective interests, and the desire to meet and connect with similar-minded people. According to Niccolò Maisto, the co-founder and CEO of FaceIt: “It’s so natural that gamers should be connected with the community because esports basically grows with active communities. Community is the key of esports, and what differentiates it from traditional sports—esports is something that was born by community. It’s about taking a game beyond the session, and making it part of a lifestyle, building social connections, interactions and friendships. That’s how esports basically grows.”

Competitive play is deeply rooted in human nature. Sports, for example, are played competitively regardless of genre. In other words, playing competitively against others with the ambition to win is already part of our DNA. Similarly, gamers must have intention to join a community and find team members or opponents, thus creating a continuous pursuit for the sense of community and belonging. 

Furthermore, there is significant evidence showing the gaming industry is growing super fast as the games market is projected to generate revenues of US $1,624 million in 2023 and the global live-streaming audience is projected to amount to 720.80 million users by 2027. The huge growth of esports has fostered the growth of communities; moreover, the development of various gaming communities has started to represent a social identity, or, in other words, a unique lifestyle. This lifestyle manifests the culture of gamers and attracts more esports enthusiasts to join the community, facilitating the growth of esports to the next level. 

Why Esports Communities Matter in Schools

As esports start to be considered as high-potential career options, it’s imperative to understand the importance of building up a pipeline for self-development (or career development) for esports students on campus. By creating an esports-focused community in schools, students can connect their passion with their academic and personal goals, creating a well-nurtured environment for students to learn, improve in, and embrace different aspects of esports. From tournaments, teams, clubs, and scrims to coaches, team leaders and sponsors, these elements within an esports community will help establish a structured pipeline for students to learn, grow and develop. 

Esports in education is able to improve collaboration and friendship between students by creating a sense of community. Unlike traditional sports, it is inclusive to anyone regardless of gender, age, and physical strength. Therefore, it allows any student who is interested in esports to join the same community to cooperate, connect, and engage with other similar-minded peers. 

Benefits of esports in schools

Through the esports community, students can develop STEM skills or support more effective STEM learning because it consists of teamwork, problem-solving, data science, internet technology, and coding. For example, students who are enthusiastic about esports often dig into their games trying to improve their skills and performance. They tend to try and understand the data or try and dive into team mechanics to increase win rate. This process itself is a way of learning. That’s why there are more schools using esports as a learning platform.

From a social standpoint, the esports community encourages teamwork, which will end up helping students adapt to society after graduation. It also teaches students sportsmanship and how to respect opponents even in a loss. How to deal with failure and frustration is a lesson that everyone should learn as early as possible in their life. Esports also brings social interaction for students who are not good at getting along with others. Even the WHO worked with game companies during the COVID-19 pandemic for a #PlayApartTogether campaign, urging people to stay at home gaming together because esports provides a socializing experience even when social distancing is required.

Career development and Esports

Career development is also another benefit. School communities can help students figure out their paths in the esports industry. Students are empowered to learn through participating in communities as they need to manage teams, host tournaments, analyze gameplay, etc. This process will help develop capabilities and readiness for their future career. Besides, they will get access to different career paths of esports as they will personally experience those jobs including securing sponsorships, carrying out tournaments, producing event broadcasts, etc. This hands-on experience will allow exploration and discovery of ideal jobs for students so that they’ll be able to envision careers in the rapidly growing gaming and esports industry.

A good starting point for students who want to enter the world of esports is creating a profile on specific social platforms. Acer’s Planet9.gg, for example, can help students establish their gamers’ identities and create a sense of achievement. In fact, Planet9 allows players to connect with peers within a broad online community, thus creating new relationships and stimulating teamwork and competition. 

Examples of Esports in education

League of Legends

A strategy game where two teams of five champions must face each other to conquer the enemy base. Each player can choose their own champion among more than 140 different options. Today, League of Legends is one of the most competitive esports on the field, with tournaments organized internationally. 

Overwatch 

An ever-evolving multiplayer live action game that follows the adventure of more than thirty heroes that must face each other, divided into teams of 5. The goal is to liberate Overland from evil forces. Overwatch has its own professional esports league formed by 20 city-based international teams. 

Rocket League 

A free-to-play videogame that combines football and car races. The quests are based on physics law, combining fun and education. Professional champions can participate in the Rocket League Championship Series annual tournament.