Trending games, fierce players, money prizes, and competition in top countries! From the 2000s to the last few decades, esports became popular globally with large competitions in China, the United States, South Korea, Brazil, etc. A huge amount of cash prizes were won, the highest being $7,184,163.05! With the growing popularity and attraction, does esports deserve a place alongside traditional sports, why or why not, and how can esports be fostered as a creative education in schools with the generational pressure of social media?
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or in teams. Examples of esports are Dota 2, League of Legends, Vorlant, and Fortnite. On 13 April 2017, esports were officially considered as a sport. It does not specifically connect to physical sports, but the advantages and benefits are the same.
Dating back to the 1970s and 80s, video game competitions were held in arcades and some public areas. These tournaments were considered an informal affair, with prizes being only bragging rights and small items. The first esports competition was held at Stanford University in 1972, where students played in a game of Spacewars!, with the winner taking home a one-year subscription to Rolling Stone magazine.
As video games gradually grew famous, the growth of the internet also supported esports tournaments. Nowadays, there are online websites for people to compete against each other and a multi-billion-dollar industry, with millions of fans and players around the world!
But recently, with the generational pressure of social media, lots of people might be doubting and disagreeing with esports. True, sports are physical activities that can help students with loads of health and mental well-being advantages, but esports do have lots of similar benefits. The definition of sports is considered a debate, whereas esports truly counts as a sport for its competitive nature and physical demands. Just like traditional sports, esports has high requirements for teamwork, skills, and strategy, as well as physical attributes such as hand-eye coordination, reaction time, and endurance. An esports player has: improved memory through visualized 3D games, a strong eyesight that can process information faster and distinguish between subtle variations in colors, and a heightened hand-eye coordination when performing different actions with different hands. A traditional soccer player has refined motor skills with good legs and torso muscles involved in big movements, strong bones that have been developed through repetitive movements that strengthen the skeleton, and excellent balance control when constantly shifting between walking, running, and sprinting. Turns out esports is just more than fun, it shares many of the same benefits of traditional athletics, like sportsmanship, leadership, communication, and teamwork, without the drawbacks of travel for practices, games, and tournaments or risk of injury, particularly beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the school curriculum, esports are just perfect for fostering creative education in schools. For FIS, esports is ideal for building community, inclusivity, and diversity for students. Dedicated to students who are not that interested in traditional physical activities, esports can help offer a unique opportunity for students to team up and develop new skills, establishing community, friendship, school spirit, and a sense of belonging. Students gain social and emotional learning skills as they collaborate to overcome obstacles and failure. Esports is also a bridge to STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and math), not just because they are using a computer, but to be a good team, they would have to analyze data and statistics, review strategies, and become proficient in using both computer hardware and software. Including career opportunities, if your interest in gaming has reached a degree, now besides pro players, there are jobs in management, coaching, broadcasting, event planning, marketing and so much more! There are multiple career paths that you can transfer to and explore freely in the world of esports. Ultimately, from laptops to gaming consoles to students’ omnipresent phones, esports encourage kids to seek and build a community where they already are. Schools in the US have approximately 3,500 high school esports clubs that would help students to a new path of creativity.
In short, esports are a new form of education and innovation that fork a path for anybody. Do you think esports counts as a real sport, can it be accepted by older generations as a healthy training, and should FIS foster esports programs into our school’s curriculum / extracurricular activities? Share your thoughts in the comments to let me know!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esports
https://www.vanas.ca/en/blog/is-esports-a-sport
https://www.usm.org/about/blog/post/~board/blog/post/the-benefits-of-esports
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/awesome-benefits-esports-its-more-than-just-fun-games-adam-mcgowan
https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/school-esports-thriving-in-the-united-states-and-globally
https://escharts.com/news/top-esports-games-q3-2024
