Esports: Beyond Playing Games
Enabling Future-Ready Skills through Student Participation in Esports
When you think of an esports club or team, the roles of gamer and coach most likely come to mind. What’s most exciting, through the lens of student participation, is the opportunity for roles beyond gamer to be established and the exploration of future career pathways. Esports is more than just gaming. As a student engagement tactic, esports can channel your students passions into transferable skills. We’re here for that!
7 Areas for Student Participation in Esports, beyond Gamer:
Coaching
Although the coaching position is most regularly assumed by a teacher, there are plenty of ways to involve your students in coaching and leadership opportunities too. Leveraging your students’ expertise of gaming and esports can be a deciding factor between an esports club and an opportunity to support students’ future success. Together, you will collaborate with all other roles and responsibilities mentioned in this list, to form a cohesive esports experience.
Unlike a standard coaching position in esports, you will be responsible for far more than your players; typically, a coach would have many of the same roles as a physical sports coach: support player morale, review strategies and drills, focus on individual players to strengthen abilities, etc. The realm of esports might be different however, in the sense that we as educators, may not be the subject matter experts. Leveraging the expertise of your students, while also involving them in the many responsibilities listed above, can be a great way to encourage leadership. You might even find this to be a necessity if your esports club grows to a size that is difficult to manage as an individual. Age and maturity permitting, you may be able to delegate students to manage separate meeting days!
To further explore the role of an esports Coach check out these resources:
What does an Esports Coach do –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alFmDOmSd48&ab_channel=CLGEngineCLGEngine
What is an Esports Performance Coach -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYl7uu2HBoo&ab_channel=CLGEngineCLGEngine
Broadcaster
The benefit of esports being facilitated through a digital medium, is that it offers an early entry point into broadcasting. While the production level of professional esports rivals that of any major league sport, it can begin as students simply commentating throughout the stream. Students can then be challenged to practice with and utilize streaming software, increase the level of professionalism, opening opportunities to add overlays (of your team’s logo, for example), and integrate game highlights.
Broadcasting may vary slightly from game to game, but typically involves having a dedicated account to spectate the game from an objective perspective. Certain games even have a spectate mode, which equips viewers with specific tools to support the viewer experience (such as character scores, timers on objectives, etc.).
Behind League of Legends Broadcasting - https://youtu.be/5FuvZk8I9BY
Branding and Marketing
Whether your students are interested in both marketing and branding, or one over the other, the two collaborate closely. Branding is a great way to include students that enjoy visual arts, and can include the designing of your team’s logo, club marketing tools (such as posters, or electronic communications), and tournament-related marketing assets.
Marketing opportunities on the other hand, can involve working with your esports club and the general school population, to better understand what visuals and strategies work well to gather interests. They also support the marketing of the esports club and any related competitions that may warrant viewership.
Business
Like any club or team, costs are involved. Engaging students in the process of acquiring and managing sponsorships is an opportunity to learn business tactics. Students can take an active roll in crafting a sponsorship strategy, determining what is the ask. You can also involve interested students in relevant conversations, such as discussing hardware solutions or acquiring software licenses.
Computer Literacy
Ideally, your computers and equipment work flawlessly all the time, but there are a lot of components required for a gaming setup; the computer itself needs to be working well, then all the equipment needs to be properly configured, and the games must be up to date. This leaves plenty of opportunities for interested students to participate.
Having a group of volunteers prepare and configure your equipment before your athletes play, can be a great way to support computer literacy, troubleshooting, and collaboration skills. There are a few different ways to approach these opportunities, based on knowledge; you may have students with little computer literacy knowledge, who simply want to help in general, or students with a comprehensive understanding of computers.
For students with little knowledge of computers, begin by having them prepare the space before and after a meeting (whatever they feel comfortable with, such as turning devices on/off and gathering equipment). Students more familiar with computers can sort out technical difficulties and update games before a meeting. By extension, you can partner students together so that the former can learn troubleshooting strategies and solutions, and the latter can reinforce their knowledge by dissecting their methods.
Data Analyst
Any educator who has asked their students to elaborate on their knowledge of the games they play will know there is a surprising amount of knowledge, expertise, and insight that they are eager to share. I have seen my fair share of young, dedicated gamers, who are devoted to improving their skills. To do so, they must research the game itself, understand various in-game mechanics, and analyze the game as it is happening.
Leverage this expertise by having any who are interested, spectate your players’ games, analyze the gameplay, and participate in a constructive conversation following each match. Chances are, you may be doing this with your players already (whether reviewing their own gameplay, or professional matches), so it is just a matter of including interested participants. Our responsibility as an educator is to ensure that these analyses and conversations are constructive and supportive.
Some areas of focus for your data analysts may include:
Objective milestones (what is the average time a team should have accomplished _____).
Situational awareness (pointing out tinier details occurring within point of the match
Understanding the current game meta, and discussing how recent changes may impact gameplay
Further resources:
How to Think Like a Research Analyst - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UkXklXpf8E&ab_channel=WichitaStateEsports
What does a data analyst do - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqCsi-ySUU0
Nutritionist/Physician/General Health and Wellness
My previous blog discussed some of the bad habits I have developed through years of gaming. At the professional level, teams have begun investing in player wellness. There is no reason not to do the same for today’s younger generation of gamers; not only does it provide a learning opportunity for students who want to explore wellness-focused careers, but it supports the holistic well-being of all associated members of your esports club.
The depth of which your students participate may vary on age, confidence, and comfort; wellness-related opportunities may start as students preparing snacks or facilitating exercises that you coordinate. It may evolve into them working collaboratively to research, evaluate, and prepare their own wellness practices (e.g. creating a meal planning calendar, or a set of exercise routines). The best thing is that the results of their efforts are not limited to your esports athletes, but everyone participating in your esports club; resulting in a collaborative effort towards better living.
Meet the Doctors Keeping Esports Pros Healthy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGgly6ZfOR8
1HP Channel Page: A variety of exercises and practices to support gamer health - https://www.youtube.com/user/mistuhhwu
GamerDoc Channel Page: A variety of all-encompassing videos that focus on eating, physical health, and information regarding streaming and esports - https://www.youtube.com/c/GamerDoc/videos
In Conclusion
You may find that students naturally spread themselves equally among different leadership opportunities, or that they all flock to a single role. You may also find that students have no interest in assuming a responsibility, and simply want to be a part of the community. Although we want to offer and encourage leadership opportunities whenever possible, we do not want to disregard the social benefits available through esports clubs as well. You can however, consider incentives to try and encourage participation. For example, if you volunteer x amount of times, you get a spot in a skirmish against your school’s team.
Lastly, as we explore the many ways that students can be involved in an esports club, also consider ways to encourage collaboration between each role. Broadcasters may want to partner with data analysts, to develop more detailed commentating; business-focused roles can work with marketing and branding for any sponsorship developments. These collaborative efforts may help your students explore their own interests, while still being able to spend time with their friends.
With these ideas in mind, there is no single way to organise your esports clubs. We would love to hear some of the ways that you have fostered leadership opportunities with your students. Be sure to check out our community Discord and connect with others about your experiences and ideas!
Have a question for Blaise? Email him here, or reach out on Twitter @Blaise4Tech