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ESPORTS & EDUCATIONWhy eSports is
Impacting ClassroomsElizabeth Newbury
Serious Games Initiative,
Wilson Center &
PhD Candidate,
Cornell University
@enewb@WilsonSTIP
Photo credit: British eSports Association
Agenda
Background About eSports K12 Context
• The Serious Games Initiative is part of the
Science and Technology Innovation Program
at the Woodrow Wilson International Center
for Scholars, one of the top 10 think tanks in
the world
• We produce games to communicate leading
policy research to the public
• We aim to make research accessible,
engaging & fun to increase dialogue around
critical policy issues
– Current Games: The Fiscal Ship (www.fiscalship.org) created
with 1st Playable and the Brookings Institute to help
audiences learn about the federal budget
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
About me• PhD Candidate at Cornell University
• Dissertation in a Tweet: “Why do people watch other people play video games?”
• Mixed method exploration of eSports fans
– Content analysis of eSports broadcast
– Field observation of eSports in semi-public spaces
– Interviews with eSports fans
• Key literatures: sociology of sport, audience studies,
fan studies, game studies, gender studies
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
WHAT IS ESPORTS?
What is eSports?
• Definition of “serious play”
• eSports is competitive video game play, where video games are played like a sport
• Consists of increasingly professionalized leagues, teams, players
• Estimated $696M market*
• Audience of 385 million worldwide*
Sport Infrastructure
& Culture
eSports
Video Games & Gaming
culture
*NewZoo (Feb 2017), Global eSports Market Report 2017 Background
About eSports
K12 Context
Is eSports a sport?
• eSports exhibits many of the characteristics of sport
(c.f. Jenny, Manning, Keiper & Olrich, 2017)
– Organized play (leagues)
– Professionalization of play
– Dedicated following (fans)
• My research: Yes….and no
• eSports fans watch, socialize,
consume, learn from watching but also
play, which has long been divided in
“sport fandom” (supporting Taylor,
2012)
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Does it matter if
eSports is a sport?
Depends?
• Socially: being a sport provides legitimization for eSports fans to non-eSports fans
• Economically: eSports is doing well as it stands – unless you are a player
• Legally: Visas (e.g. Forbes, 2013, 2017); Ethical treatment of players, player health; Ramifications for cheating, drug use; Gambling – now legal in Las Vegas; Title IX
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Photo credit: High School StarLeague
Issues in eSports: Gender
parity
• Currently masculine dominated space
– Gamer masculinity + Sports masculinity = No space for
women (e.g. Connell’s Masculinities)
• Particularly true when it comes to professional and
casual play; less with spectating
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
*See Casselman, 2015 on ESPN
Ageism in eSports
• Ageism is alive and well in eSports
• “Prime” age to be an eSports player is pre-college; Professional players frequently “retire” somewhere in the early 20’s
Why? Journalists claim it is due to reaction time, dexterity, etc.
Fans: “I had to become an adult”
What’s critical here is this is in terms of competitive playing -- the audience for eSports (those who watch & play casually) is much more flexible
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Photo credit: Mousesports
ESPORTS & K12 CLASSROOMS
What does an eSports
fan do?
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Applications for K12
Play
• Integration of competitive video gaming in terms of play
would provide many of the same benefits as organized sport:
teaching fair play, giving kids a sense of agency and self-
esteem
• Added benefit: pathways to STEM
Watching
• Understanding that watching contributes to play
eSports is critical
• Form of experiential learning: students are harnessing
what they watch and applying it to their own
experience; also evaluating what they watch
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Photo credit: UCI (which now offers scholarships!)
Skills from eSports
• Social engagement: eSports is a space where young
people can make friends, that they can engage in a
diversity of play, watching, and social identity
construction practices both online and offline
• Need for: awareness of cyberbullying; internet safety;
time management
• Research & Strategic thinking: fans often become
eSports fans as a result of researching how to play their
favorite game; they continue this research about the
game throughout their experience, tying both to
watching (critique of plays) and playing (developing
strategy)
• Ties to: evaluating data and sources; improved
statistical & logical reasoning; game theory; engaged
learning
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Photo credit: Riot Games
Pro-Social Skills in eSports
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Photo credit: Don’t feed the Trolls podcast (disclaimer: not endorsing)
Future Directions:
Care in Consumptive
Practices
In-Game
Platforms like STEAM and in-game purchasing make supporting the industry easy, giving fans a sense of agency
At the same time, purchases need to have some in-game value to be effective – see The International
Out-Game
Fans buy mostly game-related merchandise (not like a sports fan) but design spaces for watching, playing, and socializing around eSports
May not be buying jerseys, but will buy mice if has value for gaming
FANS ARE NOT SPORTS CONSUMERS; THE TENSIONS BETWEEN BEING A
SPECTATOR AND PLAYER ARE SEEN IN THEIR CONSUMPTION
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Future Directions:
Spaces for eSports
eSports Space
Spectating
Knowledge Acquisition
Socializing
Playing
• K12 audience need physical
spaces to gather
• History of arcades, LANs*
• Increasingly, the spectatorship
experience is being geared towards 21+
• K12: Need a physical space to gather,
with supportive instructors
• Ways to encourage diversity?
* Which are male-dominated spacesBackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Future Directions:
Design Implications
• It starts with the game: successful eSports games
have been changed to easily encourage spectator
mode
• Need to incorporate more diversity in gaming
characters to encourage wider audience
• Low skill floor, high skill ceiling – fans want to see
games that are easy to get into, but can be played at
increasingly complex levels
BackgroundAbout
eSportsK12 Context
Photo Credit: NY Times
ELIZABETH NEWBURYSERIOUS GAMES INITIATIVEWILSON CENTER
@enewb@WilsonSTIP
facebook.com/WilsonSTIP
wilsoncenter.org/program/science-and-technology-innovation-program
@OfficeOfEdTech
Education & Competitive GamingWhy Esports is Impacting Classrooms
James Collins, LiaisonOffice of Educational Technology •
US Department of Education
Office of Educational Technologytech.ed.gov
● provide leadership at the Federal level, through the Department of
Education, by developing a national vision and strategy
● provide leadership to the Nation in the use of technology to
promote achievement and to increase opportunities for all
students
● to infuse technology and technology planning into all educational
programs carried out within school systems at the State and
local level
Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education
https://tech.ed.gov/netp
● Learning
● Teaching
● Leadership
● Assessment
● Infrastructure
“We observed that participants who scored higher
on a number processing task had greater
improvements in MOBA skill and that this link
depended on the social context of the gameplay.
Specifically, numerical skill was linked to player
rankings generated from matches where they were
paired with random individuals...”
Further Research Needed
● Skill/Play connections
● Data Collection
● Data Interpretation
● Case Studies
Connect with us online:
@OfficeOfEdTech
tech.ed.gov
https://www.facebook.com/officeofedtech
https://medium.com/OfficeofEdTech
Web:
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