How popular are eSports? over $1-billion popular

By Koketso Mamabolo

Curro Holdings’ Digital Transformation Manager, Angela Schaerer

Independent school network Curro Holdings has partnered with tech giant Acer to provide learners with the benefits of the global eSports industry, which is expected to grow by 8.7% year-on-year, reaching 523 million people and generating almost $1.38-billion in revenue.

“Both Curro and Acer have the vision to promote eSports in South Africa, enabling learners to benefit from all the opportunities,” says Curro Holdings’ Digital Transformation Manager, Angela Schaerer.

Together they are making Curro’s eSports tournament platform safe for learners, educating parents and ultimately tapping into the learning benefits such as improving the ability to process information and the development of social and collaborative skills.

“Acer supports a variety of eSports as part of their own initiative and, for our partnership, they have been able to bring this to the table to help Curro enhance and grow the eSports initiative,” says Angela.

Here she fills us in on the popularity of the industry, valued at R118-million in South Africa, what parents need to know about it, what the benefits are to learners and more.

How popular are eSports in South African schools?

eSports is growing fast in SA schools and we hope that we can start establishing and competing in SA eSports leagues. In 2022, the global eSports audience will grow +8.7% year-on-year to reach 532 million and eSports will generate nearly $1.38-billion in revenues globally by the end of 2022. 

Our local eSports industry is a long way off the international landscape, but we see new investment, talent, and development in many different eSports avenues including hosting tournaments, events, support organisations and media. The market value of eSports is currently R118-million with an exponential growth trajectory projected. Many schools are including eSports labs and programmes as part of their offerings.

How did you go about forming the partnership?

Both Curro and Acer have the vision to promote eSports in South Africa, enabling learners to benefit from all the opportunities it brings. Acer supports a variety of eSports organisations as part of their own initiative and for our partnership, they have been able to bring this to the table to help Curro enhance and grow the eSports initiative. Acer saw stories in the press about the growth and impact of our eSports programme and approached Curro to offer support. Acer has assisted Curro with the following:

• Development of a Curro eSports tournament platform to ensure all learners can play games safely
• Equipment for lead eSports coaches
• Creating a tailored package of eSports equipment for our schools to purchase
• Supporting our programmatic components:

• ESports coach the coaches workshop
• Parent awareness webinars
• Shout casters for games
• Shout casting workshops for coaches and learners 

What are the benefits of playing eSports or video games?

Video games and eSports have often received criticism because there is a lack of awareness of what is involved in games. But there is a range of research that identifies the benefits of eSports and video games whether this is being played in an extramural capacity or as part of the curriculum:

These include:

• eSports improves the players’ ability to process and prioritise the information
• It enhances critical and creative thinking skills while quickening decision-making and reaction time without sacrificing accuracy. 
• Regular gaming also helps learners develop self-confidence and calmness, as well as acquire 21st century skills like social awareness, collaboration, adaptability, persistence, and resourcefulness. 
• eSports is social and the interactive nature of games helps learners to develop social and emotional competencies. 
• Video-game play may enhance learning in learners who are non-neurotypical such as Autism or ADHD by boosting confidence and providing self-calming effects for the individual.
• In eSports, the player has to play in groups. Therefore to take any decision the player has to think about the consequences for the team. So helps to develop a sense of empathy.  

What are the most important things parents need to know about eSports?

eSports is so much more than just playing video games and an extramural activity. There are numerous opportunities within the eSports ecosystem for learners to develop skills and knowledge that may guide future careers both playing the game and by getting involved in activities within the eSports ecosystem. 

Our programme is guided by four key categories and areas of engagement within an eSports ecosystem, all of which provide opportunities for learning and skills development for our learners and that, over time, will form part of our programme design.

Strategists
Coaching
Game analysis by keeping stats in a spreadsheet and analyse video of opponents to help develop a game plan and strategies

Content creators
Podcasting
Promotional video
Create certificates
Trophy design
Game development
Streaming
Shout casting workshops
Shout casting

Organisers
Entrepreneurs
Tournament event logistics
IT support for devices, updates and troubleshooting technical issues.

Entrepreneurs
Marketing
Creative designer
Videographer
Journalist
Social media
Sponsorships and partnerships

What cyber security measures should be taken to ensure learners’ safety in eSports tournaments?

With anything online, there needs to be a combination of creating infrastructure security as well as managing behaviour.

Infrastructure

• With support from Acer who has a strong focus on the eSports space, we have created our own eSports tournament platform and we are the first school group in Africa to have done this as far as we are aware. This platform allows us to manage all related eSports logistics in one place that is secure:

• Learners sign on using their Curro credentials which are strictly monitored. So no external people can access this platform. 
• All the tournament communication between coaches and communication in games can be done via the platform which we are able to monitor to ensure there is no bullying, inappropriate language or any of the issues we see in social spaces.

• All tournaments arranged by Curro ESports team are hosted on the Curro ESports platform, coaches and players can see tournament details, rankings of teams, arrange practice games, etc.
• Curro ESports can control age-gate settings to ensure games do not show intense graphics that learners may be exposed to on open gaming platforms.

• We have created a network at schools specifically for eSports which we can strictly monitor and manage to ensure everyone is safe, but also to ensure that learners can’t play games during the other lessons.

Behaviour

• Curro coaches within each school have been trained to manage eSports and the security and digital citizenship in this space
• They in turn ensure the learners are coached on digital citizenship and etiquette, managing their screen time and ensuring that learners take breaks when playing, but also have a balanced lifestyle and include physical exercise   
• We have created a strict code of conduct managed by Curro ESports that all players need to abide by
• We have also been running webinars for parents to ensure they understand eSports and are aware of how to help their children manage online safely and general well-being including screen time, participating in other activities/exercise etc
• Our learners also participate in external tournaments and so important that as part of our internal programme, we are preparing learners to be responsible in open gaming platforms