by Mykiah Bonhom, Spectrum Industries, Inc.
Gaming comprises a sector of entertainment undergoing rapid growth. With the number of gamers estimated to be over 3.2 billion people worldwide, it is apparent that there is a diverse group of people engaging in gaming. Even though it’s traditionally seen as a hobby, gaming can lead to many skill sets being obtained over a lifetime. People can find that their hobby turns into a passion and make a career out of it. This article will showcase just some of the many different skills that can be obtained from gaming and esports.
Soft Skills:
Let's dive into some “soft skills”. Now it is easy to imagine that the stereotypical gamer is stuck in their mom's basement with the lights off and no social interaction, however, that is not an accurate representation. Gamers come in all forms. They can learn valuable skills from their favorite titles. One that comes to mind is communication and teamwork. Most of the popular games tend to be multiplayer. It can be teaming up with random people online or some of your friends. Communicating how to work together to win a match in a video game can be just as beneficial as joining a traditional sports team. You still need to devise a plan of attack, execute, and correct errors. Collaborating with diverse individuals with varying mindsets to achieve a common goal can teach individuals how to communicate effectively in both professional and personal relationships
Even though there's plenty to learn about communication, it doesn't mean teammates won't clash now and then. What one considers the most effective strategy can vary greatly from person to person. However, this can lead to learning another skill, conflict resolution. No matter where you go in life you will encounter other people, which means you will inevitably experience conflict. Gaming can be an early and safe place for people to learn how to deal with disputes. Learning to listen to what other people think and find mutual ground to continue to work together is essential to success.
There are an endless number of soft skills, yet among the most crucial is passion. It can be hard to find something you're passionate about. Discovering how to pursue that passion can be even more challenging. Gaming can be a place for people to learn and achieve goals. It can be as big as trying to reach the top 10% of ranked players in League of Legends, or it can be trying to beat that hard level in Candy Crush. What do you do with both goals? You formulate a plan, experiment with various strategies, and commit yourself to reaching the goal. Upon successfully attaining it, a sense of pride inevitably follows. Sure, it's just a video game, and do the stats translate to real life? Most of the time, it does not. This doesn't diminish the importance of someone setting and accomplishing a goal. That mindset can translate into other aspects of a person’s life in many ways.
Regardless of one's passion, encountering failure and rejection remains an inevitable aspect of life. Dealing with these challenges can be exceptionally tough. However, gaming can serve as a platform for fostering emotional resilience and developing effective coping mechanisms to navigate failure. The number of matches that can be played in gaming compared to traditional sports is exponential. For instance, while a football match may take an hour or more to complete, players can engage in upwards of 20 matches of Rocket League within the same time frame. This abundance of gameplay opportunities provides ample scenarios for players to identify and experiment with various tactics for coping with failure. By cultivating effective coping strategies, students can foster a mindset that embraces failure and rejection, rather than shying away from it.
Technical Skills:
Along with soft skills, many technical skills can be learned by immersion in gaming. For example, Fortnite’s expansion “Fortnite Creative” has become an easy entry into what it would be like to develop a video game. Amazingly, it can all be done without any coding. Whether we realize it or not Fortnite Creative is creating the next generation of game developers and/or UX designers. Fortnite is not the only example. Minecraft and Roblox have successfully integrated their map-creation tools. It just goes to show that gaming is changing along with the way we interact with games.
Esports:
Numerous transferable skills can be taught through esports. The biggest field of growth is Broadcast Production. This career path encompasses a diverse array of skill sets, including graphic design, video editing, observation, AV technology, lighting, and many others. Skills required to orchestrate a captivating production. We see many educational esports programs incorporate broadcast production into their spaces. Initially, the goal was to build a competitive varsity team. Now, students are building a knowledge base for exciting careers. Broadcast production is becoming a dominant field in esports. It will be exciting to see which programs will set the standard for what a student-led production can accomplish. Observing how the professional esports realm harnesses the potential of these upcoming leaders to advance the industry to unprecedented levels is bound to be just as thrilling.
Esports programs offer a unique opportunity for participants to develop a diverse set of business skills, including Event Management, Project Management, Marketing, Sales, and Human Resources. Many programs are hosting their own events and tournaments. A lot of these programs are student-led because of the lack of dedicated resources available. This forces students to get creative in how they generate a successful event. How do we market this event with little to no budget? How do we manage 100+ people in a space? How should we structure/schedule the event? How do we provide staffing for the event? These are just some of the questions students are asking themselves. But even though they do not have a formalized process, they are still allowing their passion to shine through and create successful events. In an industry plagued by ignorance on how to generate revenue/engagement with the consumer, these students are being put in situations that, whether they know it or not, are going to set them apart when entering the job market.
Esports coaching represents a small but rapidly growing part of the industry. Coaching demands not only soft skills like leadership, communication, and composure but also technical skills such as strategy development and an in-depth understanding of game titles. Esports requires you to understand how to compete. With emerging varsity teams at all levels of education, students are gaining experience in their favorite titles. Aspiring coaches will have to possess extensive experience in varsity-level competition, which will greatly benefit them in their coaching endeavors. How many times have we seen former traditional sports athletes become successful coaches? Jim Harbaugh of the Los Angeles Chargers, Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers, and Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers. It will be interesting to see which players will rise to become the iconic figures of their gaming titles.
Here is a quote from an industry professional on how gaming has enhanced their skillsets.
Mykiah Bonhom is an Esports Specialist with Spectrum Industries. Mykiah graduated from Shenandoah University, as a Presidential Scholar, with a degree in Esports Management.