The Risks and Rewards of Collegiate Esports (original) (raw)
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International Journal of eSports Research
The availability and affordability of increased Internet bandwidth, video memory, and processing speed has enabled Electronic sports (eSports) to become a flourishing global sensation and college students are helping to drive this phenomenon. This mixed-methods study focuses on feedback from 159 college students regarding the eSports phenomenon across both gender and educational classification. Findings from the study include their eSports-related gaming and spending habits, and perceptions of personal and academic benefits of playing eSports such as social interaction, teamwork, and critical thinking skills. Included are the perceived risks of playing eSports that encompassed eSports gaming addiction, mental, social, emotional risks, lack of physical activity, and physical disorders associated with playing eSports.
Sports video games participation: what can we learn for esports?
Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, 2020
PurposeThis study investigates three issues associated with playing sports video games: the correlates of participation (and its intensity) in this type of activity, their complementarity with traditional sports and their perception as sport. Given the scarcity of data on esports participation, these results can be seen as an initial approach to these issues with regard to esports.Design/methodology/approachSequential, two-part and regression models are estimated using a sample of 11,018 individuals from the Survey of Sporting Habits in Spain 2015.FindingsFirst, the association of the correlates follows different patterns for participation in sports video games and its intensity. Second, complementarity with traditional sports is found using different approaches. Third, young people consider this activity as a dimension of their overall interest in sports.Practical implicationsThe different association of the correlates with participation in esports and its intensity can be used to ...
ERNC22 Jonkoping Book of Abstracts, 2022
The number of esports education programs continue to rise globally (Jenny et al., 2021; Jenny, Gawrysiak et al., 2021). Quality programs teach transferrable skills which are needed within the esports ecosystem and other job sectors (Scott et al., 2021). Esports can be used as a tool to motivate students and teach knowledge, skills, and competencies within a holistic learning experience. There are six papers presented within this “Esports and Education” track at the 2022 Esports Research Network Conference. First, Trotter and colleagues offer an examination of the impact of school esports program participation on student health and psychological development. Next, Becka and colleagues discuss how an esports training space may impact students, teachers, and graduates, as well as complement the higher education, at a public university in Argentina. In addition, Rusk and Ståhl provide an analysis of gaming inside and outside of school from the Finnish student player perspective. Fesharaki and colleagues then describe the development of a dual career higher education program being launched at Jönköping University in Sweden that aims to offer opportunities for student athletes in both esports and traditional sports. Moreover, King and Burton examine varying perspectives regarding mental health, burnout, and performance with a United States collegiate Overwatch esports team through single case design. Last, Gortari and colleagues research the motivations to enroll in high school esports programs in Norway while investigating gaming habits and potential mediators for motivations and risk factors.
Retos: Nuevas Tendencias en Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación, 2025
eSport is a sport of choice and is quite popular, especially among young people, including women. This virtual sport has been developed entirely with various ways to play. At the same time, there is a negative paradigm of eSport games for women in Indonesia, including damaging vision, causing numbness in the hands, forgetting to eat, being introverted, and using harsh language. From a cultural perspective, women who play eSport are considered to violate the nature of women because they reflect masculine characteristics. This study uses quantitative research with a causal-comparative design to examine the effect of female students' participation in playing eSports on psychological development, communication skills, and the risks of virtual games. The research data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially (Multivariate Analysis of Variance). The analysis results prove a simultaneous influence between eSport participation (duration of playing) and female students' psychological conditions, communication, and virtual game risks. In partial testing, eSport participation only significantly affected the communication skills variable of female students, while the other two variables did not. Future research needs to conduct qualitative investigations to explore the clinical experiences of female gamers that help them train their communication skills. Given the existence of various gender discriminatory behaviours in eSports, female gamers may have good communication to protect themselves from the threat of discrimination, or vice versa.
Competitive Collegiate Esports Programs (Chapter 6.3, Routledge Handbook of Esports)
Routledge Handbook of Esports, 2024
This chapter provides an overview of stakeholders in the collegiate (i.e., higher education) competitive esports environment, including students; faculty, staff, and administrators; game studios; sponsors; tournament organizers, leagues; regulatory bodies; and venues for competition. It relays ongoing concerns regarding integrating esports into higher education institutions concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion; existing traditional sports; and scholarships. Along with interviews with the founders of two successful programs, the chapter concludes with advice on how to start a collegiate esports team. Key highlights include: 1) Despite esports’ significant growth in universities, integrating esports into the broader collegiate ecosystem is not without costs and infrastructural effort, 2) Collegiate esports appeals to numerous on and off campus stakeholders, 3) There are many types of competitive esports programs, including varsity, junior varsity, competitive and recreational clubs which are housed and operated differently based on institutional investment and interest, 4) Ongoing issues in collegiate esports stem from student and academic life: diversity, equity, and inclusion; integrating into existing sports structures; and difficulties surrounding scholarships and promotion, and 5) Preparing proper academic and competitive institutional scaffolding while retaining an entrepreneurial and flexible mindset is necessary for collegiate esports program success.
Games and Culture
During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were among the first institutions to shift to an online model. As they did so, nascent collegiate esports program lost access to campus spaces and in-person connections, potentially destabilizing this rising industry. Conversely, universities also worked to provide students remote access to resources, and many components of esports already occur online. Therefore, collegiate esports may have adjusted to distancing measures, potentially strengthening their footholds on US campuses. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with collegiate esports players, student employees, program directors, and administrators to address different programs’ reactions to the pandemic, specifically the challenges and opportunities they faced. Overall, interviews reveal how COVID-19 shifted the understandings of and practices around gaming and esports, highlighted the intermittent relationship of online and offline spheres, and presented various possibilities an...
Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 2020
This research examined student-athletes' usage of and motivations for playing the video game Fortnite. Social video games such as Fortnite are growing in popularity and athletes have become a visible consumer group. Semi-structured interviews with 22 Division-I student athletes were conducted. Analysis of the interviews generated six usage and motivational The results suggest that video games such as Fortnite provide meaningful social connection fulfillment needs for student-athletes, and also allow them to interact with fans and student-athletes at other schools. Yet, Fortnite also fosters addictive tendencies that can negatively impact their academic performance and well-being. Accordingly, coaches and others student-athlete support personnel can use video games to help student-athletes meet socialization needs while also promoting educational programming to help them minimize negative effects.
Diversity and Inclusion in Esports Programs in Higher Education
International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 2018
The last 2 years have witnessed a tremendous rise in esports in the US and, with it, a growing concern about the lack of diversity and its underlying probable cause: toxicity toward women and minorities. The popularity of this new pastime among undergraduates has skyrocketed and club leagues are quickly transitioning into collegiate sports, leaving universities to rapidly catch up with student demand in order to attract and keep a technologically-adept incoming student body. The University of California, Irvine has become a leader in collegiate esports programs, boasting a centrally located, dedicated esports arena, an active gaming student body (72%), and undergraduate scholarships. The goal is to be a leader not merely on the digital field, however. The goal is to also live up to the long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion across all aspects of campus life. In this article, the authors detail the strategy for accomplishing this. As university esports programs emerge na...
2018
Research question: This study investigates three issues associated to the growing industry of eSports: the picture of participants in eSports and the correlates of the intensity of this participation; the complementary/substitutability relationship between eSports and traditional sports; and the perception of eSports as sport by the population. Research methods: Discrete choice, two-part and regression models are estimated using a sample of 11,018 individuals from the Survey on Sports Habits in Spain 2015. Results and Findings: The association of the correlates follows different patterns depending on whether considering participation or the intensity of this participation in eSports and also in terms of gender. Using different approaches, a significant degree of complementarity between participation and interest in eSports and traditional sports is estimated. For young people interested in eSports seems to an element influencing the overall interest in sports. Implications: Taking i...
Facilitating Collegiate Esports: Limiting and Legitimizing Competitive Gaming
Digital Games Research Association DiGRA, 2023
The global phenomenon of esports (or competitive gaming) unquestionably continues to grow. However, spaces, facilities and infrastructure remain understudied. Using U.S. collegiate esports as a microcosm of the broader industry, our work addresses perceptions of facilities, equipment, and infrastructure through in-depth interviews with teams, administrators and game makers in order to demonstrate how material conditions meaningfully limit expectations of what constitutes competitive play. We find that while administrators and players legitimize gameplay through their official facilities, the ad-hoc historical foundations of collegiate and professional esports push against institutional desires. This research therefore begins to reveal a picture of collegiate esports facilities that are still highly reliant on gaming norms and social capital, rather than trying to challenge the limits of competitive digital play.