A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME
Given the inexorable rise in technology which continues to transform our society, one huge, booming industry is opening up and providing endless career opportunities.
THE world of eSports is one that’s leaving many scratching their heads, but in truth it’s opening up an entire range of careers previously thought unimaginable.
The Australian eSports League alone offers a chance for hundreds of teams across its
university and high school tournaments.
Associate Professor Dr James Birt believes the evolution and accessibility of new technology is giving students endless career paths, even a ticket to work in the Olympics.
“What is really exciting in relation to eSports is how many different disciplines can feed into the industry,” said Birt ahead of Bond University’s open day last month.
“There is a whole new avenue of career choice that doesn’t have to be a specific strand or a linear choice that we have traditionally pushed graduates towards.
“We now have this relatively new medium that brings together passion, skill and a need within the industry, and eSports can triangulate all those things and provide a viable career.”
The International Olympic Committee staged a two-day conference in Switzerland over the weekend to better understand eSports, demonstrating the evolution of gaming into mainstream consciousness.
But according to Dr Birt, the gaming component is just one avenue now open to students looking to break into an industry that is increasing 40 per cent year on year, with no sign of slowing down.
“There is a real stigma around eSports that is about playing games in a dark nerdy basement and that it doesn’t have a real career outcome,” he said.
“But that is a very narrow and old cliche view, it has completely changed. There are many career paths in competitive gaming, with game streaming, commentary, coaching and broadcasting just a small component of the industry at large.
“It isn’t just one niche area, but across the gamut of various industries. There are so many different components including business, media, marketing, sport science, interactive design, broadcasting and then the gamers themselves.
“When you listen to the CEOs of most of the world’s leading media broadcasting companies and the leaders of video gaming and sport, there is an absolute connection as a viable industry for young people and students to enter into to generate a career as an industry.”