Gaming fans cheer as schools put e-sports on the timetable
INDOOR PURSUIT: Joshua Kearney, 13, of Cape Town is passionate about gaming and says it has enriched his life skills and social life A RECLUSE with bad posture, glued to a computer screen and never socialising.
This is many parents’ nightmare image of “losing” their child to the gaming world. But now some schools in Norway and Australia are putting e-sports — competitive gaming — on the timetable.
Garnes High School in Bergen, Norway, pointed out that within two years, 145 million people were predicted to be fans of professional e-sports, and that competitive gaming at school could be combined with life skills and information on nutrition.
A teacher and researcher in Sweden said she had stamped out absenteeism with a dose of Minecraft first thing in the morning, and some colleges in the US offer scholarships for gamers who compete in a global market that was worth $748-million (R11.6-billion) last year.
Joshua Kearney, 13, an obsessive gamer from Cape Town, spends several hours a week immersed in this alternative universe. His favourite games are not violent, but he said they would not shape his personality anyway.
“Surgeon Simulator doesn’t make you into a surgeon, so why should Grand Theft Auto or any other game about killing make you into a murderer?” he said.
His first conversations and friendships at Cedar House School in Kenilworth were built on a common interest in Minecraft .
“It is designed for creativity and building what you want. You can have experiences you would never have in real life, like flying or carrying around huge amounts of gold.
“And if you’re feeling angry, it’s better to take it out on some pixels than harming real people.”
His mom, Lorraine Kearney, is supportive of his gaming. She said she had limited his time when he was younger but now mainly relies on him to “self-regulate”.
“There are benefits to gaming. It teaches you hand-eye co-ordination and focus,” she said.
She said she did not believe that it turned kids into recluses. “It depends on your child’s personality. Even without gaming, a lone ranger child will play Lego or build puzzles on their own,” she said, adding that we cannot make children live “as if we’re in the 19th century”.
For Durbanite Carmen Middleton, mother of an 11-year-old boy and a daughter, 8, Minecraft been a mixed blessing.
“I am not happy when they choose it over swimming or outdoor playing, but it beats the hell out of seeing them at each other’s throats like in ‘real life’. In their digital universe, they communicate well with each other, but then I can’t drag them away.”
Parenting guru Nikki Bush said gaming could “build life skills” but also have “negative consequences” for children.
“Kids learn through repetition. They also learn about problemsolving. In the more complex games, they develop spatial planning skills, learn about collaboration and about using resources,” she said.
“But exposure to age-inappropriate content is a problem.”
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