Educators, PESO see bright future for esports with academe support

(Updated, April 13, 5:25 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines – Esports has been considered the sport of the youth, with the younger generation hoping to make a career out of professional gaming and even after their tenures as a pro player with many opportunities for different esports careers out there. 

But this mindset has not really sunk in for a lot of people, particularly in the older generation.

“Education is really important. Philippine esports is really big. If may Gilas sa basketball, may Sibol (the national esports team) sa esports. At a certain level, there is a disconnect between esports and education. What people see about esports [are] the glory and the prize pool. They don’t see certain values that esports has, which is parallel to traditional sports and other careers,” said Philippine Esports Organization (PESO) executive director Marlon Marcelo.

Such disconnect is what Dark League Studious’ Estudyante Esports Program hopes to remedy with its academic initiatives, partnering with different schools to increase awareness on esports and the different career opportunities it can provide students.

“Pag ikaw isang estudyante at pinag-aaralan mo yung gusto mo, yung pinagaaral mo nagiging madali. That’s best combination you can get. Find your passion and you can really contribute to society. Sa isang esports tournament, usually ang bida is yung champion. Ang ‘di natin nakikita, yung mga nasa back end. Merong coaches, analysts, designers, director, at marami pang iba. If universities can find a way to support the passion of our students, then that’s a very good collaborations,” said Estudyante Esports program director Alexander “Deng” Kibanoff.

One of the first schools to accept the potential of esports is the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU), which now offers the country’s first bachelor’s degree in esports.

“If you look at the ecosystem of esports, you will see a lot of careers. LPU is driven by the goal of meeting the needs of the industry. We are driven by our passion to innovate education and catering to the interest of the students,” shared Dr. Arlene Caballero, Dean College of Technology, LPU.

Caballero hopes that more universities will follow and see the future that esports can offer to students.

For his part, Kibanoff has personally witnessed the hesitation that many have with regards to esports. When pitching the program to different universities and colleges, Kinaboff has noted three usual challenges that he had heard from the different deans and school heads he talked to. First was how unknown esports was to the many members of the academic community. Second, how many view esports as a short-term career and lastly, how schools are hesitant to invest heavily on esports.

He adds, “We really have to spend a lot of effort to educate the academe on what esports is and its longevity. People see it as a short-term thing. Pero that is not true. Nakita naman natin na phenomenal yung growth ng esports dito. Mahal mag-invest sa esports but hindi naman kailangan full-blown program agad ang gawin natin. You have to start with a seed like maybe an elective or a course under IT or Marketing na aligned to esports and in the future, pag pinagsama yung mga courses and electives na ito, saka tayo magkakaroon ng esports program and degree. Ito yung tinatawag nating step-by-step approach. Habang nageevolve yung esports industry, nakakasabay tayo by introducing new disciplines into the degree to support the aspirations of the students.”

Carmela Racelis, Director Information Technology Center at Adamson University as well as a member of the Philippine Society of IT Educators, sees esports as a different opportunity to teach and engage students.

“We recognize the significance of esports as an industry as a domain that we really interact with technology and education. We view esports as an opportunity to engage our students in learning. With esports, we can teach different IT concepts like analytics, network and infrastructure and the career path is very clearly seen. Lastly, in community building. Esports can really facilitate formation of communities inside academics, wherein teachers, admin and students can play together and can foster responsible gaming,” said Racelis.

For Atty. Domingo “Sonny” Reyes, president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), the Estudyante Esports Program comes at a time he is pushing for PLM to embrace technology.

“Esports is here and we in the academe must embrace it. There is so much that has happened in the past few years in terms of technology. The challenge is not in the younger generation but in us, the older generation, how we accept and shift in this new paradigm,” said Reyes.
 
Looking into the future, Kibanoff and Marcelo see the potential the synergy of esports and education.

“Imagine, nagcha-champion na ang Pilipinas sa esports on their own initiatives. What if we have formal programs to develop our athletes, our coaches, our analysts, syempre lalaki yung chances natin of dominating the esports scene. Hindi naman tayo magcha-champion without the other aspects of esports like the marketing side, the production side, the management and organization side…it’s a whole ecosystem that we hope to impact and elevate,” said Kibanoff.

“Other countries have already integrated esports as part of the collegiate curriculum. The Philippines last year won esports organization of the year while lacking these formal programs and even an esports facility, what more when we do and nurture our grassroots? Estudyante Esports is the biggest move in the right direction. Involving the academe has a lot of potential in helping the Philippines move even further in the esports industry,” said Marcelo.