Notes

“Hello, my name is Savannah Mosley, and welcome to Game AI, a podcast discussing all things video games. Today, our topic of discussion is Esports in schools, or video games in place of sports. Now, although this topic has been rather controversial for some time now (since most people would never consider video gaming a sport since some still do not consider Band to be a sport), the implementation of Esports into a highschool program is both beneficial for the students’ mind and their skills. But first, before we delve into this, I find it necessary to pick apart what makes this topic so controversial in the first place.

“An average kid spends around 15 hours per week playing video games, compared to children aged 10 to 16 spending only 12.6 minutes a day on vigorous outdoor activity, which totals to about 1 and a half hours a week. The recommended time spent outside for children is three hours a day (totally 21 hours a week) and the recommended time spent in front of a screen is two hours (one for younger children) a day, totalling to 14 hours a week, or 7 hours for younger children. Why are these numbers practically switched? Why do children find more joy in sitting in front of a screen than going outside and playing in the mud? The answers lie in the parents.

“Most studies show that parents actually no longer encourage their children to be as active as they were anymore because they know their child’s schedules are packed full. When I was in the 4th grade, I had art lessons, school, math club, piano lessons, chores, homework, cook, and others I can’t remember. My older sister had softball, school, clubs, chores, her homework, we had goats to tend to; we had a lot of stuff to do, and our parents knew that. In fact, my parents’ schedule was far more packed than mine. My dad was a firefighter and had gone back to school to become a nurse and my mom was working three jobs in three different hospitals, as a nurse. We all had this understanding that we were always busy; and don’t get me wrong, my parents never made us “ ‘fend for ourselves” on one too many occasions, but something tells me they were simply too busy to drag us outside to go build a fort, since we already did that sometimes. But, to get a true insight on how parents feel about this situation as a whole, I wanted to ask my mom a few questions regarding my topic to not only provide opinions from parents on the issue, but also possibly introduce where this topic turns from a simple informational, no argument involved one to that is a near controversial hot-topic with debate involved.

“So here I have my wonderful mother, Michelle Mosley. Mom, say hi or something.” (Try not to laugh)
“What do you think immediately when I say high school sports?” After receiving question, ask her if she played any sports in highschool for the audience to know of any possible bias involved
Introduce the concept of Esports - Are they even a sport? Her opinion, possibly discuss the difference between a sport and a competition.
“Would you rather me play a sport or play an Esport?”
Depending on the answer, ask why and what do you [My mom] think other mothers would prefer? Why? (prepare for snarky comment about how she wouldn’t mind me ‘building a fort’ for a change)
“Okay, that’s all really. Thank you for your time.”

“Going off everything stated, studies have also shown that being exposed to technology and computers at a young age is beneficial for the recipient for many reasons. As of now, our world revolves around technology and being able to traverse through such is detrimental for children to stay up to date with everyone else (you weren't cool if you didn’t have an iPod in the 5th grade). Learning how to type, basic coding principles, everything is used today regardless of age. Exposing a child to this at a younger age is like teaching your child another language when they are younger: they retain it.

“Now that we have thoroughly picked apart both playing outside and playing inside, we discussed to a mother who provided a differing perspective vital to this topic, and we looked at what research has provided regarding this episode’s purpose, our main topic can finally arise. . Drum roll please. . Esports! So, let’s get to it.

“According to bostonglobe.com and activekids.com, three out of four American families with school-aged children have at least one playing an organized sport. But what about the other ¼? They may be enrolled in extracurricular programs, like clubs or academic sports, but what if that isn’t their mojo? I know it was my thing when I was younger, being the president of 4H and math club and all, but I always felt weird not being able to say I played a sport, since nearly everyone else could say that besides myself.

“Esports is essentially what it sounds like. It’s sports, but online. Video games. Now, there are certain video games chosen depending on which league you go into. For instance, ESL offers a vast range of games to choose from, while PlayVS (a separate corporation within Esports) may offer only a select few. To water it down as best as I can, Esports is essentially competing against other teams on a computer rather than on a field. And, just like any other sport, various skill sets are given for participating in such. Players on a team are exposed to strategic learning environments, they learn teamwork and how to play with people they may not typically work with, there’s no risk of injury in Esports when compared to sports like football, and so on and so forth. The level of teamwork, improvement, synergy and sportsmanship required in esports is much greater than that of traditional sports in my opinion, but this is coming from someone who has never played a sport in their life beyond T-Ball, so I’m on the biased side here.

“Esports offers a wide variety of positives that some argue sports do not offer, but of course, there’s always things sports rule in favor of when compared to video games. Obviously, the main one would be exercise, and if I wanted to get into that, there would be a lot more quantitative data involved which isn’t very fun to talk about, so let’s just keep it at sports obviously provide more vigorous physical exercise. Esports offer just as much though in return, and even with its minor downfall, the skills gained from gaming teams in public are significant. I soon hope to see Esports being implemented into all school systems, so that almost every student can find a niche to get themselves involved with. Thank you for listening to Game AI, I’m your host, Savannah Mosley, and I hope you tune in again soon.”