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ESPORTS AND LEARNING
Could eSport be one of the ways to modernize learning?
Joni Rantala
Scientific Report
December 2018
Energy and Environmental Engineering
2
CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................3
2. THEORY......................................................................................................................4
2.1. Gaming Industry and eSports in numbers............................................................4
2.2. The benefits of eSports in learning.......................................................................5
3. RESEARCH METHODS............................................................................................7
4. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION................................................................................8
4.1. Own eSports experiences.....................................................................................9
4.2. Conclusion............................................................................................................9
5. REFERENCES..........................................................................................................10
APPENDICES.................................................................................................................11
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1. INTRODUCTION
Education must evolve and adapt to the changing environments. Technology and
societies have been evolving fast past decades, but education systems have evolved
significantly slower (Kim 2010).
Obviously education systems have evolved. There have been a change in teaching and
learning methods, but not as nearly as fast they should be changing. Common teaching
methods are still very much alive. In many places there are still teachers preaching and
students just listening or writing notes. Then at the end of course there’s an exam where
it’s tested how well they have memorised what they have been told (CCSS 2017).
In Tampere University this teaching culture is still very much alive and in use. It is fine
for some subjects like Math, but in many cases old teaching methods are causing
students to lose motivation and interest. In worst case scenarios the education system
kills students imagination, innovation and creativity. Many times schools are claiming
that they champion those very things, yet reality is still very different.
The traditional teaching methods are not developing students critical thinking, problem
solving or decision-making skills. Modern learning on the other hand encourages
students to collaborate, making them more productive. Even though being critical about
traditional teaching methods, the combination of traditional and modern teaching
methods are both useful and effective (CCSS 2017).
Here is where my subject comes in to the picture, my research question being: Could
eSport be one of the ways to modernize learning?
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2. THEORY
Gaming and Gaming Industry has a long history. Gaming was born in 1980’s, but
eSports had it’s official start 1997 at E3 Expo, where the grand prize was a Ferrari car
(theScore esport 2017).
2.1. Gaming Industry and eSports in numbers
Newzoo is a company that is specialized in global game and eSports market research
and analytics. They do yearly global games market reports. Their 2018 report projected
that a base of 2.3 billion gamers worldwide will spend a total of $137.9 billion on
games this year (Newzoo 2018).
PICTURE 1. Game markets per region with year-on-year growth rate (Newzoo 2018).
Asia is by far the biggest market for games and eSports, like seen in the Picture 1. China
alone has over 600 million gamers, however the most professional eSports scene is in
South Korea. In the USA, over 60% of the population plays games atleast once a month
(Newzoo 2018).
The eSports scene is growing each year. This year the revenue stream for eSports is
estimated to be 906 million dollars and followed by 143 million people frequently.
League of Legends World Championship tournament alone had 106.2 million viewers
(Ingraham 2018).
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2.2. The benefits of eSports in learning
Games and eSports are part of life in culture and experts suggest that they will have
even bigger part of our life in the coming years. Serious gaming aka eSports have been
shown to change attitude and actions of players in the real world. Trough eSports
players develop a disposition toward collaboration, problem-solving, decision-making
and communication. Those attributes promote success in information-based culture.
Most importantly eSports seem to be very successful in encouraging innovation
(Indiana University 2018).
Benefits of Game-based Learning:
1. Increases a child’s memory capacity
2. Computer & simulation fluency
3. Helps with fast strategic thinking & problem-solving
4. Develops hand-eye coordination
5. Beneficial specifically for children with attention disorders
6. Skill-building (e.g. map reading)
In the list are some of the key benefits that eSports develops. Trough eSports people can
learn and develop cognitive skills, and their non-cognitive skills, such as patience and
discipline. The eSports are engaging and gives freedom of choice for people, which
makes them have a lot more motivation for learning. Gamers are a lot more persistent at
problem-solving, taking more risks trying to find solution and not giving up if they fail
(Mackay 2013).
Research has shown that specially among boys that when they can choose what they can
read, they push themselves a lot harder. Typically, boys read couple grades below their
level in school, but they read way above their grade level when they can read text as
part of online games. This research was discussed in a panel discussion at Stanford
University, where the panellists agreed that the traditional classroom teaching suffocates
some of the key attributes of human learning (Mackay 2013).
Like seen in the Picture 2, to compete at the highest level in eSports, you will need to
have all parts in fairly good shape. Picture is in Finnish, could not find anything similar
in English.
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PICTURE 2. How learning, coaching, eSports and life management supports each other.
Learning and eSports can support each other, which will then help people learn how to
manage their lives. Physical and mental health are very important in eSports. Many
teams that are playing at the highest level have their own trainers and team
psychologists (Indiana University 2018).
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3. RESEARCH METHODS
I’ve been playing games and done eSports for few decades already, so small part is
based on my own experience gathered over multiple years.
However, own experience is not exactly academic research material, so most of my
research I’ve done online. I have been going through articles, university studies, market
reports, youtube documentaries and TED-Talk videos, that are focused on gaming,
eSports and learning.
Jane McGonigal is a female game developer who has very inspiring TED-lectures on
Youtube, which touches the subject of games and learning (McGonigal 2010).
Luckily, there are a lot of academic material about gaming, eSports and learning online.
Many universities have been researching this subject. I was also getting familiar and
reading about eSports and learning here in Finland. Few schools, like Kajaani
University of Applied Sciences, have started degree programs in eSports.
As I was researching, I also studied about the Gaming Industry here in Finland. The
Gaming Industry here in Finland is the 3rd biggest in the whole Europe, and biggest in
the Nordics, as shown in Picture 3. We have one very successful game developer here in
Tampere, called Colossal Order. They have made the game: Cities: Skylines, which has
sold over 5 million copies already. It is a city-building and management simulator.
Someone has been building 1:1 scale Tampere city inside the game, seen in the
Appendix 1-2.
PICTURE 3. Gaming Industry in Nordic countries.
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4. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
There are tons of research material about eSports and learning already available. Many
Universities have been researching how eSports helps people to develop different skills
and motivate them to learn more.
Research have shown and proven that eSports and gaming will improve people’s
cognitive and non-cognitive skills, far beyond what traditional school systems can offer.
But I believe that the two biggest things that eSports can offer are; motivation to learn
and innovation. The games are engaging and immersive, they provide a door into a
different world, where people can use their imagination and engages them a completely
different way, which makes them want to learn.
One of the biggest problem we have in our school system, specially here in Finland, is
that the traditional classroom teaching is not good for young boys. It is global
phenomena. Biggest reason for that is the lack of motivation. Traditional sitting in a
classroom, listening to a teacher is specially not good for boys and young men. It kills
the innovation, imagination and is not engaging at any level. Like the panellists at
Stanford University concluded, eSports is an answer to that issue. Motivation and
engagement are among the key factors in learning.
There are lot of money in the Gaming and eSports Industry. There could be possibilities
for schools to tap into that money and collaborate with Gaming and eSports Industry to
include games into learning and learning into games. Experts say that the gaming will
be included into our culture, which I agree. I think we should embrace it. There are
many ways to make learning fun trough games and eSports.
Best part is that eSport is for everyone. Old and young people do it, girls, boys, women
and men. It brings people together from all kinds of different walks of life. It is also
global thing. You will be meeting people from all over the world.
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4.1. Own eSports experiences
I have been gaming since the early 90’s. I have grown alongside the development of
eSports. I can personally agree with most of the points that I found while doing the
research. I learned many things through eSports, such as English language in early age.
I have been playing several different games on high level. Most recently me and my
fellow players reached the top 1.6% in World of Warcraft. I have been leading a World
of Warcraft guild, which is a community of players, since 2008. It is an International
guild. At highest point, I had over 100 people in my guild. People from all over the
world. We have or have had people from many different nations, religions, continents,
ages (oldest has been 60+ years old), professions, men and women alike. World of
Warcraft and other eSports brings different kind of people together. Of course, it has not
always been easy to lead so diverse bunch of people, but one learns a lot by talking to
different kind of people.
Having lead World of Warcraft guild, it helped me a lot when I became the head coach
for FC Alavus female floorball team. Experience in communication and working with
different kind of people, made the two-year coaching period lot easier. They were the
last in the bottom division, but during the two years I was with them, we won two SP-
Cups and won our division and rose to the next division and won it too.
4.2. Conclusion
My conclusion is; Yes, eSports can be one of the ways to modernize the way we learn.
In my opinion there are three key points. Firstly, a lot of academic research has been
done already about eSports and learning, it shows that it works and has plenty of
potential.
Secondly, there is money in the Gaming Industry. It is important because education
institutions have usually limited resources, so finding ways to funnel money and
collaborating with Gaming Industry might be way to get more resources from the
private sector.
Thirdly, the things we want to teach could be made into games, which would improve
the learning process. There are almost unlimited ways to make different topics into
interesting games, making the learning fun and interesting.
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Lastly, I can say from my own experience, that it truly works.
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5. REFERENCES
Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies. 2017. Teaching methods: traditional vs
modern. 31.07.2017. United Kingdom. Read on 03.12.2018.
https://www.ccss.co.uk/news/traditional-vs-modern-teaching/
Indiana University Bloomington. 2018. Games for Learning. University of Indiana.
Read on 16.12.2018. https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/teaching-
strategies/games-learning/
Ingraham, C. 2018. The massive popularity of esports, in charts. The Washington Post.
27.08.2018. Washington. United States of America. Read on 16.12.2018.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/27/massive-popularity-esports-
charts/?utm_term=.faa813df084d
Kim, P. 2010. Is Higher Education Evolving? EDUCAUSE. Read on 03.12.2018.
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2010/3/is-higher-education-evolving
Mackay, R. F. 2013. Playing to learn: Panelists at Stanford discussion say using games
as an educational tool provides opportunities for deeper learning. Stanford University.
01.03.2013. Read on 16.12.2018. https://news.stanford.edu/2013/03/01/games-
education-tool-030113/
McGonigal, J. 2010. Gaming can make a better world. Video. TED Youtube channel.
Watched on 16.12.2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM
Newzoo. 2018. Global Games Market Report 2018. Requires subscription. Read on
16.12.2018. https://newzoo.com/
theScore esports. 2017. How eSports changed the game: From media laughingstock to
media craze. Video. Youtube. 2017. Watched on 16.12.2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_GxPXXLc-w
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Tampere city in Cities: Skylines -game, 1:1 scale.
Appendix 2. Tampere city in Cities: Skylines -game, 1:1 scale, from the air.