Continued from "Esports in High Schools Part I: The Benefits"
Published: 10/6/2021
Still, many may fear encouraging video gaming, arguing that individuals who play violent video games will become violent. Wei Pan et al. performed extensive analysis of past research in addition to studying the effects video games have on spontaneous brain activity. In general, the
body of research existing is inconclusive with some saying violent video games can make individuals violent, some saying video games can increase an individual’s verbal aggression but not physical aggression, but rather an outlet for individuals who face a lot of stressors in their lives and therefore may be aggressive (Pan et al., 2018). It’s hard to say what the effects of playing violent video games are, so for many families, there needs to be a conversation about how students react to the game and what games parents are comfortable with students playing—inside or outside of an esports setting.
Another fear for many is that in an age of encouraging girls to enter STEM fields, esports may be a step back. The video games that are currently popular in the esports arena primarily have a male following (Bentley, 2019). While most esports teams are coed, they see a lack of females because of the game choices. If schools decide to implement esports programs, they need to include games that interest their female gamers. Otherwise, girls are less likely to join and could lack the hands-on technology experience that esports promote.
A final potential negative to esports is repeat injury problems (Bentley, 2019). These injuries come out of doing the same motion, like typing or holding a controller, day after day. The same kind of injury is a risk for any athlete, such as a triple jumper who is constantly training the same muscles to
perfect their jump. These are not reasons to eliminate the activities, but there needs to be safety protocols in place. In all of these activities, students need to be provided with knowledge of how poor posture and bad technique can affect them in addition to having trainers available for instances where injuries occur.
Esports is a growing world that, like any professional sport, has players, fans, coaches, announcers, analysts, and a variety of other people involved. With the effect it is having on the hobby of playing video games and the community that follows it, schools need to consider if they can and should provide an outlet for the students who want to play.
References
Bentley, K. (2019, November 7). High schools are changing the playing field with Esports.
GovTech. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.govtech.com/education/k-
12/high-schools-are-changing-the-playing-field-with-esports.html.
Pan, W., Gao, X., Shi, S., Liu, F., & Li, C. (2018, January 12). Spontaneous brain activity
did not show the effect of violent video games on aggression: A resting-state fmri study.
Frontiers in psychology. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5770362/.