The Mycenaean

Competitive gaming became popular in the 1980’s with games like Pacman and Donkey Kong. Nintendo introduced a world championship that was played in 1990 which led the way for pc gaming as the internet was getting more popular. In the mid-90s the first esports leagues were introduced to the world. 

In the 21st Century, esports became very popular. In 2006, Fun Technologies held a worldwide championship that 71 players competed in for a grand prize of one million dollars. 

Japan is opening the first esports high school this spring in Tokyo, Japan. The teachers at this school are esports players and also high school teachers. Students who attend this school won’t just be there to play video games, the students will learn from the standard Japanese high school curriculum. The purpose of this school is to find future careers for the students that attend. Some of the future careers for graduates include VR creators, game writers, game designers, special effects creators, and programmers. 

LRHS offers a Game Art Design class that introduces students to developing video games from scratch. This course is a good introduction for students who want a career in game design. 

“I would definitely be interested in an esports class because I’ve played video games forever and it’s something I would like to do in school as well, or at least learn more about them,” said Robbie Stewart, LRHS senior. An esports class at LRHS would be very popular with students due to the fact that video games have become so popular. 

It seems America has not yet planned on starting esports high schools, but that could change soon. Since gaming has become so popular in America many children have gravitated towards video games over sports. With this change, we could start to see an increase in video game activities at school and a slight decline in sports activities at schools. Video games have become so popular because you can stay at your home and play all day and night with your friends. You are able to communicate with them over a microphone or you can even play with groups of your friends at a party. 

With the way video games have evolved so rapidly, it would be no surprise that they keep growing at a rapid pace. With people being uncertain about leaving their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic video games have become even more popular due to the fact people were staying at home and had to find forms of entertainment. The pandemic did not help ordinary sports, sports saw many delays and cancellations due to COVID while video games surged. 

In the near future, it seems inevitable that esports will be introduced into schools across America. Video games now offer so many future career opportunities, so why wouldn’t schools want to incorporate them? It gives students chances to get started in finding a career path that they might not have otherwise found with an ordinary school curriculum.