The goal of this article is to define the role of Esports within an overall industry action plan for Scotland’s gaming sector, and to begin brainstorming its’ goals and actions.
We welcome any and all levels of participation, from one-off ideas to full-time project membership.
The foundations and momentum for the sector are well underway. As we wrote back in 2021 Scottish Esports has grown from a grassroots effort to a budding ecosystem, and further initiatives are evolving its’ capacity, such as Dundee and Angus College launched the first Esports course.
An Esports Club in Every School
A headline goal is start the ball rolling is the objective of having every school in Scotland having their own Esports club, because what’s especially exciting and important about the trend is the dual outcomes it offers.
There is the industry sector opportunity, the global eSports market is projected to reach $2,235m by 2027, and there is also the key role it can play in addressing Scotland’s digital skills challenge, where Skills Development Scotland defines this headline goal for their DESAP initiative:
“Extend the reach of digital technology experiences for young people who may otherwise not participate in technology subjects at school.”
Alva Alliance: Exemplar Blueprint
Local expert Mark McCready explains the role of Esports in Education, and an exemplar case study of how to achieve this and the benefits it brings is Alva Academy’s esports team, the Alva Alliance.
Their case study tells the inspiring story of how the students took on the task themselves to develop the club, from building the equipment to connecting with other teams and competitions worldwide.
Quite simply it demonstrates the seeds of a new approach that could entirely transform Education wholesale, including but not limited to improving the uptake of computing.
It offers the potential to modernize our approach to schooling and curriculum, with immediate impact in critical areas like Computer Science uptake and a ripple effect spreading across Education as a whole. As such it should be replicated across every school in Scotland as a matter of priority.
Issues and Action Plan
In terms of the roadblocks standing in the way of achieving this goal this Twitter exchange goes straight to the heart of the practical challenge that needs addressed:
1. Computers that can run the software
2. Connections to the internetWe can’t connect non council managed devices to the internet and can’t run games on our current PCs so cannot have an e-sports team.
— Craig James Duffy (@CraigJDuffy) February 22, 2023
