S1: It's time for Midday Edition on Kpbs. Today , we are talking about the changing landscape of video gaming. I'm Jade Hindman. Here's to conversations that keep you informed and inspired and make you think. E-sports. It's a highly competitive billion dollar industry.
S2: It's all about winning , right ? It's all about getting the W , it's all about Fortnite , get the chicken dinner. And so the real goal of any sport , any esport at that is to beat your opponent.
S1: While winning is key , it's also a way for gamers to connect and find community. We'll talk about the gaming culture , the industry and what students from elementary to collegiate levels are learning from it. That's ahead on Midday Edition. First , the news. For many of us , video games are usually played for fun , right ? Think Super Mario Brothers or Minecraft , some of the best selling video games of all time. But there's a growing community of gamers with a different purpose for playing , and that is to win Competitive gaming or esports is huge. You can see it in gaming tournaments across the country , where professional players prove their prowess and compete for prize pools. Many colleges and universities have dedicated programs that offer scholarships , and it's even reached the Olympics , which recently concluded its inaugural esports week. E-sports are definitely an important part of the gaming scene , bringing in billions in revenue. But how big is it truly ? Will it ever evolve from a niche hobby to enter the mainstream media edition producer Andrew Bracken spoke with Levi Winslow , a staff writer at Kotaku , where they report on esports creator culture and Internet discourse. Here's that conversation.
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S2: So if you think of basketball , if you think of football , these legitimate sports that have these massive organizations behind them , and then you just translate that to a digital setting , say Madden , NFL 23 or NBA two K 23 , you get the same result. So eSports is just a portmanteau of electronic sports , same concept.
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S2: Of course you have other games like Fortnite has a major esports scene. Rocket League also has another one , and then you have the FGC or the fighting Game community. So you've got stuff like Smash Bros , Melee or Ultimate Guilty Gear , Strive , Tekken seven and upcoming Tekken eight and Capcom with Street Fighter five and now Street Fighter six. These would be some of the regular games you'd see in the esports circuit.
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S2: You've definitely got Madden , you've got NBA. FIFA is there as well. You know , these more traditional sports games don't have as big of an esports audience as some of the more expected games like a Call of Duty or a Street fighter or even a Dragonball fighter Z by Arc system works would.
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S2: As much as esports is very much like a sport is so very different because some games are team based. Then you also have one on one games as well. You know , Smash Bros , Tekken , Fortnite , these are sort of 1V1. So it really depends on the game itself. But at the end of the day , you know , it's all about winning , right ? It's all about getting the W , it's all about Fortnite , get the chicken dinner. And so the real goal of any sport , any esport at that is to beat your opponent. So whether you're playing in a team , say , rocket League and you're trying to beat another team , or if you're playing , say , Smash Bros Ultimate and you're fighting against another individual player , the goal is still the same.
S3: And esports , at least locally , relies a lot on grassroots efforts. For example , a lot of local tournaments are organized through grassroots groups.
S2: That whole tournament scene was started by grassroots organizations like GBK or Video Game Bootcamp , while Nintendo Now and Nintendo is the publisher of such games like Smash Bros sometimes is throwing its weight and money behind tournaments. It didn't previously , but players saw the potential , the deep mechanics in these smash games , the Smash Bros games to do something greater , do something bigger. They took it upon themselves. To create the scene and so they'll organize via Start. JG which is a website owned by Microsoft that tracks tournaments , tracks , players , tracks , who's winning in certain tournaments and has signups for tournaments and things of that nature. They'll organize their they'll organize , you know , on online spaces like Twitter and Discord , or if there's just a local scene and they do it out of the you know , I don't want to say like the goodness of their heart , because that sounds cliche , but I do believe that that is really it. They do it for the love of the game.
S3: And , you know , we know it takes a lot of skill , a lot of training , dedication to be a professional athlete. And I'm sure the same applies to professional esports players.
S2: That takes dexterity , but it's not like weight training or cardio or anything like that. But still , there's a mental game that goes into it , right ? There's an understanding of the matchup , which is a esports term that relates to how certain characters , certain guns stay , Call of Duty , certain cars say Rocket League , compare and compete with other characters , other guns , other cars within their respective games. And so for a player who is hoping to get into esports , they would need to , of course , understand the fundamental elements of the game itself , the mechanics , the weight of the characters or the cars or the guns , the minutia of the game itself.
S3: I'm thinking of it more in terms of maybe like a professional chess player rather than , say , a professional soccer player. You mentioned sort of this kind of strategy and practicing these smaller things , maybe not so much , you know , weight training and things like that that you mentioned.
S2: Yeah , I , I think that that's a good analogy because in chess , right , it's a lot about positioning your pieces to corner your opponent and ensure that they can't make moves or you take their pieces so that they have fewer pieces and then you can box them in and , you know , checkmate them. It's very much the same in esports. It's about understanding your opponent , being able to predict what it is that they're going to do or might do or could do. And that's what I mean by understanding the matchup in the same way that chess , having that familiarity with various moves , various strategies will give you the edge in performing better.
S3: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Andrew Bracken. I'm speaking with Levi Winslow , staff writer at Kotaku , about the world of sports. It seems like esports is breaking more and more into the mainstream , with the Olympics recently ending its first ever esports week. However , there was some controversy over its lineup of games and there seemed to be a disconnect between the organizers and the actual esports teams.
S2: I don't know if it ever will. And the reason why I say that is because there's such a high barrier to entry to even understand esports. Not every game plays the same , and because not every game plays the same , not every game is going to have the same glossary of terms , the same jargon. And that is where it becomes difficult for , say , a more casual fan of video games to just jump into watching the Call of Duty League or a League of Legends tournament. Because just saying that in and of itself , I mean , those are two fundamentally different games that do have esports scenes. And because there isn't a shared glossary , there isn't a shared understanding of what makes an esport and e-sport that makes it difficult for it to break into the mainstream even further.
S3: And you know , in this discussion about it becoming mainstream , you know , in 2022 , the esports industry was valued at $1.45 billion. It's projected to grow even more this year. But there has been some talk about how the industry is starting to teeter or that it's becoming unprofitable.
S2: If you think about a traditional sports , if you go into a bar , you can watch games for free. But if you wanted to watch a game at home , you would either have to pay for like a streaming package , like , say , ESPN Plus on Hulu , right ? Or you'd have to buy a ticket to go see a game. So I believe that in most cases , traditional sports are gated behind some sort of paywall. There's a fee in order to watch a traditional sport and that then is funneled back into the National Basketball Association or , you know , the Football association , National Football League. eSports , on the other hand , is free to watch. You can hop on Twitch right now , subscribe to or follow Vbc Video Game Bootcamp and the moment that they're alive with a smash tournament or a guilty Gear Strive tournament , you could just click and immediately start watching. It's not gated. There's no paywall. And so I think that's part of the reason why it's so unprofitable. Yes , there are tickets that you can buy to go see these people in person , to go see these tournaments in person , to go really be part of the action. But it's not necessary. And I also think that there's an inflated conception of esports being bigger than it actually is , because I think that despite it breaking into the mainstream and so far as reaching the Olympics , it's still so niche. And publishers Activision Blizzard , for example , are expecting these huge , huge returns on what is really a niche hobby within the popularity of video games.
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S2: I don't think so. I think that there is a knowledge gap. I think that's the real issue. You spoke about being in the games industry for several years. Obviously I'm a game journalist and a lot of people think that my job is just to sit down and play video games. Not totally true. I don't think I've actually had the opportunity to sit down and play a video game in since Diablo launched , and that was earlier this month and then before that. You know , it's very sporadic for me to be able to break away from my daily job of reporting and talking to sources and , you know , hitting sort of daily blogs here and there , it's very rare that I just get to that. I'm told to , okay , Levi , dip out , go play a video game for a couple hours and then come back. So that's one misconception that as gamers , that's all we're doing is just playing video games , which if you're an esports player , that might be true , but you're also studying , you're watching YouTube videos , you're watching your streams back to see how you performed. You're watching other people play to see how they're playing , if there are tips , tricks. Guidance that you can get on in the case of Smash Bros , mastering your character. I think another misconception is that knowledge gap , the fact that while you can play video games , that doesn't always translate to understanding esports , if that makes sense.
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S2: Easy , Absolutely. The passion. Earlier this year , I wrote a story about a professional smash player. This player was expected to do really well in a tournament , but he got eliminated kind of early. And obviously being such a professional player , such a skilled player , that hurt him. And after sort of sitting in his chair for a few seconds and just letting the defeat sink into him , he then threw his controller on the ground and it bounced back up and it was caught on stream. And , you know , people had their videos out and they were recording. That , I think , is why people are so fascinated by esports , the narratives , the passion , the drive for players to get better , improve when they're tournaments or even if they lose. It's the aftermath of it , too. If you think about the mental gymnastics that go into outperforming and outsmarting another equally skilled player , it's electric.
S1: That was Midday Edition producer Andrew Bracken speaking with Levi Winslow , a staff writer at Kotaku. We'd love to hear from you all about esports. What games are you playing and what has gaming meant to you ? Give us a call at (619) 452-0228. You can leave a message or you can email us at midday at pbs.org. Coming up.
S4: I would say at UCSD , we have a really tight knit gaming community. And I think that Triton gaming and the other gaming organizations on campus , I've really helped foster that.
S1: A look at collegiate esports and the community it builds. You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. We've been talking about the gaming and esports scene here in San Diego. While gaming and esports can be highly competitive , it can also be a way to bond with the community. That's the case at the collegiate level. UC San Diego is a unique case. It has both an active esports team and a gaming organization that puts events together for the community. Here to talk more about the local gaming and e-sports scene are Jordan Nishi , president of Triton Gaming Jordan. Hi.
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S1: Also joining us , Campbell Moko , the recreational eSports programming lead at UCSD campus. Welcome to you.
S5: Thank you. I'm very excited to be here.
S1: Glad to have you both. Could each of you tell me about how you first got into gaming ? That's always interesting to me. So , Jordan , I'll start with you. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So I think I've been playing video games since before I could even read. I remember playing on my Nintendo DS and having my dad read the instructions to me. But video games have always been a large part of my life and they've acted as a way for me to build stronger bonds with my friends. A lot of people see video games as kind of being an isolated medium , but for me , I really think that they have a really strong social aspect to them.
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S5: I also started pretty young on a Nintendo DS and were playing a new Super Mario Bros. Pretty much right when it came out. And then from there , also similar to Jordan , I just kind of expanded my tastes into new games. And as I grew up and it just kind of turned to something that just stuck with me.
S1: Jordan How would you describe the gaming community on campus ? Yeah.
S4: So I would say at UCSD , we have a really tight knit gaming community. And I think that Triton Gaming and the other gaming organizations on campus , I've really helped foster that. I tried to gaming our events , really focus on community outreach and providing a place for people to get to know each other better , have a fun time at our events. And I would say that we have a really , really engaging community here.
S1: And you recently organized the Triton Gaming Expo last May , and there was a huge turnout for that. A couple of big figures in gaming were also there streamers , competitive esports players , game designers , industry experts. So tell us more about how the event went.
S4: Yeah , that's correct. So we just hosted Triton Gaming Expo from May 20th 7 to 28. It went really , really well. We had a record breaking number of attendees. We had about 1700 unique people come to the event and they're able to see large personalities like Lilli Pichu , voice actors from Genshin Impact and Animes. And we also had industry professionals from Riot games come to talk about students , about how they could get their foot in the door of the gaming industry. So I think for attendees , they really , really had a valuable and exciting experience.
S1: And really reaching a diverse population on campus was a priority for you. So how did you manage to do that ? Yeah.
S4: So the biggest thing that we wanted to prevent with Triton Gaming Expo is just making it an event for just hardcore gamers or esports enthusiasts. We really tried for the event to be appealing to everyone. So one of the ways we did that is the event is completely free for anyone to attend. So if you're just even slightly interested , you can come check it out. But we also made sure to include other aspects of the event that weren't exclusive to gaming. We had a really large artist alley where we've had local San Diego artists set up vendor booths and sell their art. And we also have a lot of free play stations for just people to come and try play games. Just a very casual experience. And we had a lot of industry experts like riot games come. So even if you aren't super into hardcore gaming , you can still gain valuable experience about your future career.
S1: That's really cool. So let's shift to esports.
S5: So we recently , last March , opened our Triton E-sports center , which is now a free to use on campus space where anyone can come in and sit down and use some incredibly powerful computers that were provided to us by MSI that they can just sit down and use for free. And that's opened up a lot of avenues for us to kind of start programming in the space and try and get more people in. We have been having a lot of success with just people coming in on a regular basis. I don't know if you've been by , but if you go on a weekday and not during the summer , the place gets pretty packed at around 9 a.m. and it opens at eight. So we we couldn't have asked for better numbers , but we're still trying to kind of allow a lot of these on campus clubs to use this space for kind of whatever they need. And then we also use it to host our our intramurals. We have intramural sports programs that have started since the winter of this year. And we we've been using the training sports center to host their like finals and try and make them kind of an event more than just something for the ten players.
S1: You know , it sounds like both of you have really found ways to to sort of broaden the audience and the participants for esports and gaming on campus. But I heard you all mentioned something about careers. So I'm curious to know what type of careers can come out of this sport.
S5: Well , at least from my experience , you can kind of do almost anything. One of the things that I think a lot of people miss about esports is that every , every esports org is just a company. You know , they have the same the same roles , they have the same people , the same business dev people , they have the same operations people , they have the same social media people. It's all like part of the same things that like , you know , Twitter would have. So it's pretty , pretty much anything. A lot of what I do specifically is like business ops and like management , but you can kind of do anything in e-sports.
S1: It seems like UCSD eSports program has grown a lot in the past few years. You mentioned the Triton eSports Center just opened on campus just last year and there's more funding for scholarships.
S5: Thanks a lot. In part to our school. We've been getting a lot of support from the school , which not a lot of e-sports programs can say that they have. But also we've been kind of getting a lot of support from our community. We have a lot of people coming , as I said , coming into the sports center every day. We have a lot of people showing up to our events and it just kind of helps show the school that like even though we've only been around for 4 or 5 years , we're definitely worth the the time and money they've been sinking into us.
S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman speaking with Jordan Nishi , president of Triton Gaming and Camp Momoko Recreational eSports programming lead at UCSD , talking about finding community and gaming.
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S5: Officer applications for the esports team and organizations which happened a couple times a year , usually once a quarter. And that's where we try to welcome people into the org and try and find spots for people who might not want to compete but still want to help out. So we have people like we have a creative team who makes all of our matchday graphics and all of our overlays. We have a marketing team which does all of our like social media posts. Yeah , we try and find a spot for everybody in Jordan.
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S4: I feel like at UCSD we really have a lot of opportunities with them , or at least for Triton Game Expo , we were able to reserve the university's ballrooms completely for free. And they. Have an amazing tech support team that sets up our events , which do have a lot of technical logistic work to do with them. So being able to work at the university to market and set up our events has really been a great experience this past year and I'm really glad that we have them as a resource.
S1: Yeah , and it sounds like Triton Gaming and UCSD eSports really work in tandem. So how do the two organizations work together to really build that sense of community ? Yeah.
S4: So Triton Gaming and UCSD Sports were sister organizations and we partner with each other and a lot of our events at Triton Gaming Expo , we actually had UCSD eSports play in show matches on stage at the event. So we had ten computers up on the ballroom stage and we had esports players playing against each other in games. And it was a really fun experience to see players playing live. The players liked it , the audience liked it. It was it was a great experience.
S1: You touched on on how gaming can be seen as isolating. I'm curious , how has gaming helped either of you , Jordan or Campbell , connect with others ? What what have you heard from others as well ? Yeah.
S4: So Triton gaming , it's it's really formed a strong social network for me on campus. The people in Triton gaming are some of my closest friends and it's just really great to be able to work on projects that you're passionate about with people that you hold closely. But it's also just a great sense of gratification for me in my life. It provides a lot of motivation. Some of my most memorable experiences at our events are talking with attendees and just just hearing that they've had a fun time. To me , that's just one of the most gratifying experiences is just seeing that you've made a positive impact on the greater community. It's it's just such a great feeling.
S5: I definitely have similar thoughts to Jordan. I know I actually met Jordan through the gaming community on campus and we went from , you know , not really knowing each other to working with each other pretty much every day to , you know , becoming great friends over in the span of like half a year. And I couldn't be more thankful for that aspect of the gaming community.
S1: That is an important aspect. I've been speaking with Jordan Nishi , president of Triton Gaming and Campus Recreational eSports Programming lead at UCSD. Thank you both for joining us.
S5: Yeah , thank you so much. We definitely appreciate the opportunity to be able to talk about our experiences.
S4: Yeah , Thank you so much. It's been great talking to you.
S1: Coming up , we'll explore how kids are learning Stem skills and building relationships through one San Diego eSports program.
S7: I'm learning so much from them , honestly , when it comes to just seeing how they interact with one another , how to play properly , learning good sportsmanship , and we're just growing with each other.
S1: Midday Edition is back after the break. You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. We've been talking about esports and the growing gaming community in San Diego. If you've ever played video games with the kids at home , this might sound familiar to you. Oh , my. God.
S8: God. There's literally three seconds left.
S9: No , no. Oh , my God. No , no , no.
S8: Well , now it's even. I feel like I used to this year.
S1: I used to. Using Kirby. You're hearing the sound of kids playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a crossover fighting game. It's a massively popular game with an audience that ranges from children to professional e-sports players. And while esports leagues are often concentrated in high schools and colleges , one local esports program is focusing on younger kids and teens. Their goal is to create a safe space for young people to play and develop their gaming prowess , while also building a tight knit community that helps them find their niche. Here to talk more about that program is Kristian Chamberlain. He is the digital enrichment coordinator at YMCA Mission Valley. Christian , welcome. Hello.
S7: Hello. Hello. Thank you for having me.
S1: Glad to have you.
S7: I grew up playing Smash Brothers from the N64 on , so absolutely love that game as it holds a special place in my heart. But with the esports community I actually am pretty fresh to it as far as it goes. Y-m-c-a gave us a wonderful opportunity to branch into esports. It's something that all of YMCA USA is trying to really break into. But here in San Diego , I feel like we've made some massive traction and it's been just a lot of fun working with the youth and now expanding to the teens and hopefully soon 18 and up leagues as well out of our new studio.
S1: So much has changed in the gaming world. When I was little , it was all about Super Mario Brothers , and that's still top game to me. I don't know.
S7: Oh , it's still a classic. Everybody loves it. And actually we had some teens in the center and about six of them just wanted to play Mario Brothers. And we're like , okay , let's get it set up. Here we go. Let's keep it. Classic.
S1: Classic. It's great , you know ? So so tell me , how does the program at the YMCA actually work ? Yeah.
S7: So actually over the past year , we've had some amazing participation where it was just purely virtual. So the kids were playing from home and they would interact with us via Discord or other voice or video chats where they were talking directly to Y staff. We set up tournaments that way. We had in-person meetups so that the kids can get comfortable with one another. But with our new remodel that we just finished , we're bringing all the esports in-house. So we're going to be following an in-person setup where all the kids are going to be going up against one another. eSports for Smash Brothers is very specific with the rules though , so it is 1V1. So it's a skill based game , right ? So while it still is a team sport because we're trying to cultivate that , think of it more of a something similar to wrestling. Wrestling is a team sport , but it is individual at the same time , right ? So that's kind of the the model that we are following and it's going great. So it's three lives , five minutes and just whoever wins , wins , no items , anything like that. So you're learning a new skill and you're just getting better at the game as it progresses. And what's awesome is the kids are showing amazing growth. So we actually keep a win percentage of their record throughout the entire season so that they can see their growth and the parents can see that and track it as well so that they know that they're getting something out of it. So it's just an amazing time , honestly. Right.
S1: Right.
S7: It's really is a dream come true. Coming from my previous backgrounds and retail for 16 years to now , this this is an amazing opportunity to be able to teach the youth and watch them grow. And I'm learning so much from them , honestly , when it comes to just seeing how they interact with one another , how to play properly , learning good sportsmanship. And we're just growing with each other. And it's just it's been phenomenal to watch that happen.
S1: And you recently reopened the digital studios at the YMCA. We actually spoke to some of the kids and their parents. Their one parent beta into has been bringing her son Derek to the eSports league for about a year and a half. And , you know , she really believes it helped him find his niche. Take a listen.
S10: I firmly believe that it's not so much gaming in and of itself that's isolating. It's , you know , trying to find that sense of community , like not all kids are going to be baseball players or play basketball and that kind of sporting , you know , environment. But it's nice that the Y is doing e-sports to attract a different community. And I think , you know , my son in particular , he's. Been able to find his tribe. So I think that's a huge plus. Yeah.
S1: And another parent , Joan Grace , also liked that gaming brought kids together.
S11: You're still playing a video game , but it's , you know , having this sense of community with other people. And , you know , you can hear it , too , like all the laughter and , you know , other people just kind of buzzing around.
S1: I mean , so it sounds like the esports program has really helped these kids find their community , find their tribe. Tell us more about that.
S7: It's been really amazing watching these kids like Open Up and Blossom. Derrick has been with us for quite a while , and I actually remember the first time we had an in-person meetup and Derrick showed up. So one of our other participants was there first. He had his security blanket with him. He was really nervous , didn't really know how to interact with us because he had only heard my voice and seen my video a few times throughout the season. But as soon as he heard Derek's voice , whenever he came into the room , he just knew and the two of them just clicked instantly. They've been buddies ever since. They chat a lot now. They even play games outside of our esports community and it's just amazing to watch him learn and grow. And one of the things I'm going to start challenging Derek with actually , and I spoke with his mother Peta , about this , is he has the capacity to now learn and coach the new kids that are coming in. So with the in-person model , we're going to try and set up little mini leaders that can teach the kids who are new to the game because we actually have a lot of kids who've never played Smash Brothers before that join our league. And by the end of it , they actually show a lot of growth and , you know , become very well skilled at the game after a couple seasons with us , which is amazing to see.
S1: Yeah , I mean in esports and competitive gaming , also part of $1 billion industry there. Many college esports programs offer scholarships.
S7: We do have some connections with UCSD. We were able to take our kids there during our first season ever. We got all the little seven , eight , nine year olds jerseys , which is amazing. And we all went to UCSD for a gaming expo but wanted to use that to broaden their minds a little bit because they can get scholarships to UCSD or get there's accredited programs at San Diego State currently for eSports management. So I'm making those connections now so that we can create a direct pipeline for them for these schools. And then after that , we do have companies that have been a part of us , not just in esports but in our robotics programs as well , because we teach quite a few things at the digital studio and so we're trying to get them when they're young , get them comfortable with the concepts , get them into college and then get them a job afterwards.
S1: And video games are massively popular , but they still get a bad rap. Some parents worry that gaming can have a negative impact on their kids mental health. There's also concerns about screen time.
S7: I mean , anything in moderation , right ? I mean , sure , gaming can be negative if you're using it too much , you're using it for the wrong reasons. I feel that gaming can be used as a connective tissue between multiple people. It's an instant connection with somebody like you. Both have this love for a game and you can then create a friendship from that or trying to make sure that you're keeping it at that social aspect itself , right ? Where yes , too much screen time is something that we constantly run into. A lot of parents are very concerned about that. They're concerned about the safe space that their kids are in , interacting with other players online. But we make sure to take care of all of those variables. So whenever we are in our esports league , you're only interacting with other participants that are in that program or with staff that have been properly trained how to handle behavioral issues or just how to handle the youth in general. So we try and cultivate this term of meaningful play. We're not here to just play video games. We're here to play games with the purpose. We want to make sure that we are learning new skills along the way , better hand-eye coordination , those things like that. But what's kind of amazing in some areas that I try and keep up with so that I can help better educate not just the kids , but the parents and other people who are interested in this program is that gaming even gets prescribed for ADHD currently along with other medications and things like that. But it is a supplementary tool that's being used for that , or it's even helped with dementia as well. It shows that 30 minutes a day playing certain types of games and specific ones , right ? More like puzzle games or 3D , 3D world games can actually help stop or hinder the effects of dementia or help boost your memory in a positive way. So gaming can get a bad rep. And it has. You know , throughout its inception , there's always been some sort of issue with it because certain games can push the envelope , but all media can do that , right ? Books , movies , everything. It just. All in moderation is what we try and harp on.
S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. I've been speaking with Kristian Chamberlin , the digital enrichment coordinator at YMCA Mission Valley. We've been talking about esports for youth and the benefit of gaming for kids. Christian gaming culture and online culture in general can become very toxic as you were just touching on , especially if left unmonitored.
S7: After every single match , you say good game. We had it as a virtual aspect , but when the kids are going to be in person , they're going to shake each other's hands , Win or lose. It's something that I learned whenever I grew up. And I was a wrestler and I was a wrestling coach. We drilled that into our kids because it just shows good sportsmanship. And then after that , we start tailoring the language that they're actually using. It can be very violent. Some of the terms that are used , I understand that. It's just it's natural. But we try and hinder that or find replacement words to then make it less violent , make it more comfortable for everybody , because it can be a little chaotic if someone just passing by and just hears , you know , I'm going to kill you , I'm going to get you right. Like we try and hinder that. We change the verbiage so that it's , you know , proper. It's not. It's polite. And we're actually paying attention to other children's needs. And another thing , too , that we work on is learning how to lose properly. A lot of these kids are still new to this concept and maybe they've tried out sports that just didn't work out for them. And then they come in and they might lose a match and now they're starting to feel like this isn't a place for me either. But no one has taken the time to really teach them how to lose properly and what they can actually learn from it. Because I've always , always taught that you can learn a lot more from losing than you can from winning. There's always something to grow on if you lost , right ? And then you start looking at what kind of plays did the other kid do ? That led to my ultimate defeat , right ? And then you start creating a plan. You start drafting up better ways to drill , how to practice more. And it's it's a learning process for everyone. But so far , everything has been going really great. And a lot of the kids in my programs that have been with me for multiple season actually now , self police , the new kids. So if a new child comes in and they start , you know , saying things that might be inappropriate before I can even get to it , some of my kids are calling them out and just letting them know , hey , I'm not comfortable with the way that you or what you just said. Maybe we can try something different. Right. And or they just don't acknowledge it. Everyone knows not to acknowledge things that we don't want to continue , so we don't reward bad behavior that way. And it just it handles itself now. And it's kind of amazing to see that these kids who are 8 to 12 years old , being this adult and this responsible online because it can be , like you said , incredibly toxic. It's a it's a tough area to be in , for sure. Yeah.
S1: And a lot of parents might be concerned about their kids gaming habits at home.
S7: I mean , I grew up in a basically the Wild West of gaming where there wasn't really the Internet or I mean , we had dial up. That's about it. Right ? But there was in the Internet , there wasn't Twitter , there wasn't all these amazing things to quickly understand. What is this game actually about ? And I got away with playing a lot of games that I shouldn't have played whenever I was a child. We can monitor that better as parents , as guardians , and really pay attention not just to the Esrb rating , but the actual content that's there because a lot of games nowadays are using them as a tool to discuss really heavy issues in our community. And some of them might you might feel like our maybe two adults or two inappropriate for your child right now , or maybe it's just a way to open the door to a better conversation about a certain type of topic , right ? Whether it's something about the government , whether it's about gender equality , things like that. That's all being discussed in games in the background. Right. And it's a really great way to create a bridge between a child and a parent to try and give them a better understanding of the world around them. But like I said , as a parent , I would just recommend really doing your research on some of these games because there are certain ones where it might seem , you know , very kiddie , childish , very simple on the surface , but there's a deeper meaning behind it. It might warrant a better conversation between the parent and the child.
S1: And , you know , while e-sports can be a positive social program , as you just kind of talked about , you know , it can also be a good component to a well-rounded Stem education. So how does that work ? How does esports support Stem education ? Yeah.
S7: So during our esports programs , we actually like to discuss how the game actually works. So whenever a participant might get frustrated , like , oh , I , I know I hit them or I press this button at the right time and it just didn't work out the way that they wanted. Then I start explaining hitboxes things like that , the background of the game , what makes it actually run ? Because I have my degree in game design , so I really like discussing that aspect with the children. And then what we do is we let them know , Well , we offer game design classes so you can get a better understanding of that. So for youth and teens , we actually have game design classes where they can learn to code , they can get comfortable with that concept , create their own games , and then we send the games home with them so they can share it with their families and show off what they made. On top of that , we like to discuss the potential jobs that they can have outside of school , whether it's with , you know , level design , it's marketing , shout casting. There's all kinds of different avenues that go into this. So we're constantly trying to educate them on what possible features they have , as well as what offerings we're able to provide for them to gain a better understanding of games , not just playing them , but making them understanding them , the psychology behind them and everything in between.
S1:
S7: I mean , so far we've seen some amazing growth over the past year. So last year in our first season we had eight participants in our league and then this past spring we actually had 52 participants across multiple sites , which was an amazing explosion of kids that we had we got to be able to work with. And then starting in the fall , we're actually going to be in five elementary schools and we are in talks with all the YMCA in San Diego to help start leagues of their own. And what's great is that they don't need a physical space to do that. They can run virtual leagues or I can assist them in. They can join our league itself , but we just want to expand as far as possible , reach as many kids as possible and just show them another avenue , another path that they can take to their future.
S1: I've been speaking with Christian Chamberlain , the digital enrichment coordinator at YMCA Mission Valley. Christian , thank you so much for joining us.
S7: Yeah , thank you so much. It's been amazing talking to you guys.
S1: We'd love to hear from you. Are you a gamer ? If so , what has playing esports meant to you ? Give us a call at (619) 452-0228. You can leave a message or you can email us at midday at pbs.org. Join us again tomorrow at noon. We'll be talking about climate change and what local solutions look like. Don't forget to catch Evening Edition tonight at five on Kpbs television for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. And if you ever miss a show. You can find the Midday edition podcast wherever you listen. I'm Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in.
