Esports hubs bring young gamers into city libraries
More than 1300 high schoolers compete in a national esports league every week but Christchurch competitors now have a unique advantage – they have a home field.
The Christchurch City Council is changing the way school teams play esports, becoming the first council to move young participants into public libraries.
Library learning hubs across the city host school esports teams every Tuesday and Wednesday. The hubs are kitted out with fast internet and high-spec gaming compatible computers and keyboards. Sport Canterbury has provided gaming keyboards and mouses.
Esports is essentially competitive video gaming. More than 200 Christchurch school teams play League of Legends, Valorant and Rocket League in a weekly local competition. The top school teams will face off at the regional finals in mid-July and the best will compete in the national final in October.
Christchurch City Council learning specialist Danny McNeil said they were on a mission to provide equitable access to the sport, while also creating a shared space for players to connect in person. ‘‘There is still a huge sector in the city that don’t have reliable fast internet. Libraries came about because your regular people couldn’t afford books and now technology is the new book.’’
It made participants feel like they were ‘‘part of something bigger’’, McNeil said. ‘‘Putting the competition around gaming has just allowed them to think actually I am a part of this school, I am a part of this community.’’
Riccarton High competitor Gery Avila, 17, said having other teams playing in the same room was ‘‘really cool’’ and had allowed him to meet a lot of people.
‘‘Having your whole team sitting around you means you can communicate with them face to face, you can literally just turn around and say something,’’ Christchurch Boys’ High School student Tianze Wang, 18, added.
Riccarton High School librarian and esports manager Sally Brown said being able to pat a team-mate on the back or throw high-fives around was what the sport was all about.
‘‘They are not playing at home . . . isolated, they are actually a part of a team where they are chatting to each other and sharing the experience.’’
Henry Lawton, the co-founder of Victory Up, which facilitates the national school esports league, said the Christchurch City Council was leading by example.
‘‘It is not very often you get a city council that says, ‘yes we want to help’. They have just been amazing at facilitating this space and giving those gamers an opportunity.
‘‘It has become our field and this is what esports needs: a physical aspect to grow.’’
Lawton echoed concerns about digital equity challenges and said having space for esports in libraries ensured ‘‘there is no physical limitation’’. It also helped drive students back into libraries, he said.
Christchurch Boys’ High School head of digital technologies Andy Thawley said his players had developed immensely because of the weekly league.
‘‘Just seeing some of the growth in terms of their confidence, and how they interact with each other outside of the class has been absolutely amazing.’’
Esports has officially joined the professional sports scene in Aotearoa, with the first E Blacks team named in May to compete at the Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham in August.