Should high school esports embrace FPSes?

J Collins
J Collins
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read

For me — as a lifelong gamer, a developer by training, and a current high school teacher — this is an easy question. Let’s see where we can get by answering two straightforward questions:

(1) Can you learn from an FPS?
You can learn from any game. Stop and think about it. You learn from the controls. You learn the story. You learn strategies. You meet other people online and learn how to work together in teams. Every game is full of opportunities for discovery. Most studies on learning specific skills from FPSes come down to noticing small increases in executive function. Not stunning, but that’s something. Check.

(2) Can FPSes inspire positive behaviors?
I studied Computer Science at the undergraduate and graduate levels — and founded my career in game-based education — because of an FPS. “THE” FPS some might say. Not the first, but maybe the most notorious: DOOM II.

Still gives me chills!

I went from player to cheater (IDSPISPOPD!!) to hacker to designer all because of this game. Whatever compelled me to play hour after hour led me down a rabbit hole that had me editing WAD files, making sprites, and designing levels. Curiously, much of what I tried to do was subvert the core actions of the game. Negate damage. Allow for exploration. Give the monsters stories as they wandered around endless, hellscape labyrinths. A kindler, gentler doom.

I’m sure that my story isn’t unique. Check.

So when we talk high school esports, why doesn’t Fortnite, Overwatch, or others top the conversation for me? Plenty of my students are playing them to be sure.

I think my stomach turned on FPSes around the time of Unreal Tournament (Correction: This previously said Quake 2, but it actually occurred 2 years later with UT). Back in those days, our PC was in a family area where my siblings would play. After one death match, I turned around to see my youngest sibling coloring with crayons nearby. “Blood. Blood. Needs more blood,” she said as she scribbled a red crayon over some construction paper.

You should know that both her and I are just fine, sensible adults now. But it got me to thinking: why was I spending so much time in these hellish worlds? There are so many other ways to experience games.

I firmly believe that a teacher can take any game into the classroom and have students walk away (1) with a new idea and (2) and some inspiration. We take some of our darkest, dystopian fiction into high school English classes every day. It’s no different with games — when the conversation is guided by an educator.

But when we’re talking esports, a friendly competition with a high training vs analyzing ratio, why choose hell? Why choose First Person Shooters at all? Teens get enough stress and violence from plenty of other media.

At the high school level, for me, it comes back to what our goals are. Maybe that’s a better question for the ed games community at large: What are the goals of high school esports programs? Collegiality? Building teamwork and socio-emotional skills?

Can we achieve the same thing with Mario Kart as DOOM? If so, why not stick to turtle shells and banana peels? I can’t think of a reason not to.

I teach more Luigis than Hanzos anyways.

J Collins

Written by

J Collins

(Mostly) a Teacher Blog ||| Trans Advocate | Game-based Educator | Former Smithsonian & U.S. Dept. of Education Policy Expert. (They/Them)

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