More than 1300 high school students 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 out of their bedrooms and 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 also backed the idea by providing gaming keyboards and mouses.
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Esports athletes compete at the Upper Riccarton Library in Christchurch.
Globally, the gaming industry has become bigger than the film and music industries combined – and esports specifically is big business, too.
A study from Gambling.com named the United States, China, and South Korea as the countries making the most from esports so far, earning US$110.3 million (NZ$174.90m), US$108.9m, and US$81.8m, respectively.
New Zealand has a way to catch, but Stuff reported last year that New Zealand’s five biggest earning esports stars had earned an impressive US$435,188.09 (NZ$274,450) altogether.
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Tianze Wang, 18, says he likes playing esports because he gets to play with his friends.
Esports is essentially competitive video gaming. More than 200 Christchurch school teams competitively 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 at in the national final at the end of October.
The competition is run remotely, which meant the Riccarton and Burnside high school teams – who both use the Riccarton library as their home field – found themselves in an unusual situation when they were drawn to face off against each other recently.
“When the Burnside team was here last week, we actually versed them, so there was some heat in the room,” said Riccarton High competitor Gery Avila, 17. “We were talking smack a little bit, but we still have to be sportsmanlike.”
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Luke Canovan, 17, says he finds esports “really fun”.
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’s 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.”
Supporting esports 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.”
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Tyrrell O’Connor, 13, says he likes esports because “it’s fun”.
Avila 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.
Teammate Luke Canovan, 17, said competing in person was “more fun”. “You can get people’s emotions.”
Riccarton High School librarian and esports manager Sally Brown said being able to pat a teammate on the back or throw high-fives around was what the sport was all about.
“They’re not playing at home in their bedrooms isolated, they’re actually a part of a team where they’re chatting to each other and sharing the experience.”
Kelly Defina/Getty Images
Esports’ popularity around the world continues to rise. Here is a general view during the Washington Justice exhibition match during the Melbourne Esports Open at Rod Laver Arena on September 1, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia.
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’s been a blessing. It’s not very often you get a city council that says, ‘Yes, we want to help’. They’ve just been amazing at facilitating this space and giving those an opportunity.
“It’s 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’s no physical limitation”.
It also helped drive students back into libraries, he said.
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A member of Team OOB in action during the League of Legends World Finals on day two of the Girl Gamer Esports Festival in Dubai in 2020.
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.
