Brya Ingram/stuff
Marlborough Boys’ College eSports team member Jacob Gray, 16, plays Rocket League, which has made its way into the Commonwealth Games.
Austin Thomas’ parents are like most parents; they don’t want him sitting playing video games all day.
But the 14-year-old said they had a moment of realisation about the potential of eSports when they watched ‘Rocket League’, a popular game within eSports, being played at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“My parents, they were brought up with no video games, no phones, and no computers, and they flicked onto the Commonwealth Games, and I changed over to the Rocket League, and I think my dad just sort of stood there for about a minute in disbelief at how eSports could make it to the Commonwealth Games,” Austin said.
He then told his parents about how playing video games had changed over the years, from something that was just a pastime to a competitive sport.
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Austin said he had seen video gamers on Twitch, a live video game streaming website, make “heaps and heaps” of money over the past few years, “which is something my parents would find pretty crazy”.
The Marlborough Boys’ College even had an eSports team. It was set up by a teacher earlier this year, and the team was set to play for third place in the Wellington/South Island Regional Rocket League finals against Wainuiomata High School on August 18.
BRYA INGRAM/STUFF/Marlborough Express
Keen Marlborough gamers, from left, Austin Thomas, 14, Jacob Gray, 15, sitting, and Theo Gray, 13, are excited to see how their skills can transfer to different careers at the Empower festival.
But can playing video games really turn into a career?
Well, a first-of-its-kind festival in Marlborough is set to explore just that, along with other career pathways within the tech industry.
Young people from across the top of the south and the West Coast are expected to attend the Empower Te Rangapikikōtuku eSports and Coding Festival next Friday and Saturday. The festival will feature tech industry representatives and interactive workshops covering a range of tech themes, from digital design and app development to robotics and mechatronics.
Another keen Marlborough gamer, Theo Gray, 13, said he too was “very interested” in anything to do with electronics. He was most interested in seeing what the mechatronics and robotics workshops had to offer. His older brother Jacob, 15, was in the Marlborough Boys’ College eSports team.
BRYA INGRAM/STUFF/Marlborough Express
Austin Thomas plays a game using an Oculus VR headset.
Their mum, Zoe Gray, worked at the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce, which had developed the festival. It was hoped this would be the first of many, alternating between Blenheim and Nelson.
Gray said the idea for the event came from a conversation between her and the chamber’s vocational co-ordinator Chris Shaw, saying she was frustrated at the lack of tech events for young people in Marlborough. Shaw then decided to make it happen.
Shaw said the event would be important for parents, caregivers and teachers to understand the range of technology-related employment opportunities that existed in Marlborough and beyond.
BRYA INGRAM/STUFF/Marlborough Express
A conversation between the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce’s Chris Shaw and Zoe Gray was the catalyst for the Empower Festival.
“With the use of technology in workplaces, local industries such as wine, forestry, farming and aquaculture have been able to increase their productivity and efficiency at a rapid pace over the past few years,” Shaw said.
“That technological growth will only increase, as businesses seek to replace manual and time-consuming processes with digital tools, applications and systems.”
The Empower Te Rangapikikōtuku eSports and Coding Festival will be held at the ASB Theatre, in Blenheim, on August 26 and 27. Entry free.
