As a burgeoning HPE teacher it is difficult to admit that I love video games and that I enjoy watching e-sports as much as I do real sports. E-sports are professional video game competitions. This is difficult for me because as an HPE teacher, I should be promoting healthy active living, which does not include video games. But video games are just so much fun. In some cases they are even more fun than real games. This is because the companies that make video games have taken a scientific approach to finding out what makes games fun. In traditional sports, the fun generally comes from the competitiveness and challenge of defeating an evenly matched team or player. If the challenge is not even, sports become less fun. Many video games provide that same competitive challenge. However, what video games do that most traditional sports don’t is they provide an experience. There are many games that have few competitive elements, but allow players to explore an environment and complete various objectives for which they earn rewards, etc. The best video games, do both of these things really well: they provide an engaging and rewarding experience, plus they involve some sort of competitive element.
The reason I wanted to discuss video games, is because I feel like as HPE teachers, we are competing against video games. We are trying to get students to turn off their consoles and computers and go play sports or to the gym. But, perhaps we can learn something from these video games, that will help us create more engaging and rewarding experiences for our students. For example, if you gave students the option to play tag, or any popular video game, most would probably pick the video game. But if you included laser tag on that list, many of the students would probably choose that over the video game. Another example is the popular mobile phone game, Angry Birds. In Angry Birds you slingshot birds into structures and see if you can knock them down. You decide the direction and speed of the bird, and there are different types of birds that behave differently after you slingshot them. Now, if you gave students the option to play Chuck the Chicken or play Angry Birds, a lot of them might choose the latter. But what if you were to create a cooperative or low-organizational game, which included game elements from Angry Birds. For instance, teams set up targets at a distance (i.e. cricket wickets). The object is to use fitness bands to slingshot rubber chickens and knock over the target. Students can experiment with bigger or smaller targets, moving the target closer or farther, or using different projectiles. The inclusion of creative elements as well as problem solving creates a more rewarding experience than Chuck the Chicken does.
Another way in which HPE teachers and coaches could use video games is in team building. Some of the most popular e-sports are video games which require team play. The skills developed while playing team based video games are transferrable to real sports. If a group of students can learn to communicate and cooperate with their team in a video game, they will be more likely to do the same in real sports. The challenge for the HPE teacher is to include these kinds of communication skills and strategies in real games, so that students can apply what they have learned in video games. An example might be to create a cooperative game in which the only way players can communicate is through hand signals. The teams will be given time to develop their own sign language before the game starts, and perhaps part way through, they would be given the chance to change or add more signals.
In addition to communication skills, the strategies learned while playing competitive video games are transferrable to real sports. For example, in sports video games, players might learn advanced strategies because they have the opportunity to see the whole field, and assume control of any of the positions. Players learn how to set up offensive and defensive formations as well as learn how to use space effectively. These strategies can also translate to real world games.
The last thing to point out about video games is the sense of escapism they provide. Most video games allow players to gain a virtual experience that would be impossible to have in the real world. Whether the game is set in a fantasy world, or whether it is based in reality, the kinds of things that player characters can do inside the game world are not possible in real life. This engages players because they have the opportunity to role-play. They get to be the hero and feel powerful. In real sports only the best players get to feel like they are the hero, and feel powerful. Providing students with a sense of escapism, or role-play can be hard in the HPE setting. However, in the sport education context, students can choose from several different roles to play within their team. They get to create their team name, their mascot, their colours. In a sense, they get to create a team with characteristics that reflects their own desires and interests. In both video games and real life, these types of role play experiences allow students to learn perspective.
Perhaps video games and e-sports should not be regarded as the antithesis of healthy active living. Instead they should be viewed as tools that could be used to make real games and experiences more interesting. They might even be excellent training grounds for developing skills like communication and strategic thinking.
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