gameskinnyIf there’s one thing schools need more of, it’s videogames (the knife fights are all well and good, but they can get terribly messy after a while). Perhaps having realised this, Garnes Vidaregåande Skule in Norway will be offering their students the chance an elective eSports class, starting August.
To figure out which games should be taught in the class, the school is carrying out a poll, with the top two results being taught on the glorious new course. Some of the titles currently in the running include DOTA 2, League of Legends, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
The three year course is part of the school’s elective curriculum, and is on offer as an alternative to conventional sports.
Despite being mostly fun and games, it won’t all be fun and games. The five hour a week course will assess students on general playing and tactical ability, communication skills, and game knowledge. We can only hope there’ll be a few lessons thrown in on online gaming etiquette. Someone needs to step up and sort it out.
Science department manager Petter Grahl Johnstad says:
We will offer our students coaches with in-depth knowledge in whatever game we offer. There will be a high degree of self-education when it comes to progressing your game, and the game room will be available during the day and evening time.
The overall aim of the class is essentially similar to any Physical Education lesson. Teamwork and communication are valued, and there’ll be coaches on offer who are experts on whichever games end up getting picked. You can throw your notes away too, as there won’t be any textbooks for this class.
If you weren’t jealous enough yet, Johnstad also revealed that the awesome sounding game room will offer 15 high-end gaming PCs and specialized ergonomic chairs. You’ll have to leave your beer hat and weed at home though.
https://youtu.be/GiGSW5RJMKM
There’ll be roughly 30 students to a class, so half will be gaming while the other half get to do physical work outs like reflex and endurance training, while looking forlornly on at the half of the class that get to play.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.