Esports as a whole is really proving contrary to the misnomer that gamers are introverts or antisocial. Research is consistently finding that esports athletes are incredibly social and very engaged within their schools and communities. The platform of esports has allowed students to bring their interests and passions and share them with their peers and with the community at large. There's a reason why the viewership of major esports tournaments and championships is now rivaling, and in some cases, even surpassing those of traditional professional sporting events. So from an engagement and socialization level, esports is going to connect students and communities like never before. SFU has an incredible following from both the athletics world as well as the academic and professional world, as mentioned before, with the success and popularity of our programs; Esports will only add another layer to the student- and campus-experience that will connect students to more of their peers and to more opportunities to help further their growth and development as people of character, integrity, service, and intellectual and professional ability. Finally, esports has developed connections and applications to many academic fields and industries with emerging trends in technological advancements in health and medicine, sciences, education and business. Our long-term plan is to ensure that SFU Esports is fully integrated into the robust academic curriculum as well. There are many examples of other collegiate esports programs being integrated into fields like special education, healthcare, business and business analytics, marketing and communications, and of course STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics).
Students participating in SFU Esports will also develop effective communication, team work, and problem solving abilities. The game titles that are chosen to be played as part of our program have been chosen specifically because they involve a higher level of strategy in completing complex objectives. These games titles require athletes to communicate with each other about what is happening on their screen at all times as each player can only view a fixed perspective of the entire gameplay map, collaborate with each other to maintain their team's strategy, and think critically to find solutions to best their opponent's strategy.