In 2018, esports was officially recognized as an official sport in high schools by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) through a partnership with PlayVS. By April 2021, 8,600 high schools had created esports teams using PlayVS’ platform. Esports programs have continued to become increasingly popular in educational institutions for the following reasons:
- Encourages students to follow STEM or STEAM career paths.
- Includes students who are interested in esports but would normally feel excluded or demotivated about school.
- Helps students develop critical skills such as collaboration, social skills, critical thinking and time management.
Good hardware is critical for the success of esports programs. Software is also important but its impact on cost is nowhere close to hardware. Going above and beyond the minimum hardware requirements avoids computers not being powerful enough for games in the near future. Such future proofing, however, gets costly because it relies on buying the …