Reconnecting The Community

Add esports to the lineup

By Austin Smith

One of the struggles people encountered during the pandemic was a feeling of isolation. This was especially true for adolescents—a lack of in-person school and extra-curriculars made keeping in touch with friends and developing important social skills more difficult than usual.

© Can Stock Photo / ryanking999

According to a public health study, one-third of parents and caregivers noticed their children experienced loneliness as a result of the realities of pandemic life. Parents hoping to solve this serious problem looked for safe, low-pressure ways for their kids to socialize and have fun.

The first place many looked for ideas was in a local parks and recreation activity guide. As a department professional, you may have struggled to plan activities that met these expectations. After all, it’s a big responsibility to entertain and reconnect community members after COVID-19. While pandemic guidelines continue to ease and relax, you might be following suit. But we’re not completely out of the woods yet, so the question remains: What activities are the right ones to plan right now? What events are inclusive, fun, and adaptable to the realities of the post-pandemic world? There might be an option you haven’t considered yet: recreational esports.

Navigating Modern Community Needs

One trend from 2020 that could be here to stay is the widespread increase in internet use. Parents, in particular, scrapped previous technology boundaries as computers, phones, and tablets became their kids’ windows to education, socialization, and entertainment. According to Morning Consult, about 70% of parents said their kids spend four or more hours on screens.

For many families, their screen time boundaries change from hours played to content consumed. What online activities can kids do that encourage healthy habits and development? That’s where you come in.

By developing a recreational esports program, your parks and recreation department can give parents the power to sign up for specific leagues where playtimes and participants are set in advance, creating necessary structure. But beyond that, recreational esports can tap into a set of benefits that traditional activities can’t.

The Benefits Of Playing Esports

Recreational esports offer plenty of benefits not solely focused on the unique needs of the pandemic. Online gaming leagues also offer an inclusive, weather-agnostic, and far-reaching way to bring people together. Recreational esports provide an affordable way to reach everyone, regardless of their geographic locations, physical abilities, or social comfort level.

The benefits of playing esports go far beyond accessibility. Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared it was safe for vaccinated people to gather together without masks, many still aren’t comfortable getting back into former pandemic routines. Unlike traditional sports leagues, recreational esports allows participants to play from the safety and comfort of their homes.

According to a poll from Qutee, 40% of respondents cited improvements to their emotional well-being as the top benefit of gaming. Whether you want events to be in-person or remote, for the whole community or for more specific demographics, esports can be adapted to fit your department’s needs.

© Can Stock Photo / FabrikaSimf 

How To Develop A Program

Gaming reached mainstream popularity during the 1970s, but the hobby has evolved and become more accessible over the past 50 years. Instead of playing on arcade cabinets and pinball machines, people have apps on their phones and home consoles (like the in-demand PlayStation 5). If you want to provide the community with access to structured recreational play, it’s easier than ever. Here are the steps you can take:

1. Pinpoint your audience. Who in the local community has an interest in gaming? You can poll people via your website, newsletter, or social media to see who might like to join a league. You might discover that parents are looking for kids programming or that young adults want a place to gather. Once you know who potential participants are, you can determine the games and match cadence that work best for them.

2. Identify resources. Do you have the equipment and staff needed to run in-person programming, or should you host online leagues? Depending on the size of your department, you may not be able to run in-person esports events regularly. The good news is most recreational esports platforms are designed to operate remotely. You can assign someone on your team to host events and then spend most of the time focusing on what you do best—engaging the community.

3. Evaluate the costs. If you don’t already have gaming computers set up in your department or local community center, that’s no problem. You can host online recreational esports leagues that people can join using their own equipment for only $12 a person. This makes the games more affordable than traditional sports leagues, which cost an average of $692 per participant.

4. Select key performance indicators. How will you measure program success? Are you looking for more revenue, amenities to connect with the new generation, or inclusive opportunities for all kinds of people? The goal will help in choosing a platform, games, and more. For instance, if you want to appeal to Millennials and Generation Zers, then you’ll want to make decisions based on that goal.

5. Determine areas to improve. Don’t stop with the first program. Continue to listen to the community and provide what the members want. Recreational esports platforms often have first-party data you can use to evaluate which games community members like and when they usually play, among other things. If program participants really like the third-person battle royale game “Fortnite,” for example, you might consider offering the online multiplayer battle-arena game “League of Legends.”

Now that you know what it takes to provide recreational esports to the community, you can look into potential programming and add it to the next parks and recreation activity guide. The pandemic made it more difficult for people to gather traditionally, but it’s now possible to foster a connected community despite what’s going on in the world.

Austin Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Mission Control, a platform for gathering and growing community using recreational esports. Austin is an economist and entrepreneur who focuses on urban policy, social entrepreneurship, and esports/sports technology. Reach him at austin@missioncontrol.gg.