Esports Or Game Development For Students? Malaysians Weigh In On Hannah Yeoh Co-Curricular Plans

Yesterday, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh had announced interest in bringing esports into schools, though it’s not been without its critics.

She explained that the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) was interested in collaborating with the Education Ministry to recognize esports as a co-curricular activity

“KBS through the Electronic Sports Development Strategic Plan 2020-2025 has plans to create a special space for the development of Esports in schools, list Esports as part of co-curricular activities and establish Esports clubs in schools”, she said.

However, some users took to Twitter to criticize the decision, for fear that the time would better be used for teaching game development.

“I hope one day we’ll get to a point where the ministers could open their eyes to actual games development instead of just esports. We should expose the younger generation towards making a career in making games, as much as playing it” writes one user, JohannAffendy.

“Why not make game development [as a co-curricular activity]? [We should] teach kids simple programming and coding”, writes another user, BurhanPlays. “You can use Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft for game design. When you grow up, you can make an IP in the game industry. Way more long term economic benefits than esports”.

The attitude comes from a fear of governments latching on to esports as a magic buzzword- largely seen during Syed Saddiq’s time where the government of the day had promised “esports academies” and “developing our own esports”.

“Esports has problems now. Not just globally but also in Malaysia. Stagnant growth and waning viewership can be seen. Even recently, groups as big as FaZe Clan have fired most of their staff. Why not focus on game development such as programming, 3D rig[ging], coding etc –“, writes Typical_Mikhail.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, as some users were also excited at the proposal.

“I think this is a good move 🙂 Btw adding to [co-curricular activities] means that it will be one of the options in the clubs – equal to football club, chess etc. So I don’t see why people are so against it, chess has never been necessary to learn too + it will grow the e-sport industry here”, says ainhsaifulnizam

The divisiveness of Hannah Yeoh and her esports plan tends to come from one of two mindsets- esports proponents will tend to see any kind of government support as a way to encourage behavior that’s already happening.

That being said, there’s also not a lot of trust going into any esports initiative, considering long term experts expressing concerns that the industry was being over-valued.

“Everyone I talk to in this industry kind of acknowledges the fact that there is value in esports, but it is not nearly the value that is getting hyped these days,”says Corsair sponsorship manager Frank Fields in an article from 2019.

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