Gran Turismo (Series)

As children get older, they develop stronger ideas of what they want to play. Friends at school and YouTube stars create popular gaming fads for the latest titles. These are a lot of fun, but children’s choices can end up being narrowed down to big-budget or on-trend games. The games suggested here go beyond the usual suspects. While offering age-appropriate alternatives to older-rated games, they are still exuberant, intriguing and create raucous gaming fun that fires the imagination of children aged 7 to 12 years old.
 

Some video games require a high amount of skill and experience to play. These have developed into competitive sports with high profile competitions and big prize money. Although it can seem a little strange to think of a video game as a sport, the challenge, focus, training, instinct and skill required means that players at the top of these leagues and competitions have approach the pastime like athletes approach sporting prowess.

Less obvious than the big prizes and high profile winners are the aspects of esports that can lead to a diverse set of skills suitable for a range of digital careers. Digital Schoolhouse, a not-for-profit programme delivered by the UK games industry trade body Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment), has been using an annual e-sports schools tournaments to teach technology and digital skills.

Students aged 12-18 years participate as players or fulfil professional roles crafted by the video games industry, for educational purposes. They manage the event itself, photograph the action, organising production logistics, referee, commentate on live match streams, manage team community, logos and branding and even deal with most of the paperwork themselves.

Whether it’s the Digital Schoolhouse programme or something similar, finding a way to inspire and cheer on children towards a career in video games not only opens a door to their future, but creates a healthy understanding of the industry today.