/ PATHWAYS / Career / John's Passion For Esports
From a young age John has enjoyed competitive video games, however it took a while for him to find the patience and perseverance to improve at them. He has always had a busy life with various hobbies and pursuits and has had to fit video games around that, but over the years he has worked at them and built considerable progress.
Outcome Choosing Sports and Fitness University degree, to be prepared for career in esports.
This outcome arises from the following 7 milestones over the span of 7 years, from 8 - 15 years-old:
Age: 8-years-old / 01/01/2013 / 10 years ago
Play Styles: Child Plays Independently (Independent Play)
Platform: Nintendo Wii U
We enjoyed playing competitive games as a family. John, in particular, loved the challenge from working as a team in Nintendo Land. This offers a few different competitive and cooperative challenges.In particular he loved Mario Chase where three of us play on the TV to try and find him, and he uses the Wii U tablet controller to hide. He got really good at using the map on the tablet screen to sneak around corners once the seekers had passed.
Activities: John found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Nintendo Land:
Age: 10-years-old / 01/01/2015 / 8 years ago
Platform: Nintendo Switch
After playing the game at a friends house John enjoyed the competitive and reaction based play of the Towerfall game. We got the game on our Switch at home and enjoyed playing at weekends as a family. On that version we could play with up to six people. John didn't always win, but often did and rose to the challenge by practicing the improving between our sessions.
Activities: John found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Towerfall:
Age: 11-years-old / 01/01/2016 / 7 years ago
Play Styles: Competitive Online
John discovered Splatoon after going to a friend's party where they played the game. He quickly took to the idea that this was a skill challenge he needed to practice at to get better. We played through the co-operative levels together before he started playing online while I watched. He enjoyed being able to take on players from all over the world as well as the teaming up aspect.
Activities: John found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Splatoon 3:
Age: 12-years-old / 01/01/2017 / 6 years ago
Play Styles: Competitive Online and Child Plays Independently (Independent Play)
Platform: PlayStation 4
John was getting into football at school and started playing FIFA. This started as a competition between him and his dad but he soon got too good. After some discussion we agreed that he could play online against other players, so he could find competition at a similar ability.
Age: 12-years-old / 01/06/2017 / 5 years ago
Watching streamers play shooting games led to John wanting to find a competitive game he could play that was more of a battle than FIFA. While his competitive FIFA play continued, he discovered the tactical building and shooting of Fortnite.This led to him teaming up with other players in matches where they cooperate and communicate to do well. This was often friends from school, but also people he didn't know online. At first we were cautious about this, but after talking it through and setting some boundaries this actually became a positive part of his online play.
Activities: John found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Fortnite:
Age: 13-years-old / 01/01/2018 / 5 years ago
After getting fed-up with FIFA and how the different player's in-game stats affects their performance, he was looking for a more skill based game. Rocket League fitted that perfectly. It was an online game that was entirely determined by the player's ability to control the car and work with team mates.
Age: 15-years-old / 01/01/2020 / 3 years ago
Platform: PC
As John progressed in Rocket League he identified that the PC offered an advantage to players. There was more flexibility in controls and his view of the action would be higher resolution and more flexible. Also, professional competitors were all on PC. It was where the Rocket League scene was strongest.
Activities: John found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Rocket League:
The culmination of the milestones in the pathway lead to John choosing Sports and Fitness University degree, to be prepared for career in esports. We have described it as a linear journey, but of course, there is always a fair amount of back and forth between the games they played.
Along with the main outcome John also changed in the following ways:
We focus on how games contribute to this outcome, but also include related activities that play a part of this journey:
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