电子竞技——一个新的竞争差异化因素

诺阿鼓掌

2021年6月4日

Steps that must be taken by education providers to make esports a key part of their student attraction strategy

电子竞技——一个新的竞争差异化因素 for Schools and Universities

eSports are growing rapidly, with a prestige that is beginning to rival traditional sports. According to IDC, video game revenues were expected to rise by 20% and reach $179.70亿美元. 竞技游戏推动了这一趋势, with more young players participating and watching every year. The popularity of esports makes it a focus for the education industry — with young people the core customers — and having a successful esports team can be as advantageous as having a traditional sports teams. 在大流行后的下一个正常时期, 这只可能加速, 更少的人希望观看现场体育赛事. 教育 leaders need to look at ways to attract new students, 改善学生体验, 并为他们的机构增加声望. eSports is one way to empower student success and experience.

Universities and high schools increasingly see esports as an important part of their extracurricular activities, 但这也带来了挑战. 首先，找到合适的位置. This could be a computer lab or a dedicated room with the right equipment. 第二，招募必要的人才. eSports are a great alternative for students who can't play traditional sports — providing the social benefits of team building, 决策, 和责任. Third, creating the necessary conditions for this talent to thrive. 球员需要教练和时间来提高他们的技能, as well as opportunities to test those skills against their peers from other teams. Universities and high schools need to develop strategies and allocate appropriate budgets to support successful programs.

Players' skills also need to be accompanied by the right technology. 除了游戏设备, high-quality networking is the most important part of a technological suite for esports players. With top players reaching far above 400 APM (actions executed per minute), 每个小滞后, 网络速度不一致, or bandwidth limitation can be the difference between winning and losing. The requirements for esports and optimization strategies for network efficiency may differ from other use cases typical for education. 例如, the stability and consistency of network performance are much more important in esports than for other use cases that focus on transferring large data files. Having a dynamic and flexible network that can be used for learning and research applications during school hours and then instantly and easily reconfigured to be a secure, 高性能的游戏环境正变得必不可少. Universities and high schools need to engage with IT networking vendors that can advise them on the best practices for switch performance, 安全, 和灵活性.

IDC believes the following steps must be taken by education providers looking to make esports a key part of their student attraction strategy:

• Create a plan on how to attract esports talent, including the budget to achieve this.
• 为你的电子竞技团队准备合适的IT基础设施. 这意味着足够快的游戏设备, but also adaptable networks with demanding SLAs for a secure and seamless gaming experience without lags and network downtime.
• Treat your esports players the same way you would treat teams from traditional sports. 支持 their growth by creating a skills-oriented environment that will help them to achieve excellence.
• Use your newly gained esports competence to attract more students and increase the prestige of your institution.