Barely a month ago, the University of Debrecen handed over its nationally unique E-Sports Center for educational purposes, and it is already very popular among students, athletes, and educators alike. A world champion athlete sat in front of the monitor during Friday’s gaming and e-sports class at the Faculty of Economics.
The optional subject was announced for the first time in 2019 by the Faculty of Economics. Its popularity is indicated by the fact that at the beginning of each semester, places for the course fill up in less than an hour. This year, too, the training could start with a maximum number of 20 people, which is more than a game.
Gergely Ráthonyi, assistant professor at the GTK Institute of Sports Economics and Management, one of the instructors of the subject, highlighted that students can benefit a lot from what they hear in the Gaming and e-sport classes, as they touch on things that many people do not even think about in relation to e-sports.
What jumps out at most people is that we are playing on a computer. But it is much more than that, we try to talk to the students in as much detail as possible about the areas affected by e-sports. We try to approach it specifically from the economic side, through the actors of the e-sports ecosystem. We examine it from a social aspect and also touch on issues related to devices. The young people can also hear about topics such as whether e-sports is a sport or not, and under what conditions it can become an Olympic sport,
– the instructor explained.
He also considers it important to talk about the physical and mental preparation of e-athletes, as well as the dangers of e-sports. Gergely Ráthonyi added: it is a huge step forward that the E-sport Center has been put at the service of education, in addition to theoretical training – now with a very high technical background – practical education can also be completed.
In the last lesson, the students learned about the history of the FIFA game, and this time they got an insight into the backstage of the online strategy game League of Legends. For example, it turned out to be the most viewed game, with roughly 115 million people playing it every month.
The instructors presented the game’s history, publisher, and economic importance, as well as the sponsors and total prize money of the world championships.
Petra Senánszky, the multiple world champion fin swimmer, also applied for the subject. The athlete is preparing to obtain her second BSc degree at the University of Debrecen. She is the only girl participating in the Gaming and e-sports course this semester.
I used to like playing computer games, although I didn’t have much time for them. My sister and I took turns playing a doll game, later I got to know Leauge of Legends. I like the graphics, the story, the characters, but thanks to this course, I can also acquire much deeper economic and social science knowledge in this area,
– said Petra Senánszky.
The athlete said: she is very happy with this subject because in addition to expanding her knowledge, she can refresh herself a bit during the lessons. He also told hirek.unideb.hu that he would like to apply for a master’s degree at the Faculty of Economics, as sports diplomacy or work at sports organizations will be his path in the future.
The E-Sports Center of the University of Debrecen is our country’s unique, largest e-sports facility specifically for educational purposes. It awaits those who want to learn on the outside of the Nagyerdei Stadium with 100 games on about 330 square meters. In addition to the Faculty of Economics, the facility also supports the training and goals of the Faculty of Information Technology and the Faculty of Technology.
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