DARK LEAGUE STUDIOS may be the newest esports and gaming organizer in the Philippines, but their latest project is showing a lot of promise given its advocacies.
With Estudyante Esports (EE), Dark League aims to promote and cultivate gaming and esports across various schools and universities.
Together with the support coming from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Philippine Esports Organization (PESO), Smart GIGA Arena, Honda, MWell, and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Estudyante Esports could help shape the local esports scene and debunk the negative stigmas surrounding it.
"It's part of our trust in Dark League Studios to really go just beyond organizing tournaments. We believe that esports is really a serious initiative, it's something that is going to grow big in the Philippines," started Deng Kibanoff, the Program Director of Estudyante Esports, in an exclusive with SPIN.ph.
"We think the best way to prepare people, students in particular, who would like to get into the industry, is to partner with their schools, to be able to develop programs that will allow them to develop competencies and skills that are geared for the industry."
So far more than 50 plus schools have already been in contact with Estudyante Esports, and those who would proceed with the partnership will receive the following benefits.
What Estudyante Esports brings
"We will be bringing mini-fairs on esports to the schools, together with seminars, career talks, and mini competitions," as said by Kibanoff.
"This is where we try to work with the schools, to be able to develop electives. Subjects that can be integrated to multimedia arts, IT, communications, some of the core disciplines of schools, to have a working knowledge on how to work in the industry."
As to why Estudyante Esports pushes for this initiative, Kibanoff revealed his observations, where he noticed that there are other roles, from behind the scenes, that are worth highlighting (e.g. cameraman, scriptwriter, etc.).
"Karamihan when you talk about esports, we only see the players, but behind the players or idols in the industry, we have a backroom that are making things happen for them. Much like a production company."
It's a process
Among the schools that EE is currently in contacts with, is College of Saint Benilde, and Kibanoff mentioned that he is pushing for a certificate course about the fundamentals of esports operations and management, which will last for four Saturdays.
It may not be a full force degree the way other universities have stamped their mark in the esports scene, but Kibanoff revealed the reasons as to why they decided to start small.
"It's normal in any new field, if you think about physical education for instance, it didn't start as a fully recognized discipline, but eventually over time, it developed into a full discipline because people felt the need that this needs to be seriously studied," he reflected.
He added: "Kung passionate ka sa isang bagay pero wala naman paraan para i-continue yung pag-aaral mo at i-master yung skills and competencies, mahihirapan ka."
These certificate courses would feature a mixture of theories and applications, which will allow students to get a real-life experience of how the industry works.
But there's more to EE than just helping students learn how to apply their skills into the real world, as they also aim to combat the usual stigma that is still plaguing the scene.
"What we're trying to do is make schools realize na, maybe it's time we rethink about esports na hindi lang ito past time or something that diverges the students from their education or schooling, in fact it is something that compliments their schooling," said Kibanoff.
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