Pathompawn Nadoo surprised many of his friends when he decided to pursue e-sports in university. Amid people who frowned upon his calling, the 19-year-old was certain it was the right decision. A freshman at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Pathompawn said he has always been passionate about video games and dreams of becoming a gamecaster in the future. Before enrolling in the e-sports course, he was gamecasting on his YouTube channel Soldsaga KunG.
Pathompawn is now one of 40 students registered in the School of Business Administration in Game and E-sports Business at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) this year. Apart from the UTCC, other universities also offer game and e-sports programmes as well.
E-sports is a huge and lucrative industry, so much so that the new tourism and sports minister, Pipat Ratchakitprakan, announced last month that he will support e-sports, hoping Thailand improves its capacity to host international competitions. From a mere hobby for nerds, e-sports has gained massive popularity on an international scale.
Since July 2017, the Thailand E-Sports Federation has been established and e-sports has been included as a sports category. E-sports was also included in last year's Asian Games held in Jakarta. This year's SEA Games which will be held in November in the Philippines will see for the first time gaming as a full sport.
According to last year's data from Intel Technology Asia, approximately 27.47 million Thais watched and played games via personal computers, mobile phones and game consoles. Around 2.6 million Thais were reported to have watched e-sports. Intel Technology Asia also predicted that the e-sports audience in Thailand will rise by 30% by 2021.
Pathompawn Nadoo, freshman, School of Business Administration in Game and E-sports Business at UTCC. (Photo courtesy of UTC)
Several e-sport teams from Thailand had great success in e-sports tournaments. Last year, Thai team RRQ Athena was crowned the champion at the e-sports competition called PUBG Mobile in the United Arab Emirates where they beat 20 teams from six regions. In the upcoming SEA Games, Thai gamers will also represent the country as national contestants.
Due to the staggering rise in popularity of e-sports and the gaming business, many universities including Bangkok University, Dhurakij Pundit University, Sripatum University and UTCC have opened schools to educate students about the subject.
"There are many interesting career opportunities for young Thai people in game and e-sports businesses. Every year, we see success cases from our former students. One of our alumni founded an agency Mad Virtual Reality Studio launching well-known games like Araya," said Asst Prof Kamon Jiapong, dean of the School of Digital Media at Sripatum University.
While Kamon accepted that the establishment of an e-sports school is the university's moneymaking approach, Chatchai Wangwiwattana who is head of Game and E-Sports Business at UTCC doesn't think likewise. He said that as an academic institution, the course doesn't aim at making a profit.
"Many business sectors contacted us because they couldn't find people who are qualified to work in the business. They would like to have people who have knowledge in game business and marketing. The problem is that people who like games don't have business ideas. However, people who know how to run businesses know nothing about games, so they can't launch any products to attract target groups," said Chatchai.
Chatchai Wangwiwattana, head of Game and E-sports Business at UTCC.
There's one sure thing Chatchai and Kamon agreed upon -- career opportunities in e-sports are endless, from game marketing, game design, game engineering, gaming, gamecasting, event organising to crews at live game events and many more. And they are certain at least 40 e-sports students at UTCC and another 600 at Sripatum University would not be jobless after they graduate.
"We still fall short of game data scientists," said Chatchai. "There are high demands for data scientists because there are lots of game-related data. People need the data to make a decision in order to create more games in the future."
Despite the industry expansion, concerns have been raised as to whether e-sports could turn into a gaming disorder, an illness classified last year as a behavioural addiction by the World Health Organization (WHO)'s International Classification of Diseases.
"We discussed it with psychiatrists. They said games affect children's brains. They had medical evidence to support that. We accepted that, but it was from psychological perspectives. They [doctors] met parents and children who had problems. They didn't meet people who were successful gamers. So we are talking about two different viewpoints here. The university doesn't teach students how to play games, but we teach them how to run a business that they are interested in," Chatchai added.
"Many adults have some doubts and are afraid of this new world," Kamon said. "And it's not wrong to have such doubts. There are two sides of the digital world. We must encourage young people to play creative games but not spend too much time on games to the point they don't have time to rest and to study. This should be well-managed by both parents and children alike."
For e-sports courses to turn into success, both Chatchai and Kamon believe interdisciplinary environments on campus must be established.
"Interdisciplinarity is the nature of games," Chatchai said. "At UTCC, the [e-sports] programme is a collaborative work between schools of science, business administration, communication arts and humanities. We must train our students to have skills in critical thinking, leadership, creative ideas, action taking and lifelong learning, so they will be capable of running a digital business in the future."
Asst Prof Kamon Jiapong, dean at School of Digital Media at Sripatum University. (Photo courtesy of Sripatum University)
"Interdisciplinarity builds up an ecosystem," Kamon added. "Animation, interactive game, product design and interior design are associated to one another. When Steve Jobs worked at Atari [pioneer in arcade games], he experienced a new world that allowed him to learn about art and technology. This kind of environment will encourage the new generation to come up with creative ideas and know how to make use of a variety of technology."
The earliest video game was released in the United States around 1950 and since then, the game industry has grown non-stop. Chatchai believes gaming is one of the fastest growing industries compared to other entertainment businesses and will not cease to expand given that digital media will be more easier to access.
"The digital industry still has room to grow," he said. "People will still need digital content and play the content on new devices that will be getting smarter and smarter. So for sure, there will be a lot more jobs for students in the digital business."
WHY DO STUDENT ENROL IN E-SPORT CLASS?
Phassapong Boonrittayakol, 19
Freshman, School of Business Administration in Game and E-sports Business at University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC)
- Some people thought I play games all days at UTCC, but I don't. I study e-sports because I like games and business. However, I'm not a gamer. I prefer to watch other people play games. I want to work in the game industry and would like to work in marketing or public relations and learn how to approach customers. I'm not worried if I graduate and won't have a job.
Suppakan Krailapee, 23
Fourth-year student, School of Digital Media at Sripatum University
- My parents let me study what I want. I play games as a hobby. I found coding and designing games to be difficult. But after I had an internship for six months last year at Garena and Powerful High End, I found I enjoyed being in a crew who worked behind the scenes of live programming. I worked in video capture, as a sound controller and a gamecaster. If I graduate, I will apply for a job that involves live streaming and e-sports.
Sarut Sarutipakorn, 22
Fourth-year student, School of Digital Media at Sripatum University
- I applied to this school because I wanted to be a level designer for games. My parents didn't understand what I'm studying, but I'm interested in games. After I began my studies, I changed my goal. I would like to be a streamer, which is a behind-the-scenes crew member for live and recorded e-sport programmes. Last year, I was an intern at Garena and Powerful High End and I was a streamer. It was fun. I enjoyed it a lot.
