Any esports fan around the world will tell you that they are dreaming of working in esports. With competitive gaming gaining more and more foothold in the, let's call it "mainstream world", professional esports careers have been popping up left and right. Now, the Philippines is getting its first Bachelor of Science in Esports curriculum.
When we're saying that the Philippines "is getting" a Bachelor of Science in Esports degree, unfortunately, we mean that it isn't here yet. The four-year course is still in the making and will be part of the curriculum at the Lyceum of the Philippines University. The LPU already has a strong athlete program, so it's likely that the new addition will be joining the Sports department.
The people behind the degree
The LPU wisely opted to work with people with plenty of experience in the esports industry. The Bachelor of Science in Esports is being prepared by no other than esports talent agency Tier One Entertainment, also based in Southeast Asia. It was founded in 2017 by Tryke "TryQ" Gutierrez, one of the first esports shoutcasters in the Philippines. So Tier One and TryQ got together with he LPU and tried to formulate a Bachelor in Science program that fits the requirements of the Commission on Higher Education, or CHED. If it did, it would be approved as a legitimate higher education degree.
A program in the making
Now, this isn't the first such degree of its kind. In far-off Massachusets, Becker College's Bachelor of Science in Esports Management has given many the opportunity to enter the growing force that is competitive gaming. However, the LPU program is different. For one, it will take two distinct paths: organization-focused esports management and game design. That second path is truly the innovative direction: so far, there has been no higher-education degree focusing on game design with esports in mind.
Mind you, this is still a draft version, even though TryQ and Tier One are claiming that it's "80% done". It appears the agency is taking a more contemporary approach to this course, as they have expressed criticism of the outdated notion that education should exist for the only purpose of netting a job:
"Honestly, the boomer's concept of university courses being straight-line vehicles to job and life security is no longer the universal truth and we need to embrace that as a positive development.
Modern society has been advancing exponentially in less than a decade and we have created a shit ton of new jobs that did not exist when we ourselves first entered college.
This is why I believe young people ought to study what they want to study."
The future
No one can say for sure whether the LPU's ambitious project will take off. For now, the facts are that both the university and TryQ's crew appear serious about it and in a country like the Philippines where esports is considered a legitimate sport, having a Bachelor of Science in Esports appears like the logical direction to go in.
It is odd that the curriculum doesn't (and TryQ was adamant that it won't) include any pro player training or coaching. Probably the only field still lacking in higher education is this: someone who has studied and graduated as a professional esports athlete. But who knows, the Philippines might spring this one on us as well.
