Gaming laptops
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© DELL INC, THQ NORDICSO HOW’S THIS for an
offer? As part of Intel
and Dell’s drive to
get young people into
eSports, I was recently
invited to the McLaren
Center in the UK. As
a tech geek, this was exciting enough but,
as a petrolhead, it was an opportunity
I couldn’t refuse. McLaren is one of the
leading names in the motor racing world, so
I was excited to check out its headquarters.
I’m happy to report that it didn’t disappoint.
Arriving there was like landing in Tony
Stark’s workshop from Iron Man.
The day started with a look at McLaren’s
racing heritage, from the early days of
Bruce McLaren up to the present Formula
1 team. Seeing the cars driven by the
likes of Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton
close up was special and a real insight
into the design work that goes into these
incredible feats of engineering. But then we
were whisked away to talk about the real
highlight of the day, eSports in education.
Research by Dell Technologies and
Intel has shown that the huge interest in
eSports is making its way into mainstream
education. For years, there’s been a
negative stereotype
when it comes to
gaming and education.
Parents often assume
that gaming will get in
the way of their child’s
learning, rather than
help them develop key
life skills. So when the
idea of bringing eSports
into education first
arose a few years ago,
many parents assumed
that this meant their
kids would be playingCould gaming help with essential life skills?
McLaren, Dell and
eSports in education
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games at school. However, eSports is
experiencing phenomenal growth and,
according to the Entertainment Software
Association (organizers of the E3 show),
the games industry was larger than movies
and music combined in 2021.
With the potential for team-building
and problem-solving being taught through
eSports, more parents are now on board.
Many children will already appreciate the
benefits of gaming on their development,
even if they are having too much fun to
appreciate the cognitive benefits. Dell
explained that the enjoyment of games
has an enormous impact on learning—
educationally, eSports are similar to
regular sports, with the benefit of being
more accessible. With companies such as
Dell and McLaren backing this move and
opening it up as a topic for discussion, it
should help educate parents and lead to
eSports being used in classrooms in future.
To demonstrate the point, the day ended
with us trying out an F1 racing simulator
room powered by Dell’s Alienware gear,
where we met members of the McLaren
Shadow Project racing team. If only school
had been like this when I was there, I’d have
paid more attention in class! –SLThe popularity of eSports could see it play a role in education.APR 2022 MAXIMU MPC 73