School E-Sports

slingerz · 08-10-2020 9:51pm #1

Apologies if this is not in the right place but i am looking to setup a school esports club/team. I have sparse knowledge on the tech requirements. Is it preferable to go with a console based option or is a PC workstation the most likely required option?

i am looking for all sorts on advice/information on what would be a good approach to take in setting up a school esports club

dreamers75 · 08-10-2020 10:31pm

Knowledge of E Sports and the technology that powers would be a help.

Console would be the easiest option as in plug in a few consoles and set up an e sports team.

slingerz · 08-10-2020 10:36pm

dreamers75 wrote: »

Knowledge of E Sports and the technology that powers would be a help.

Console would be the easiest option as in plug in a few consoles and set up an e sports team.

So PS4 or Xbox be the simplest way to go?

For schools i would think something like FIFA is the way to go?

DrSpongeBobz · 09-10-2020 9:55pm

slingerz wrote: »

So PS4 or Xbox be the simplest way to go?

For schools i would think something like FIFA is the way to go?

FIFA is good choice. Rocket League is another option.

10-10-2020 4:10pm

Fortnite and Rocket League are both free so not bad options to start with.

If you don't have consoles they can also be both played on low-end pc / laptops set-ups at 720p resolution.

(once the pc's are recent e.g. last few years)

slingerz · 10-10-2020 6:18pm

glasso wrote: »

Fortnite and Rocket League are both free so not bad options to start with.

If you don't have consoles they can also be both played on low-end pc / laptops set-ups at 720p resolution.

(once the pc's are recent e.g. last few years)

So we have computer rooms would they typically be suitable for this sort of activity? It would be useful for lunchtimes for the students when the weather turns poor.

How would I best check this out? Is fortnite/rocket league played by visiting a website or how does it work

10-10-2020 6:31pm

slingerz wrote: »

So we have computer rooms would they typically be suitable for this sort of activity? It would be useful for lunchtimes for the students when the weather turns poor.

How would I best check this out? Is fortnite/rocket league played by visiting a website or how does it work

they are free from the Epic games store - download from there

e.g.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/rocket-league/home?sessionInvalidated=true

https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/

you need an email address or facebook to set up an account

each user would then have their own epic games account (free) or use ones set up for the purpose and shared but for downloading could be done on one account for all the pc's

if the pc's have cpu's that are not more than a few years old they should work at 720p resolution and low settings

I'd test it out on one of the pc's first

can be played with mouse and keyboard or you could buy game controllers (usb wired or bluetooth - about 17 euro on amazon)

slingerz · 10-10-2020 7:33pm

glasso wrote: »

they are free from the Epic games store - download from there

e.g.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/rocket-league/home?sessionInvalidated=true

https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/

you need an email address or facebook to set up an account

each user would then have their own epic games account (free) or use ones set up for the purpose and shared but for downloading could be done on one account for all the pc's

if the pc's have cpu's that are not more than a few years old they should work at 720p resolution and low settings

I'd test it out on one of the pc's first

can be played with mouse and keyboard or you could buy game controllers (usb wired or bluetooth - about 17 euro on amazon)

I’ll give the computers in school a go with that next week see how things run there. If they are a go then we can look at the game controllers perhaps

slingerz · 10-10-2020 7:34pm

I meant to say thanks for the assistance so far if I have more questions I’ll be back!

10-10-2020 7:44pm

note down the pc processor details from right-click -> "properties" on "This Pc" in windows file explorer and post it here

same info in settings -> system -> about

slingerz · 10-10-2020 8:13pm

glasso wrote: »

note down the pc processor details from right-click -> "properties" on "This Pc" in windows file explorer and post it here

same info in settings -> system -> about

Will do as I had no idea how to do that!

slingerz · 12-10-2020 10:35am

What I have is Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60 Ghz

8.00 GB RAM

64 bit OS windows 7

is this what I need?

Retr0gamer · 12-10-2020 10:40am

I'd have more variety than just Fifa. People who like videogames tend to hate Fifa as it's kind of a terrible videogame and only really appeals to people that like football. So best to have stuff like Rocket League and Fortnite for those people.

B00MSTICK · 12-10-2020 12:32pm

I might be missing some context but are you a student or teacher?

What is the goal of the team? Just to get students to interact more? Or are there other schools that you can play with/have a league for example? Or would it be to play as a team against other random teams (so the school affiliation would be unimportant)? Would you look to be competitive or casual or both?

Answering the above will help in guiding the platform and game choice, but it would also be worth doing some research into what students are already playing and their level of interest in joining a team. Maybe the more dedicated players already have something going, you could hook in with them to give them a bit of publicity as well as get more people involved.

No point in setting up a Rocket League team if no one plays it or are already all playing something else.

12-10-2020 12:53pm

slingerz wrote: »

What I have is Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60 Ghz

8.00 GB RAM

64 bit OS windows 7

is this what I need?

the cpu is ok there speedwise but the integrated graphics that come with the cpu are old at this stage (2014)

it will still run fortnite like the person here on youtube -> similar cpu and same integrated graphics (intel 4600) at these low settings - the graphical quality is not going to be great but it will run at playable frame rates and will be good enough to keep a group of kids amused

https://youtu.be/0LAtzAgLd3c?t=10

so rocket league should run also at low as it's not a demanding piece of software either

I presume that there is no dedicated graphics card as that extra cost outlay would not normally be made for school pc's for educational purposes

if you go to "device manager" in windows and check what is under "display adapters" what does it say?

12-10-2020 1:32pm

If you're thinking about getting controllers these look pretty reasonable from reviews

wired is just easier to avoid messing around with battery charging of multiple controllers for kids and bluetooth connections

(20% voucher off 16£ at the moment - but even at £16 it's not too bad)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JAMSWALL-Controller-Joystick-Improved-Ergonomic/dp/B0886GTMM2/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=360+wired+controller+pc&qid=1602505714&sr=8-5

slingerz · 12-10-2020 7:36pm

B00MSTICK wrote: »

I might be missing some context but are you a student or teacher?

What is the goal of the team? Just to get students to interact more? Or are there other schools that you can play with/have a league for example? Or would it be to play as a team against other random teams (so the school affiliation would be unimportant)? Would you look to be competitive or casual or both?

Answering the above will help in guiding the platform and game choice, but it would also be worth doing some research into what students are already playing and their level of interest in joining a team. Maybe the more dedicated players already have something going, you could hook in with them to give them a bit of publicity as well as get more people involved.

No point in setting up a Rocket League team if no one plays it or are already all playing something else.

I’m a teacher.

The goal is to offer something different to students that don’t fit into the traditional sports models, get them interacting more and providing another perspective to things

Playing other schools or teams would be important but there would be considerations as to what is age appropriate in terms of games and interactions etc

slingerz · 12-10-2020 7:40pm

glasso wrote: »

the cpu is ok there speedwise but the integrated graphics that come with the cpu are old at this stage (2014)

it will still run fortnite like the person here on youtube -> similar cpu and same integrated graphics (intel 4600) at these low settings - the graphical quality is not going to be great but it will run at playable frame rates and will be good enough to keep a group of kids amused

https://youtu.be/0LAtzAgLd3c?t=10

so rocket league should run also at low as it's not a demanding piece of software either

I presume that there is no dedicated graphics card as that extra cost outlay would not normally be made for school pc's for educational purposes

if you go to "device manager" in windows and check what is under "display adapters" what does it say?

The visual quality isn’t terribly important and your correct as regards the financial outlay for additional resources. If the club is a success in the school I will look into getting a second hand PS4 or Xbox to try and advance things.

I will check the device manager piece tomorrow

12-10-2020 8:16pm

slingerz wrote: »

The visual quality isn’t terribly important and your correct as regards the financial outlay for additional resources. If the club is a success in the school I will look into getting a second hand PS4 or Xbox to try and advance things.

I will check the device manager piece tomorrow

to start with you will get 30 fps (frames per second) on low settings on that cpu on the integrated graphics if you use the settings that that guy had in the video which is enough to play the game with for recreation

I doubt that there is a dedicated (separate) graphics card but no harm to check

you may not have speakers with school pc's either - it's a bit weird playing a game without sound. you can get cheap enough speakers on amazon if that's the case

Retr0gamer · 13-10-2020 10:34am

slingerz wrote: »

I’m a teacher.

The goal is to offer something different to students that don’t fit into the traditional sports models, get them interacting more and providing another perspective to things

Playing other schools or teams would be important but there would be considerations as to what is age appropriate in terms of games and interactions etc

Not to take a dump on what you are doing put would you not consider maybe a coding club instead, specifically videogame coding. Of course you'd really want to know what you are doing yourself but honestly with stuff like gamemaker you could all learn together by doing the included tutorials. They are pretty great and with coding most things can be answered with a good google. If you get into it more you can progress from the wysiwyg functionality to the scripting language to get more out of it.

Just think it would be a lot more productive than an esports team. You can learn a lot from it, it really emphasises problem solving and creativity. Also the Irish education system is god awful when it comes to teaching computer skills and it can help students realise they have a talent for coding.

Of course if it's not something you'd be comfortable with then don't do it but I'm speaking as someone that would have jumped at this as a student but never considered it as the education system pretty much failed in that regard and it was only later in life I learned I had a natural talent for it.

slingerz · 13-10-2020 10:40am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Not to take a dump on what you are doing put would you not consider maybe a coding club instead, specifically videogame coding. Of course you'd really want to know what you are doing yourself but honestly with stuff like gamemaker you could all learn together by doing the included tutorials. They are pretty great and with coding most things can be answered with a good google. If you get into it more you can progress from the wysiwyg functionality to the scripting language to get more out of it.

Just think it would be a lot more productive than an esports team. You can learn a lot from it, it really emphasises problem solving and creativity. Also the Irish education system is god awful when it comes to teaching computer skills and it can help students realise they have a talent for coding.

Of course if it's not something you'd be comfortable with then don't do it but I'm speaking as someone that would have jumped at this as a student but never considered it as the education system pretty much failed in that regard and it was only later in life I learned I had a natural talent for it.

I’m open to all suggestions to be honest and I wouldn’t be against doing both really.

If you have more suggestions like gamemaker etc for coding I’d love to see them if we can progress it further.

I’d agree about computer teaching as I’m really shooting in the dark at the moment

Retr0gamer · 13-10-2020 11:14am

Might be worth just starting with Java or Python to get a 'hello world' going and then learning about the different variables, arrays and also the benefits and different types of variables (integers vs. floating points etc.). They are easy to use languages

Also knowing how to print to a console when you do get to gamemaker is important as you'll need that to figure out when things inevitably go wrong (pro-tip: nothing ever works first time).

Once you get that out of the way then move to something like gamemaker or even unity. Unity is more complex but it's free and much better for 3D. Might be best to start with gamemaker though. I know it has really good tutorials.

If you don't know code yourself it might be a bit daunting. No doubt some of the students will surpass you and end up teaching you and the others but the main thing is to get it off the ground with good fundamentals which is the hard part.

Once they start making games and they are into it then it gets easy.

School E-Sports

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