Over 40 Singapore youths interested in gaming wrapped up their month of June at a first-of-its-kind esports camp organised by *SCAPE.
The League of Legends (LoL) EXP Summer Camp that happened from 27 to 29 June, is part of *SCAPEesports’ Exposure & Xperience Programme 2019 (EXP2019).
This concludes *SCAPE’s Summer Camp series after their Mobile Legends: Bang Bang camp that was held in the first half of the month.
The FIFA Camp will only be held after FIFA20 has been launched, a *SCAPE spokesperson clarified.
Participants aged between 13 to 25 “praised” organisers for the event that left them with fresh knowledge of the industry and the opportunity to forge new friendships.
Contrary to what people may think about esports camps, the EXP Summer Camp was designed to engage participants through esports insights from pro gamers, gaming-related challenges, and outdoor activities.
This helps participants build on their interpersonal skills and achieve clarity about their potential in esports.
According to *SCAPE, while most activities were held at the youth hub at *SCAPE, 90% of the time was spent off-screen.
One of the highlights of the LoL esports camp was an Amazing Race challenge that took place at Sentosa.
Participants also took part in a team-building activity held at Focus Adventure in Sentosa where they had to work with their teammates to conquer a 24m high challenge tower.
23-year-old Nicholas Tan, a student, said, “Most of us come from different backgrounds and had never met, so it’s great that there were many fun games that allowed us to know our teammates better and build up the camaraderie.”
“It was also great to have face-to-face interaction with fellow gamers that we previously only recognised by their online tags.”
He added that participants could win virtual prizes in the various activities conducted over the three days but they learnt that “what matters most is to have fun and to win as a team”.
Part of the camp included workshops on handling ’tilt’ – a negative emotional state a player gets into, usually triggered when they lose games consecutively – and handling toxic online behaviour.
Samuel ‘Sequinox’ Chan, a professional gamer with local esports team, Resurgence, led the talk on toxicity and tilt management.
Another student at the camp, Rohan Raj (18), shared, “The virtual world and gaming can be toxic at times, but the pros provided many interesting examples where reacting to online banter or losing your cool will only worsen your performance.”
“The talk on Tilt Management has given me fresh insights on how to deal with gameplay stress.”
Campers also took a DISC Personality test on the last day of the camp which helped them understand more about themselves and how they should react to people, online and offline.
Participants looking to make a career out of esports were treated to sharing sessions on the first and second days, with industry experts Jayf “Babael” Soh, team owner of Resurgence, Darrell Sin, founder of Sin Esports, and Gamestart executive, Reuben Sim.
They provided glimpses into the gaming industry and helped them better understand the esports ecosystem as they acted as mentors and coaches to the campers while they come up with game strategies and prepare for a friendly, in-camp tournament.
EXP2019 is offering 40 workshops from July to December with modules ranging from in-game skills and tactics, cyber-wellness, content creation, streaming, commentary work, and more.
*SCAPE is calling for any aspiring esports individuals to join them in growing the budding esports communities in Singapore.
Find out more about EXP2019 here.
Featured Image Credit: *SCAPE
