eSports to Become an Official High School Activity

The National Federation of State High Schools is the organization in charge of various high school regulations, such as school sports. Now the NFHS has expressed a plan to implement eSports into the school system.
 

Some 72 percent of high school students consider themselves gamers. So we need to make sure that, as a national governing body, we work with the students interests and be a part of what the students are liking and what theyre doing.

The games in mind are MOBAs, sports games, and even fighting games. They've made a clear point that shooter games will be excluded, however. Titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Fortnite don't have a good place in their program, according to Mark Koski, CEO of NFHS Network, a joint venture between the NFHS and PlayOn! Sports to broadcast high school sporting events online.
 

First-person shooter games we believe do not fit within the education mindset that we are hoping to bring to this activity. We've continued to track esports over the past 18 months and believe that the timing is perfect for us. We know esports isn't just up and coming. It's here. We believe if we can have a partner with an esports focused company to help us facilitate this, it is much better for students to be behind the education walls between the hours of 2:30 to 5:30 versus being at their home or a friend's home.

Through a partnership with PlayVS, the NFHS is building the infrastructure needed to support school eSports. Through these efforts, schools can run official state championship competitions, and students can be formally recognized by athletic associations.

One of PlayVS' responsibilities is to coordinate with game developers to establish formally sanctioned school eSports games. The selection of games themselves will vary based on each state. This means that, while the NFHS will not approve any shooters, it's up to the state if they want to abide by that.