Collegiate E-sports as Work or Play

Key insights

6 slides

The setting

Competitive gaming is a large industry with formal university programs.

MOBA and first-person shooter titles generate over $1 billion in global revenue and attract large streaming audiences. University-sponsored programs and scholarships have brought these activities into formal institutional settings.

Fun and seriousness

Players found the games fun yet reported a work-like seriousness.

Participants described competitive gaming as fun and exciting, with winning and creative strategic play central to their enjoyment. They also reported a work-like seriousness, especially pronounced in the scholarship environment.

Blurred boundary. The authors conclude that the boundary between work and play is blurred in this context.

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Summary

Collegiate E-sports as Work or Play examines whether competitive collegiate gaming should be classified as work, as play, or as something that blends the two. The study situates competitive gaming within a sizable and growing industry, noting that MOBA and first-person shooter titles generate over $1 billion in global revenue and attract large streaming audiences, while university-sponsored programs and scholarships have brought these activities into formal institutional settings. Drawing on philosophical accounts of play and work from Kant, Schiller, Huizinga, and Suits, the authors argue that competitive gaming's combination of intrinsic enjoyment and structured, demanding routines makes it resistant to simple categorization.

The empirical core of the work rests on twelve interviews with collegiate players at two North American universities, one with a scholarship-based program under athletics and one with a volunteer-run club, interpreted through Stebbins' serious leisure framework. Participants consistently described competitive gaming as fun and exciting, with winning and creative strategic play central to their enjoyment, yet they also reported a work-like seriousness, particularly in the more structured scholarship environment, where coaches offered guidance and feedback rather than strict control. The authors conclude that the boundary between work and play is blurred in this context.

The study further finds that participation fosters personal and social identity, confidence, and a sense of belonging, with institutional prestige and team membership reinforcing players' self-image. Players reported rapid rank progression and a deepening "gamesense" developed through team play and deliberate reflection, which the authors present as evidence of skill development and the personal rewards characteristic of serious leisure.