Teacher Positions and Play Qualities in Esports at Specially Planned Youth Education Programmes

This study examines how teachers' positioning shapes the emotional and sensory dynamics of esports activities in Denmark's Specially Planned Youth Education (STU) institutions, which serve young people with special needs. Drawing on two years of fieldwork across three sites and grounded in play theory and phenomenology, the work treats esports as a playful, situated practice rather than merely an instrument for learning outcomes. Its central claim is that teacher presence helps students regulate emotions, sustain engagement, and build social connection. The empirical base is qualitative, centred on narrative vignettes of League of Legends and Counter-Strike play, and the sample is primarily male, with all teachers male.

The core finding concerns four teacher positions (observer, instructor, playing coach, and adult co-player) and how movement between them shapes the group's play mood. A shift from observer to instructor can calm a frantic match toward a progression-focused mood, while stepping in as a playing coach can convert joyful but destructive play into a tense, performative atmosphere. Acting as a co-player, by contrast, tends to heighten euphoria through risk-taking and banter. Moods identified across the sessions include devotion, intensity, tension, and euphoria.

The authors conclude that the capacity to move fluidly between these positions and thereby influence play mood is a key competency for esports teachers. They are careful to note, however, that the qualitative evidence cannot establish that any particular position reliably produces a specific mood, so the findings should be read as descriptive and suggestive rather than causal. The work draws on Nordic and Danish education research on inclusion, teacher-child interaction, and game studies on play and game feel.