ESG Gaming founder Lee Willows (left) and director of education James Fraser-Murison (right); photos by Bryce Glenwright
UK-based wellness tech non-profit ESG Gaming is set to host a series of esports workshops for those aged 55+.
The organisation, which launched two years ago, will be hosting the workshops from this Saturday June 22nd to Tuesday June 25th at the Festival Place Basingstoke shopping centre.
The pilot gaming workshops will run through esports industry basics, popular games like Fortnite and Minecraft, feature virtual reality and more.
ESG Gaming’s mission is to ‘understand how technology might reduce loneliness and social isolation, reduce the risk factors for dementia, and provide an alternative, drug-free prescription for depression among those aged 50 years and over’.
Its team includes the aforementioned ESG Gaming founder Lee Willows and director of education James Fraser-Murison, as well as non-executive director and co-founder Sam Cooke (of Esports Insider), community director Nathan Edmonds (who also recently set up his own agency, ‘Get In’) to name a few.
Speaking to Esports News UK at ESI London 2024 last week, James Fraser-Murison said: “The plan is to get out of our comfort zone, which, for me, is esports and education.
“We want to be able to help support those over the age of 55 using VR and AR, to give them an entirely new experience, to give them something to do, give them an activity that helps combat social isolation.”
James Fraser-Murison, ESG Gaming
“And having an active brain can help with slowing down the offset of dementia, which is an important thing for us at ESG Gaming.
“We also want to use esports/gaming workshops to help support parents and grandparents with knowing about the likes of Minecraft and Fortnite, and for them to feel confident about having these types of conversations with people younger than them. And dare I say the over 55s can have some fun with it themselves too, because why not.
“We’re not expecting people over the age of 55 to turn up and suddenly become Platinum level in whatever game. If they are, great, but we feel it might help them engage in more conversations with their children and grandchildren [about gaming].
“The programme I’ve put together covers the basics of consoles and PCs, having a run around in a virtual game, like Rocket League, go into the tournament rules and competitive elements, and create small teams.”
James said that those aged slightly under 55 wouldn’t be turned away, but for the national workshops it hopes to run in the future, ESG wants to target those aged 55 and above.
Lee Willows added: “We’re really ambitious. There’s lots of stuff for young people in esports, but our USP is what about those parents and grandparents [that want to understand it]. It’s about safeguarding, knowing what our kids are doing online and being in tune with that.
“Wouldn’t it be amazing if we can work with some UK esports teams and charitable organisations, put all those people in that experience, pilot it, get it evaluated, and then see what the outcome is. Could this be a substitute for medication, for taking anti-depressants and so on? Nobody seems to be doing this in the UK.
“So it’s a pilot for now, we’ll do lots of learning along the way and make mistakes, but I hope that if we get it right, I think we could take this outside of Europe. But let’s see.”
It’s not the first time esports has targeted the older generation. Lenovo Legion put together a ‘Silver Snipers’ Counter-Strike team of senior combatants, and there have been several older content creators, like 88-year-old ‘Skyrim Grandma’ Shirley Curry, and Call of Duty streamer Neil Guest, aka The Fossil, who sadly recently passed away.
Lee also hopes to give back to the esports community through ESG Gaming.
“As a relatively new guy in this sector, we want to donate a percentage of our surplus into the community,” he said. “We provided the prize fund for the ESI Film Festival 2023 and we’re going to be doing that again in Lisbon this year. Alongside that, there’s various creatives in the space we’re helping them with, with hardware and travel etc. The sense of community is strong in esports, and if we can bring older people into that, they have the time and can contribute to the community too.
“We’d love to work with brands that want to engage with a different type of cohort, so reach out to James or I and we’d love to have that conversation with you.
“I’m 51, and I do feel there’s a lot of stuff for young people in esports. But there’s nothing stopping you making a great career in esports, whatever your age. Society focuses on creativity and young people, but I want to get case studies about older people getting involved in gaming and esports too. We’ve done a few workshops with older people and it really resonates with them. We have a VR dome full of nostalgic stuff, and moments in history, so it’s geared up with that audience.
‘We’re really ambitious. These are pilot workshops for now, we’ll do lots of learning along the way and make mistakes, but I hope that if we get it right, I think we could take this outside of Europe.’
Lee Willows, ESG Gaming
“AT ESI Singapore we’re going to create a VR dome specifically for Singaporean people, and for ESI in Lisbon, we’ll be doing a Portuguese related dome. The appetite is there. I’ve been humble that people have been keen and engaged with us.”
James added: “On our VR dome, we’ve been really lucky to have the support of our partners HTC, so we put a dome together with an old-school jukebox and bar and pictures, that people of a certain age would recognise. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t seem to exist [elsewhere].”
Lee also said ESG is looking for esports teams to partner with, and will donate £5,000 to each team that might want to work with them.
ESG is also at Cottesmore School today, which is running the first prep school esports tournament in the UK, an event that esports educator Nik Turner is also a part of.
Earlier this year, ESG Gaming was awarded best product and stand at the education Bett Show in London.
There’s more info on the ESG Gaming website
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
