Tech View: Libraries can be gateway to e-sports, tech careers

Playing video games for a living is no longer a boomer punchline.

The video game industry is a $300 billion juggernaut, and within that sprawling universe, competitive gaming already drives $1.38 billion annually — and it’s growing fast.

Of course, we must think bigger than the game players alone, even as they are increasingly celebrated and paid at levels that rival “real” sports celebrities.

Video games are home to some of the most advanced technologies, and involve myriad skills: software development, multimedia design, AR and VR immersive world-building, and the melding of game theory and artificial intelligence.

Wrapped around that, you find marketing, recruiting and talent development, event planning and production, intellectual property and countless other disciplines that go along with any big business.

The opportunities are almost endless. And thanks to a new public-private partnership in Hawaii, getting started in gaming is more accessible than ever.

On Wednesday the TRUE Esports and Tech Lab opens at Waipahu Public Library. The newest collection comes not in the form of books, but five top-of-the-line gaming computers and a series of workshops and demonstrations by local and visiting tech and game professionals.

“This is the classroom of the future,” declared Gov. David Ige last week at the lab’s unveiling.

The governor joined other community leaders in acknowledging Hawaii’s growing preeminence in e-sports, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa hosting the global Overwatch League to Hawaii Pacific University’s 3,000 square-foot e-sports arena and scholarship programs.

Even the new Aloha Stadium Entertainment District is being designed with e-sports in mind, noted state Sen. Glenn Wakai.

State Librarian Stacy Aldridge, reminiscing about playing Pong in the early 1970s, marveled at how much has changed.

“I remember being so excited about this simple game that was one little dot going back and forth,” she said. “Now to be in this whole new universe of dynamic interconnection, going into the metaverse, people playing together in settings like this but also playing people globally — what an amazing, amazing world it is.”

TRUE stands for Technology Readiness User Evaluation, and it’s a technology literacy and workforce development program under the nonprofit Hawaii Executive Collaborative. That nonprofit status helped bridge the gap between Hawaii businesses and the state government and library system.

“I see so many skill sets that could be developed out of this endeavor that are really important life lessons for future careers,” said Paul Yonamine, chairman and CEO of Central Pacific Bank. “I’m all-in on all of this.”

The bank’s foundation, along with local tech firm Pacxa, were major partners among a dozen companies and organizations credited with building out the lab in an impressive six months. In addition to support from Hawaiian Telcom and HTDC, the unveiling included an exhibition game broadcast by ‘Olelo Community Media and ESPN Honolulu.

Yonamine noted that Hawaii has 51 public libraries that are important community resources, especially in providing technology and broadband access during the pandemic when work and school went remote.

“They’re great libraries but they’re underutilized,” he said, especially since Hawaii public libraries “have some of the fastest broadband connectivity in each of the communities that they’re in.”

“This is not an arcade,” noted Pacxa President Kelly Ueoka. “It really is a tech lab to use e-sports as a catalyst for playing and learning, and there’s a ton of learning opportunities.”

The game development curriculum will be provided by Honolulu-based Game­DevHQ.

While the Waipahu lab is the first, it hopefully isn’t the last.

“This is the first, hopefully, of 50 others that will follow,” Ige said.

The Waipahu Public Library e-sports and tech lab will be open during the same operating hours of the Waipahu Public Library. Public use of the equipment will be limited to two hours per person.

“I might not have become governor if this was available in Pearl City when I was a junior in high school,” joked Ige. “My wife keeps saying that I really should have built that next big game — maybe this is what my future holds.”

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Ryan Kawailani Ozawa has launched a scholarship in his late wife’s name to support nontraditional and returning college students at Kapiolani Community College. Learn more at hui.uhfoundation.org/hawaii.