SOCIAL CHANGE WITH ESPORTS

There are two pathways in the Esports business I have come to discover:

PATHWAY 1: BUSINESS & PROFIT

The pathway to commercial gain thus is to make money, and make a profit, the end game is to pivot the emerging space to build personal wealth. In essence in collective and individual aspirations that is what most of us want to be.

PATHWAY 2: SOCIAL CHANGE

2. The pathway to social change, is to use Esports as a tool to impact positively, to correct, direct, and empower the PEOPLE for better livelihood.

Sociologists define social change as?changes in human interactions and relationships that transform cultural and social institutions. These changes occur over time and often have profound and long-term consequences for society.

-- Google.

Every single day I ponder over the possibilities of social change with Esports, especially for the youth, and time and time again I am deeply convinced that Esports holds a certain key to unlocking some social transformation and human capital development.

I believe in sowing into the lives of young people. It is that legacy some of us are committed to. It is not about titles and accolades. It is about shifting paradigms and changing the narratives with the gift of play. Giving back to Society what society thought sometime back that videogames were negative.

• Making Welfare, Health, and personal development of Gamers and athletes a priority.
• Building Communities that are inclusive.
• Raising transformational leadership that can use strategies of problem-solving abilities to solve real-life issues within our communities.
• Empower kids with adaptive skill development learning and knowledge-sharing strategies
• Pivot on Esports and Gaming Technologies to preserve our culture, traditions and values of our society.
• Own and curate our own narratives and history in videogames

As a thought leader within this space in Africa, I see beyond the now the power to use Esports to save our young generation from drugs, negative self-destructive tendencies and guns. Alleviate poverty that leads to unemployment, social imbalance and social unrest, which leads to young people forming gangs and arming robbery syndicates.?For me even if we can get 5 per cent of the youth to engage meaningfully employed doing something they love and have a passion for... that is social change.

Even now one social intervention that is very dear to my heart is to use Esports as a correctional tool for juveniles in prisons, and also a tool for social integration for young people to be re-instituted into society after a jail term, placing them in Esports teams to be accepted and cared for my teammates, to have some form of employment within the gaming and esports space, which have lower entry barriers. Promote Game responsible and Content Creation as a better livelihood that keeps giving.

The agenda here will be to harness the power of the youth to rebuild our nation, mentally, physically, emotionally, economically and intelligently.?The good thing, I know for sure, the road to social change with Esports is a very long road, I may not live long enough to see the fruits or harvest, but we are determined within our spirits to charter and walk on that pathway.?

People who are interested in building social change with Esports are committed to collective gains, their business model as usual a better future with Esports. and thinks deeply about the future implications of their decisions. I have come to understand in most cases people get into this esports space via passion and community-oriented dreams to impact communities first and to be sustainable. They will do anything and everything for the collective interest of all. For me, that is a great precedent to set within emerging industry such as Esports.?A safe, peaceful society promotes business harmony but as always there will be others whose agenda within the esports space is totally different.

Am I perfect? Absolutely NO!, I have my own shortcomings and fallouts, but my determination and destination for Esports are for social change. I will forever place people and passion before monetary gains. "I will always place Relationships (people) before money" and that I believe has become my weakness as well.

Esports has all the benefits of history to be 10 times better administered for a greater GOOD and impact in the world. That is the reason we need to protect and safeguard the integrity of the space by being holistic and positive in our efforts in developing Esports for Social Change.

With the emergence of Web3 pivoting on blockchain technology which thrives on decentralised wealth creation, we have an opportunity to level up especially those of us in Africa to innovate and accelerate our youth development agenda with Entrepreneurship. With Play to Earn and other initiatives within the space, Esports is just a bridge into the future of digital adoption, career and culture.

The things that move me are People, Passion and Hope. These things empower me to do what I do every day thinking, and meditating about Esports for a better livelihood.

What can I do to change my life with Esports?

What can you do to change somebody's life with Esports

Food for thought!

My name is Kwesi Hayford and I love #Esports4Good