Gaming brings the community together |12 July 2023
The Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) has partnered with various associations and businesses to have a platform for empowerment of the youths.
One of the methods used is bringing the gaming community together through one partnership with SeyGamers – a gaming business promoting the benefits of Xbox gaming in Seychelles.
In an interview with Seychelles NATION, SNYC’s chief executive, Albert Duncan, said they had noticed there was a large community of gamers in Seychelles, after a group of youngsters brought back a medal from an E-Gaming competition.
“We saw that this is something that interests them and brings them together,” he said. At this point, a partnership was formed, beginning with Cable and Wireless, which sponsored some of the equipment and the consoles, the Xbox. Another contributor was Active Electronics. The facilitator is Alph Aglae, who also helped out a lot.
Following the success of the existing gaming competition at the Anse Royale Youth Service Bureau, SNYC said it saw an opportunity to build onto that. All gaming activities presently take place at the centre, whereby a youth can just drop in.
Mr Duncan stated there was a quick realisation that some younglings were making a living from e-gaming, by winning competitions online and getting prize money.
The executive officer said they could also take the opportunity to play games with others and use it as a method of networking.
“We thought about making it something structured like a federation, so that they can also reach back to the youth to make it in a competitive fashion, but at the same time that will unite the youth,” he stated.
SNYC is also considering a regional gaming competition in the country. Currently, the main competitive game is FIFA, a football simulator game, which is well-liked by both boys and girls.
Mr Duncan encouraged the youth to keep a lookout for these sort of activities but stressed this was not gaming just for the sake of gaming. “Everything done in excess is not good. We are not encouraging abusing playing games. There needs to be that aspect of socialising and networking above all. That being said, this is still bringing in money for certain youths and even becoming a career. Digitisation is the new way the world is moving in and there is a reason behind all of this,” he stated.
The main console that is used is the Xbox Series X|S due to the premium subscription service that Microsoft offers called Gamepass that gives the players access to over 400+ games, both old and latest day one releases for only $16.66 per month.
Selwyn Christopher Laurencine, owner of SeyGamers and big promoter of Xbox, said he was brought in for the expertise and his knowledge on gaming.
Mr Laurencine explained that SNYC had to start off with the Xbox Series S, a cheaper console compared to the Series X due to it being a digital only console and not having a disc drive. In addition, the Series S is also less technologically advanced than the Series X, henceforth why the price is cheaper.
They wanted to put the latest PlayStation 5 as well but the gamepass subscription service was a better value for money and a better way to be able to get a wide assortment of games for the youth. In addition, Mr Laurencine stated that the latest FIFA game at the time was released on gamepass, therefore allowing the youth to play the football simulator at only $16.66 per month instead of the standard $70 price tag for latest games.
SeyGamers actually sponsored the gamepass at first. In addition, Mr Laurencine also copied the games via external hard drive to the sponsored consoles, another advantage of the Xbox. “This is how we actually partnered with SNYC to bring the initiative that they wanted to start. We also shared the same goals. We want to take away the negative influences away from the youth. We know that there are a lot of negative influences, drugs and alcohol. So we discussed and saw that this was a good thing,” he said.
SeyGamers itself was the idea of two gamers – Mr Laurencine himself and his friend. They used to play games full time online and Mr Laurencine turned into a hard core Xbox fan. “Xbox is in my blood because of its business strategy.”
In conclusion, Mr Laurencine said the health benefits to playing video games include helping a person’s development.
It helps them to move quickly on their feet and react faster in general. “It is also good for your eyes. A lazy eye will not be an eye that is properly trained. When you are playing games, you are moving your eyeballs left right and centre. Spinning of your eyeballs is good for your vision.”
Video games can act as distractions from pain and psychological trauma and can also help people who are dealing with mental disorders like anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Sunny Esparon
Photos contributed
