For now, the goal is cooperation with faculties

The e-sport community in Montenegro is experiencing significant growth day by day, and is gaining more and more influence among young people. The Union of Electronic Sports of Montenegro, through the organization of the tournament, as well as the panel discussions that it organizes with its partner NGO 4 Future, have contributed to changing the prejudices towards this branch of the industry.

The plan for the next period is to talk about the gaming industry in schools, and in this they will be helped by the recently achieved partnership with the American Global Network of School E-Sports - NASEF. By signing a memorandum with them, SESCG and 4Future joined the worldwide initiative that tries to present e-sports and gaming through the educational system

NASEF, a global non-governmental organization, provides structure and support to educators around the world to develop programs that connect students' passion for video games and e-sports with the exploration of career paths. At the same time, these programs develop important personal "soft skills" that will help young people in the modern work environment. NASEF capitalizes on students' overwhelming interest in team-based competitive video game play, offering career and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) education along with tournaments in the most popular games. Students explore potential career paths, participate in creative and analytical challenges, manage eSports clubs and events, and compete in popular game tournaments.

The vision of the Union of Electronic Sports of Montenegro is to support the development and promotion of competitive e-sports through education in secondary and higher schools in Montenegro. This includes providing assistance, organizing tournaments and providing information to schools and counselors. Through partnerships, NASEF helps students find pathways to college scholarships and careers in the gaming industry around the world.

“Research shows the effectiveness of eSports as a tool for meaningful STEAM and social-emotional learning. We are delighted that the Electronic Sports Association of Montenegro has recently become part of the NASEF family, where lecturers will be able to learn the best practices from school e-sports programs around the world. We look forward to supporting and growing this industry in Montenegro in the coming years," he said Gerald Solomon, founder and executive director of NASEF.

The delegation of Montenegro headed by the director of NGO 4Future Miom Kraljević-Čalasan she was at the lectures of this American organization during the recently held World Championship in e-sports, which was held in Iasi. It was the knowledge they showed, as well as the dedication they showed at the lectures, that the leaders of NASEF noticed, and after the event, NASEF offered cooperation to Montenegrin organizations.

"NASEF is the partner of IESF for education and considering that our NGO 4Ftuture cooperates with SESCG, which is a member of IESF, we heard about that organization and we had the opportunity during the World Championship in Romania to attend their trainings and better let's get to know their work", Kraljević-Ćalasan explains how the cooperation with the American organization came about.

Gaming is the fastest growing industry, but there are still prejudices in this area. In America, gaming is already discussed in primary schools, and the interviewee of "Vijesti" predicts how long it will take for this to change through the educational system in our country, and for children to be introduced to gaming even in the lower grades:

"An interesting question, because it was exactly one of the topics we talked about at some of the first meetings with NASEF. In essence, each educational system, as well as each country, has its own framework and principle of operation. It was up to us to recognize where we would most easily succeed in achieving some kind of cooperation and through a small window to enter the education system so that we could show on one example what NASEF's program actually offers. For now, our goal is to cooperate with some of the faculties in Montenegro, and that would be the beginning of this program," reveals Kraljević-Ćalasan's plans.

Apart from playing games, which makes up only about 10 percent of the gaming industry, through the programs and lectures of NASEF, other professions related to this field will be presented to those interested.

"A lot of jobs are tied to the gaming industry, or rather every job is potentially tied to the gaming industry. Here, just to list a few spheres: design, education, event organization, production, marketing, audio, IT, software engineers, game developers, commercial, animation, etc. I think there is something for everyone, and here I am perhaps a good example because I come from the world of marketing by profession, and I found myself in the part that is related to education", reveals the "Vijesti" interlocutor.

The director of the NGO 4Future, which deals with education as part of the Electronic Sports Association and organizing gaming conferences, graduated from the ITTI Barcelona Academy for Gaming, and is the first marketing manager in e-sports in Montenegro. Kraljević-Ćalasan reminds that even before signing with NASEF, 4Future was engaged in education through lectures, conferences, panel discussions, and that cooperation will facilitate the achievement of their goal.

"4Future has so far, in cooperation with SESCG, organized nine conferences and one independent presentation for the Days of Science and Innovation. Our main topic at these conferences and panel discussions is precisely e-sports, gaming, and how this area is connected with the economy and tourism in Montenegro. Signing a memorandum of cooperation with such a large and serious organization as NASEF is primarily a great honor, but also an obligation to justify trust. Given that the formal cooperation has now begun, we are entering the next phase where we get free access to the complete educational system that they implement at universities in America. So we have a big job ahead of us", Kraljević-Ćalasan is sure.

Recently, organized by 4 Future, the first Montenegro future festival was held in Bar, which also included the largest regional tournament in the title FIFA 23 with a prize fund of 10 euros. Given that they are planning many more projects, when asked how many new partners of 4 Future and SESCG will be involved in them and whether they will also hold lectures in the future, Kraljević-Ćalasan says:

"We are satisfied with how the first MFF went, where we organized three panel discussions during its duration. Of course, again the complete event was organized in cooperation with SESCG. We managed to contribute to the entire organization of the festival and I can say that this is just the beginning. We already have big plans for next year, so follow us", says Kraljević-Ćalasan.