Pre-service physical education teachers ’ perceptions of esports as a potential career pathway

Background Problems : The world of sports and gaming has witnessed a significant transformation in recent years. Esports, which refers to competitive video gaming, has gained immense popularity among individuals of all ages. This article explores the perception of health and sports education pre-service teachers on esports, specifically focusing on Mobile Legend, PUBG Mobile, Crossfire, and Valorant as potential future professional careers. Research Objectives : The purpose of this research is to know the perception of health and sports education pre-service teachers on eSports as a future professional career. Methods : This study uses a mixed method to collect data through quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus group interviews) methods. There were 116 people with different backgrounds to fill out the form. The instruments used were a questionnaire and a discussion guide. The first instrument that was used was a questionnaire using a g-form, followed by discussion. The data analysis used Miles dan Huberman technique. Findings and Results : As a result, about the health and sport education pre-service teacher perception through esports, Mobile Legend placed first as the most played esports, followed by PUBG Mobile, Crossfire, and Valorants in the last place. 88.8% said that esports can be a professional career, with some of them already making money from playing the game. 94.82% of players playing esports are only for entertaining or filling free time, but most of them, especially the Mobile Legend players, understand the rules and the strategy to win the game. About 50.9% of online game addiction behaviours may occur among adolescents. Conclusion : As a conclusion, pre-service physical education teachers’ perceptions show that they believe that esports can be a potential career pathway.


INTRODUCTION
Since emerging in the 1990s, the popularity of esports and organised competitive gaming has grown enormously in recent years (Rogstad, 2022).Gaming on consoles, computers, most recently smartphones, and other devices has now been a part of our society for several decades and has been growing tremendously fast in recent years (Block & Haack, 2021).The first mentions of "electronic sport" or "esport" date back to the late 1990s (Huk, 2019).Esports has been defined as "an organised and competitive approach to playing computer games" (Witkowski, 2012).Esport, understood as video game competitions in which consumers, businesses, and other stakeholders are involved through multiple interactions, has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years (Elasri-Ejjaberi et al., 2020).Esports refers to competitive sports that occur in a virtual world and are facilitated via human-electronic device interaction (Elasri-Ejjaberi et al., 2020).As esports continues to evolve into a major global industry, with elite-level competitions generating billions of dollars in revenues, millions of viewers streaming live events, and thousands of fans packed weekly into arenas around the world, the industry has witnessed a considerable increase in the number of participants in playing esports games (Xue et al., 2019).Not only for people in developed countries, esoprts are also famous among people in developing countries.
As esports continue to grow, sustainability will become increasingly relevant for any stakeholder, despite individual actors in the ecosystem often lacking sustainability (Nyström et al., 2022).Esports is short for electronic sports and refers to competitive video gaming with tournament and league structures just like traditional sports (Zhou et al., 2020).Unlike traditional video game modes that involve interaction between player and machine (single player game) or between player and machine (single player game) and between player and other players (online multiplayer game), it works as below: The dual logic of watching traditional sports events (McGillivray, 2014).Bertschy et al. (2020) investigate how participation in esports game simulations has influenced the meaning of football brands and the need for more events that connect traditional sports and esport with traditional sports and esport fans.The core meaning of the brand needs to be highlighted.Similarly, 20 professional football players joined the "Stay and Play Cup" in the esports game FIFA 20 (Ke & Wagner, 2020).After all, sports are clouded by harmful stereotypes and a toxic culture.The stigmas and stereotypes surrounding gaming culture are a major problem for sport organisations looking to affiliate with esports (Pizzo et al., 2022).A lack of familiarity and the perceived negative culture surrounding esports require sport organisations to develop strategies that proactively account for potential barriers to integration (Pizzo et al., 2022).
We are currently witnessing the informatisation of show business when the merger of modern cultural components emerges, such as esports, which becomes increasingly popular among youth (Shynkaruk et al., 2021).The definition of sport found in the Oxford English Dictionary includes that most people see esports as sport, where sport is defined as an activity involving physical work and skill where a person or team has fun.compete with others for (Santoso et al., 2022).However, the origin and development of esports are mainly related to global esports (WCG) tournaments (Huk, 2019).
Sports games can be categorised into different genres; for example, games can be multiplayer online battle arena games, real-time strategy games, or tactical first-person shooter games (Coates & Parshakov, 2021).There are two kinds of eSports tournaments.Low-level tournaments are usually organised as online events, but all major tournaments are live events in front of an audience (Parshakov et al., 2020).Watching the League of Legends World Championship 2016 via online stream is simply the crowd that is loud and engaged in every match that the opposing team plays and drives out the match commentators.This escapism plays a big role in attracting consumers to watch eSports events (Reitman et al., 2020).In 2023, esports will also appear on the SEA Games 2023, between Southeast Asian athletes.There are six esports that SEA Games held, such as Mobile Legend: Bang-Bang, PUBG Mobile, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Crossfire, Attack Online 2, and Valorant.According to upstation.asia,there are 10 esports that are commonly played in Indonesia: Mobile Legend (52%), PUBG Mobile (29.7%),Free Fire (23%), FIFA (12.8%),PUBG FC (12.6%),PES (12%), Arena of Valour (10.8%),DOTA 2 (8.5%),Clash Royale (.5%), and Point Blank (6.2%).
As a pre-service teacher in health and sports education, the majority, the students need to understand how the world is changing, including the development of esports.Esports become the integration of sport, collaboration, strategy, technology, and teamwork.As technology keeps developing, most of the students are using smartphones and also playing games.That's why it's needed to know pre-service teachers perceptions of esports in detail, including the most commonly used esports.Differences in athletes' perceptions of leadership according to sport performance were also analysed for the three domains of leadership (e.g., transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and decision-making leadership) (Gomes et al., 2020).A lot of research has been done about esports, such as Mukhidinov (2022) about the classification of sports games, Coates & Parshakov (2021) about team vs. individual tournaments in esports 3, and Dong et al. (2023) about the dynamic scheduling of esports tournaments, but there has been no research about the perception of esports, especially in 2023 after a lot of tournaments of game sports have been held, such as the SEA Games.
As technology continues to advance and gaming becomes increasingly integrated into mainstream culture, the future of esports looks promising.With a dedicated fan base and a growing number of professional players, eSports is poised to continue its upward trajectory.The potential for new games, innovative technologies, and expanded opportunities for players and teams indicates that esports will remain a significant force in the entertainment industry for years to come.Several studies about esports in Indonesia have been carried out and show that mobile games have many positive effects that can be taken, one of which is the ability to make friends and form new relationships.Even now, online games can be an alternative to earning income or can be said to be a field of employment (Putra & Wahyudi, 2022).The impact of esports games on sports culture includes hard work, discipline, respect, and competition among gamers who are fond and professional in operating the game (Nugroho et al., 2022).Several studies show positive results regarding the application of e-sports in Indonesia, such as (Nugroho et al., 2022;Qomarrullah et al., 2022).Both from improving the economy, social relations, and character.However, what about the main field of sports education in Indonesia itself, which is sports education?As is known, not many universities in Indonesia offer esports as part of their main or elective courses.Of course, before going any further, researchers want to know: is esports familiar to sports education students?What is the perspective of sports students regarding esports as a professional career?
Esports, also known as electronic sports, has emerged from a niche subculture into a global phenomenon.With millions of fans and a booming industry, the perception of esports plays a crucial role in its continued growth and acceptance.In this article, we will delve into the significance of esports perception and its impact on the industry's future.The perception of esports holds immense significance in shaping its trajectory and impact.By actively working to cultivate a positive and inclusive image, the esports industry can broaden its appeal, attract valuable investments, and solidify its position in the global entertainment landscape.The continued efforts to shape a positive perception of esports are essential to ensuring its sustained growth and success in the years to come.

METHOD Type of Research
This study used mixed methods such as quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus group discussion and in-depth interview) to give participants more opportunities to express their views.Mixed-methods systematic reviews (MMSRs) provide a more complete basis for complex decision-making than that currently offered by single-method reviews, maximising their usefulness to clinical and policy decisions (Wahyuningtyas et al., 2019).Quantitative preference assessments emphasise relative value and provide quantitative evidence on the patient's perceptions or experiences, perspectives, needs, and priorities regarding a disease, condition, treatment, service (including diagnostics and preventive services), or system (Hollin et al., 2020).There were two different methods used to collect the perceptions of the pre-service teacher: a questionnaire and an interview.A questionnaire is a behavioural or psychological measuring instrument designed to collect qualitative information from members of a population, which can then be transformed into quantitative or numerical data for analysis (Oben, 2021).

Participant
There were 116 pre-service students of health and sports education as a sample, from different genders, ages, backgrounds of education, and occupations.There are 16 questions on the questionnaire that the sample needs to fill out, and then the interview was held after the questionnaire.Participants of differing skill levels were included in order to determine whether the effects would be moderated by the knowledge and experience of the observer in the same manner shown previously for static schematic display.The objective of the interview was to seek detailed responses from the questionnaire, and the interview was held for 15 days to interview the entire sample.

Instrument
There are two instruments in this research, which are a questionnaire and an interview guide.The instrument of this study has high reliability (Kappa 0.60-0.73)and a sufficient level of validity (0.65).It has also been noted that K can be modified to take account of the relative seriousness of the different types of disagreement that can arise between the two observers.This leads to a coefficient called weighted kappa (K~) and its mean and variance are also considered (Everitt, 1968).

Research Procedure
In qualitative research, the research instrument is the researcher himself, who in this case is assisted by a prepared list of topics.In this study, the researcher is the researcher as well as the designer, implementer, data collector, data analyst, data interpreter, and reporter of research results.The validity of the data in this study was tested to obtain data that truly met the aims and objectives of the study.

Data Analysis
Triangulation techniques were used to test the validity of the data.Quantitative data analysis uses descriptive percentage data analysis methods as well as percentage descriptive data analysis formulas.This analysis is divided into four parts: 1) data collection, 2) data reduction, 3) data presentation, and 4) drawing conclusions.

Quantitative Result
Quantitative data analysis is the process of analysing and interpreting numerical data.Data visualisations highlight similarities and differences between data sets and show the relationships between variables.The Cronbach's alpha test results on the questionnaire about the characteristic and esport perception are shown in Table 1.
The age gap of the sample was between 18 and 28; there were no underage students in this sample.That means that every person in the sample is responsible for the decisions and activities they take, including playing games.The first question from the questionnaire is about the student's age: 26.8% are 21 years old, and 40.5% are 20 years old.The second question is about gender; there are 71.6%men and 28.4% women.
The third question is about educational background: 89.7% graduated from high school and are now students in health and sport education; 9.5% have just graduated from health and sport education but are still not working yet; and 0.9% have a non-degree diploma qualification.The next question is about what kind of game part of esports such is as Crossfire, Valorant, PUBG, Mobile, and Mobile Legends that all the samplers have played until now.80.2% are playing Mobile Legend as their daily game; 33.6% are PUBG Mobile; 4.3% are valorant; and 6.9% are Cross Fire.

Graph 1. Games Played by The Sample
Graph 3 shows that 47.8% play games less than an hour, 33% play game 1-2 hours, 10.4% play 2-3 hours, 5.2% play 3-4 hours, and 3.5% play more than 4 hours a day.From the 100% sample, 88.8% said that esports can be a professional career, and 11.2% said otherwise.

Qualitative Result Theme 1: Reason for Playing E-Sport Games Subtheme: Overall reason for playing esports games
From the 116 sample, 100 people, or 94.82%, said that playing esports is only for entertaining or filling free time; 2.59% said that they play esports because they want to be professional gamers, including getting additional funding; and 2.59% said that they play esports for social life.Examples of comments are shown below: "Playing this game only for leisure-time entertainment" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 13 th )."Playing games only for fun" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 25 th )."Looking for friends" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 27 th )."Trying to find as many friends" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 28 th )."Making money from selling an account" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 33 rd )."Esports can help students enhance their career prospects and earning potential" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 49 th )."I like a challenge" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 54 th ).
Theme 2: E-Sport Knowledges Subtheme: Mobile Legends players knowledge about the rules of the game Mobile Legends is one of the esports with the highest percentage that pre-service teachers play, which is 80.2%.The next question refers to all the samples who play Mobile Legend about the rule, and the comment shows below: "Choose our favourite hero and crush the opponents' turrets" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 13 th )."There are five players on one team, and they need to crush the opponents' turrets" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 29 th )."1.Choose 2 heroes; 2. Upgrade emblem and select items; 3. Don't be reckless; 4. Move forward and act by referring to the mini map; 5. Focus on attacking turret; 6. Cooperative with all the team members" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 65 th )."The best of three games is a match format term to determine the winner of three games, sets, or matches that must be carried out by the teams involved in them".Most of the Mobile Legend players know about the rules of the game, even the tips and strategies to win.

Subtheme: Non-Mobile Legend players knowledge about the rule of the game
We also asked the non-Mobile Legend players a follow-up question to gauge their understanding of the game, and we found that most of them were familiar with the rules despite not playing Mobile Legend.An example explanation is below: Crossfire players: "Choose Aamon's skill and use the right builds, emblems, and battle spil."(From an in-depth interview with the interviewee on 26 th ."This game has a multiplayer genre."(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 47 th) ."Team player to attack the enemy" (from an in-depth interview with interviewee 68 th) .PUBG Mobile players: "Shooting and attacking the enemy" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 77 th )."Cannot use cheat" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 79 th )."War" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 85 th ).

Subtheme: PUBG Mobile players knowledge about the rules of the game
PUBG Mobile is in second place as a game played by a pre-service teacher, which is 33.6%.The followup question shows the answer of the player's knowledge about the rule.UBG Mobile is in second place as a game played by a pre-service teacher, which is 33.6%.The follow-up question shows the player's knowledge about the rules."Set the Control as Comfortable as Possible, pay attention to your Landing Spot, always pay attention to the mini map, Weapon Selection, Use Vehicle, Stay Alert Even though the Enemy Succeeds to Fall" (From an indepth interview with interviewee 13 th )."Divided into 5 maps, namely Livik, Vikendi, Sanhok, Miramar, Karakin, the length of the game depends on how big or not the map is" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 46 th )."The PUBG mobile game is an online-based war game that can be played solo or in teams" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 55 th ).
"Set the Control as Comfortable as Possible, pay attention to your Landing Spot, Always Be Alert When Looting Equipment, use earphones to improve focus, always pay attention to the mini map, Select the Weapons, Use Vehicles, Stay Alert Even though the Enemy Succeeds to Fall" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 86 th ).Basically, as the players of the game, all the players know the rules and the strategy to win the game.
Subtheme: Non-PUBG Mobile players knowledge about the rule of the game Mobile Legend players: "This game is unique, because basically this is a team game" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 17 th )."Set the control as comfortable as possible.Watch your landing spot.Always be care full when looting equipment.Use earphones to increase focus.Always pay attention to the mini map.Weapon selection.Use a vehicle.Stay alert even though the enemy has fallen" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 19 th )."There are only 4 people in one team even if we play with 100 people" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 27 th ).
Crossfire players: "Shooting between 2 vs 2 or 4 vs 4 team" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 7 th )."Set the controls as comfortable as possible, Weapon selection, Use a vehicle" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 9 th )."Game that can be played with more than 100 people" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 101 th ).

Subtheme: Crossfire players knowledge about the rules of the game
On the third position of the most played game from the questionnaire is crossfire with 6,9%.Follow up question shows the answer about the rule of the game: "How to play shooting" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 6 th )."Video games about shooting" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 14 th )."Including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, and many more.Each game mode has unique style" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 111 th )."The narrative consists of the arrival of fearsome terrorists whose progress has been alarming and have taken over the most important cities, therefore, here you have to arm yourself and practice your best strategy to liberate the civilians and claim control over every space dominated by the terrorists who did that" (From an in-depth interview with interviewee 115 th ).
Subtheme: Non-Crossfire players knowledge about the rule of the game Mobile Legend players: "For players who are playing with their ID for the first time, the system will ask you to create your character's "nickname".Create your unique nickname, then click Confirm to check the name, then click OK.This nickname is your name in all combat modes in the game Cross Fire in your account.(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 8 th ."In this game, there are two types of games, namely Battle Royale and PVP.For Battle Royale itself, it is a match game where 120 people are placed on an island to survive as the last person alive and become the winner.As for the PVP game itself, it is a kind of Counter-Strike game where there are terrorist and counterterrorist teams.The game lasts 10 minutes, and the highest total number determines the winner in this game."(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 10 th ."In one team, there are five people whose goal is to destroy the enemy's turret base."(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 100 th ).PUBG players: "Shoot opponents to get points' or win the match."(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 5 th) ."Play with teams."(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 11 th ."The team that has reached the predetermined point limit is declared the winner."(From an in-depth interview with an interviewee on 17 th) .

Subtheme: Valorant players knowledge about the rules of the game
Valorant has the last presentation of the other 3 video games that are played by pre-service teachers, with 4.3%.Example comment' of the rules: "Communicate.Like a game that requires a team, communication is one way to achieve victory."(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 11 th )."I don't know the game yet."(From an in-depth interview with interviewee 94 th ."Shooting game" (from an in-depth interview with interviewee 99 th )."Every match in Valorant has two teams of five players.The game itself will run for 13 rounds.The team that manages to win for 13 rounds will come out as the winner.In one round, there is only one life, but when you get shot, you can return to play in the next round.Each team can achieve victory by defeating all the opposing players.The team is divided into two, namely the attacking team and the defending team.The attack team (attacker) aims to plant bombs called spikes at several locations in the area.Meanwhile, the defence team has a duty to set off the bomb and prevent the attack team from planting the bomb.At the start of each round, players will earn money called Creds, which can be used to buy weapons, armour, and abilities.Use these credentials as well as possible to help you win" (from an in-depth interview with interviewee 114 th ).

Subtheme: Non-Valorant knowledge about the rule of the game
Most of the non-valorous gamers don't know about the rules of the game of valorants.
The main objective of this study is to understand the perceptions of health and physical education teachers about each e-sports service contributing to the Southeast Asian Games 2023, including Mobile Legend, PUBG Mobile Valorant, and Crossfire.
From the 116 students who participated in this research, all of them are playing esports, even just to entertain themselves or fill their free time.According to the findings, gender is not one of the factors that affects the student's perceptions of esports because females also play the game, not just males.The students are aged 18-28, with a different background in education, but 88.8% agree that esports can be a part of a professional career.The other 11.2% are not.From the 11.2% follow-up question about why they think esports cannot be a professional career, it is because for them, playing games is only for entertaining themselves in leisure time.Serious leisure can be defined as an intermediate activity between casual leisure and work with beneficial implications, such as gaining self-concept and identity development during the activity (e.g., amateur sport attendance) (Bányai et al., 2018).The esports career has become one of the most remarkable career options for young people recently (Bingöl & Çakir, 2021).Therefore, esports is actually a really promising career in the future, including being an esports athlete.
The result also shows that Mobile Legend is the most played game, with 80.2% of students choosing Mobile Legend.Most of the students who choose Mobil Legend also know the rules of the game very well, as well as the strategy to win the game.Not only the Mobile Legend player, but most of the other gamers like PUBG Mobile, Valorant, and Crossfire also understand the rule and even know the best strategy to win the Mobile Legend games.The high level of competition from this type of MOBA game attracts a lot of attention from game players, and it is often held in official tournaments or competitions both regionally and internationally (Chan et al., 2020).Looking at how many people play Mobile Legend and know the rules, the strategy is also one of the reasons Mobile Legend is one of the most promising esports, especially in the future if they keep upgrading with the technology.
Mobile legend, PUBG Mobile, Valorant, and Crossfire are three esports that have already been held at the SEA Games 2023.Player Unknowns Battle Grounds (PUBG) is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a South Korean secondary video game company known as Bluehole (D'souza et al., 2019).PUBG Mobile requires customers to make in-app purchases to unlock certain levels and features by purchasing gold skins and other Unknown Cash (UC).In-app purchases are an important factor in measuring the success of a game (Putra & Wahyudi, 2022) Most of the Mobile Legend players understand the strategy and rules of PUBG Mobile; some of them can even explain the strategy diligently.
In the case of Crossfire, even though it is one of the most unplayable games, all of the players know how to play and also the strategy to win.And again, the non-Crossfire players, which are Mobile Legend players, know the rules of Crossfire as well as the strategy.Valorant position on the last between Mobile Legend, PUBG Mobile, and Cross Fire.All the players of Valorant understand the game rules and strategy, but the non-players show differently, which is that most of them don't know how to play Valorant or the basic rules of Valorant games.
Esports have become increasingly popular in recent years, with new titles such as Mobile Legend, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Crossfire, and Valorant being some of the most popular competitive games.Esports mobile gaming has been steadily growing in popularity in recent years.Mobile Legends has become a global phenomenon.It is one of the most popular mobile esports games in the world, with millions of players competing in professional tournaments.Mobile Legends is a 5v5 Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game that pits teams of five players against each other in strategic and intense battles.Players must coordinate with their teammates to complete objectives and defeat the opposing team.
All four of these games have become popular for their intense and competitive gameplay, and each one has its own unique approach to the shooter genre.They are all highly competitive and have thriving esports communities.These four titles are some of the most popular competitive games today, and they are sure to continue growing in popularity in the years to come.

CONCLUSION
As a result of the health and sport education per-service teacher perceptions through esports that contribute to the 2023 SEA Games, which are Mobile Legend, PUBG Mobile, Valorant, and Crossfire, 47.8% played games less than an hour, 33% played game 1-2 hours, 10.4% played games 2-3 hours, 5.2% played games 3-4 hours, and 3.5% played games more than 4 hours a day.Mobile Legends placed first as the most played esports, followed by PUBG Mobile, Crossfire, and Valorants in the last places.88.8% said that esports can be a professional career, with some of them already making money from playing the game.94,82% of players playing esports are only for entertaining or filling free time, but most of them, especially the Mobile Legend players, understand the rules and the strategy to win the game.Not only their game but also the other games, it shows that basically most of them know the game and understand the strategy to win, and they are also confident that all these esports can be a future professional career.Perception might be measured as a global construct or within a subdomain (e.g., perception of locomotor competence, which incorporates several items) or perception in single motor skills (e.g., perception of striking).

Table 1 . Cronbach's Alpha of Questions on Challenges in Implementing Blended Learning
Characteristic of the SampleCharacteristics of the sample include age, gender, educational background, employment, salary and the duration of playing games, as shown on Table2.