Belgian Gamers Planning To Open ‘University Of Gaming’

Gamers Bachir Boumaaz and Reese Leysen hope to open a topsportschool for gamers beginning next academy year. They say “it’s not our intention to let students just play games. We want to learn them how to play them better. This teaches you to think in a way that makes it easier to solve problems. Even if you don’t became a professional gamer, you’d have still learned a lot.”

Just one hour after the promoclip for the ‘University of Gaming’ was released, thousands of applications were already submitted. “That says something about the potential of a gamingschool”, says Boumaaza, who made gaming his profession.

Leysen, the spokesperson of the university, tries to explain the use of a school like this. “You can build a real career with gaming, and by being a gaming coach. And for those who don’t manage to do this you could also become a games commentator. There are a lot of people who earn their money by commentating on how top players go about their business. E-sports is big business. Top players are sponsored by known brands, they get special keyboards and mice. These companies also pay for advertisement spaces of popular top gamer websites.”

‘Athene’, the alias of Boumaaza in the gaming world, gets a lot of attention by playing games such as World Of Warcraft and Call Of Duty. Thousands of viewers watch him on his personal YouTube channel.

Bachir Boumaaza and Reese Leysen hope to establish this university in Antwerp or Gent. They plan a whole academy years with actual classes in real classrooms, 4 days a week. Different courses would be taught, among those would be psychology, neurology, self-development and the social dynamics of games. “We don’t want to transfer ginormous amounts of information. We just want to make sure people get the chance to excel in whatever direction they choose in life.”

Price of this education hasn’t been set in stone yet. “1000 euros or less”, is what they’re going for.

I personally think the idea of a gaming academy is great, but I’m not sure these 2 are the right people for it really. Athene comes across as a media horny little twat to be honest, who has limited experience with different fields in gaming. He calls himself the best paladin in the world (World of Warcraft), just read this little outtake from his website:

Holding several world records in World of Warcraft and having proven to be the world’s one and only undefeated PvP champion, Athene (aka the 1337 King) officially owns the game in all senses of the word. He spends most of his days living the glorious life of a pro gamer and pwning noobs – the word “noobs” in this case referring to all other players in the game, because even so-called pro’s die like little slags when facing off against him.

Really, I wouldn’t want to be taught by this guy, it would annoy the crap out of me. Although the idea is good, I’m doubtful of the execution and the fact that there might be little to no interest from the rest of the academic world here in Belgium. Either way, I think it has a lot of potential, but real teachers and professionals should be hired to teach people who are willing to learn. After watching the introduction video, it looks a lot like a self-promotional campagne. Alright enough scepticism from me, watch the video for yourself and let me know what you think in the comment section below!

/Niels