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Ygam has introduced a Gaming and Esports Programme to its portfolio of harm prevention initiatives, with a specific focus on helping the younger generation.
The launch aims to educate and support young gamers, their parents and carers, as well as professionals working in the gaming and esports industry.
Sacha Kent, Programme Lead for Gaming and Esports, commented: “It’s vital we recognise the central role gaming plays in the digital lives that children lead today. This new programme marks an important step in helping young people enjoy gaming safely, with the knowledge and tools to better understand potential risks and harms.
“Through our work with parents, young people, and professionals across sectors, we know there is a real demand for this kind of education. We’re incredibly proud and excited to begin delivering it to communities across the country.”
Addressing a growing issue
In the last five years, the global esports market has experienced dramatic growth, and recent studies estimate it to be worth $10.91bn by 2032.
With over 80% of 16–24-year-olds playing video games in 2024 and 83% of those young people playing online, Ygam’s new programme looks to actively address the growing need for more effective education on digital safeguarding.
The programme covers topics such as; microtransactions and virtual currencies, the role of advertising and evolving gaming mechanics and impact of gaming on mental health.
It also puts emphasis on motivations and benefits of pursuing a career in esports, inclusivity within gaming and how to encourage safer virtual spaces.
“Video games are an enormous part of huge numbers of children and young people’s everyday lives,” added Charlotte Nichols MP, Chair of the APPG Video Gaming and Esports.
“They offer so much in entertainment, socialisation and education but there are of course dangers in the online world. Ygam do so much good work in this field to raise challenging issues and work to address them to make gaming a safer place, and I am glad to work with them to do this.”
Heading in the right direction
A pilot was delivered to young people from the Sheffield United Community Foundation and esports students from Sheffield Hallam University in February this year.
It was hosted by the National Video Game Museum and was said to have been ‘well received’ by staff and young people.
Lia Thompson, President of the Gaming and Esports Society at Sheffield Hallam University and attendee of the pilot session, noted: “I think the new Ygam programme is really important – the Gaming and Esports industry is going in the right direction with the increasing ability to report inappropriate behaviour, but safeguarding needs to start before that.
“There needs to be more awareness of the behaviour that is actively happening, so that it stops being normalised. If we can get young people to think about this early on, we can stop it from happening in the first place, and Ygam’s new programme really helps to achieve this.”
She explained that as a woman in gaming, these behaviours normalised from a young age and therefore there is an expectation that this is how a person should act to be accepted into that community.
“This is not the true version of yourself, and toxic behaviour online should not be enabled like this,” Thompson continued. “Ygam’s training is bringing attention to the impact of these behaviours, changing mindsets and helping others feel more comfortable calling it out to make their communities and peers safer.”
