Unified eSports

WHAT ARE UNIFIED ESPORTS?

Unified eSports are a new game format within eSports that are based on the Unified Sport Format created by Special Olympics, which encourage integration between people with and without disabilities through the different video games of the sector. Their philosophy, shared by Fundación Telefonónica, centres on using sport as a means to contribute values to sports persons and society.

eSports is an industry in rapid growth and is having a massive impact on society. This is why we want to offer the option to  people with intellectual disabilities to join the initiative from the beginning, creating the new format: #eSportsUnificados. We are on the cusp of a new sports model and a new integration model. In this case, the people with an intellectual disability begin to practice at the same time as the rest of society, not years later, when the sport is already firmly established.

The initiative, the first of its kind in the world, was presented on 22 May 2018, in Madrid during a press conference with the participation of Santiago Peydro, head of the eSports project at Telefónica España, Carmen Morenés, global head of the Telefónica Volunteers Programme; Fernando Piquer, CEO of Movistar Riders eSports; Marcelino Pérez, Director of Special Olympics Madrid; Sandra Pascoa, PR Manager of PlayStation® España; and Ricardo Sierra, journalist and expert in eSports. All of them spoke of this new on-line games format which provides important personal values and improvements in the social capabilities of people with disabilities.

OBJECTIVES

– Promote the inclusion and improvement of social capabilities through eSports.

– “Normalise” the world of eSports right from the beginning.

–  Encourage sporting values within the eSports and technological skills.

RULES

All the unified sports have adapted rules to maintain a fair, healthy and most importantly, integrative competition. In this manner, #eSportsUnificados have specific rules that guarantee this philosophy.

With this new format, the people with and without an intellectual disability will learn from each other, taking the game to the next level. To do so, the players without a disability will receive training on intellectual disability and the teams will be supported by experts to help the partners understand each other. This is a league in which there is no individuality, all the games are played in pairs and it rewards the values rather than the results obtained, encouraging team spirit, security, trust and empathy, as well as other values.

|    Download the rules for #eSportsUnificados (PDF)    |

WHAT ARE ESPORTS?

Electronic games that have been with us for more than 40 years. They have evolved so much since then that eSports have become professional. However, the eSports phenomena is much more than this, it is a disruptive way of understanding sport and values such as friendship, trust and integration.

eSports, ‘electronic sports’ or ‘cybersports’ represent the digitalisation of traditional sports. They are part of a new sports disciple that is in rapid growth (up to 200% every year), causing the large companies in each sector (mostly technological) to want to participate in sponsored leagues, events or create eSports teams. This is generating a new industry with a great deal of potential that can have a large social impact in the short and long-term.