Twitter in disbelief as $400 "Esports Certification Exam" surfaces

With esports on the rise, inroads have been made towards an academic approach to this new industry form. To this effect, a bunch of esports industry professionals have put together an "Esports Certification Institute" that claims to offer people a way into the esports sector via a $400 certification.

Their statement said:

"We are excited to announce the launch of Esports Certification Institute, a Public Benefit Corporation created to foster professionalism, promote meritocracy, and increase diversity and inclusion in esports. ECI was created to give another path into esports for industry hopefuls."

While packaged as a beneficial service to aspirants in the sector, Twitter users have dug into the venture to reveal the not-so-pleasant underbelly of the test.

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Twitter users mock $400 "Esports Certification Exam"

Posed as a legitimate entry point for aspirants looking to break ground in the sector, the ECI's practice exam paints a grim picture for anyone who takes the venture seriously.

Revealed to be a standard aptitude test, which evaluates an individual's mathematics skill, probabilistic knowledge, and general aptitude, the test falls short of its promise as an "Esports Certification."

The questions seem to be simple reskins of common entrance exam evaluations.

With one question talking about calculating the amount of "dark-haired employees at an esports organization," it is hard to take the quiz seriously as it provides little to no relevance to the actual industry.

The "Esports Certification Institute" serves as a dangerous precedent for the industry where, traditionally, a person's skill set speaks for his/her capabilities.

With the rise of ineffective $400 tests, a seemingly artificial entry barrier with nothing to do with esports is being introduced that could potentially harm the industry a lot more than offer benefits.