Transforming Young Gamers: A Qualitative Study of the Gaming Routines, Health Practices, and Learning Motivation of Elite Esports Students in Norway

The integration of esports into educational settings has become a global phenomenon. However, its impacts on students’ gaming habits, health practices, and learning motivation have not yet been investigated. This study attempted to identify these impacts by interviewing 12 Norwegian high school students aged 17–19 who were enrolled in an elite esports program. They disclosed that they joined the program to combine their passion for video gaming with their goal of graduating from high school, but few of them intended to pursue esports professionally. After joining the program, they became more attentive to how physical training, nutrition, and sleep influenced their gaming performance and overall health. As a result, they reduced their gaming hours and took frequent breaks while gaming, and they reflected more on their gameplay and progress. Through the lens of the Self-Determination Theory, these results suggest that well-crafted esports programs can enhance young gamers’ health awareness and well-being by addressing their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This study also highlighted inadequate sleep as a significant challenge of young gamers that requires more targeted research and interventions. Longitudinal and ethnographic research methods could better reveal how daily esports participation influences players over time.