As of: January 27, 2024, 12:00 p.m
By: Armin Forster
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Enjoy the game: Hamza, Atal and Ahmad are among the regular guests in the gaming room of the Moosburg youth center.
It is the first of its kind in the entire district - and required a lot of effort from the carers.
© Forster
Teenagers are excited, social educators are proud: The Moosburg youth center operates the first gaming room in the district.
The effort involved was enormous.
Moosburg
– It is difficult to have a coherent conversation with Stephan Zimny.
This is not due to the talkative social worker, or to the hip-hop music in the large main room of the Moosburg Youth Center (JUZ), but rather to the students who come to him at the counter every minute with concerns.
And that's what he's here for after all.
“French fries and friends, please.” – “Can we have two controllers for the PS5?” – “Here, the Bluetooth box back.” The sentence that Zimny hears most often this afternoon is: “It's in gaming -Room what free?”
It has been the attraction of the municipal facility since it opened in September, with 90 users already registered.
And this despite the fact that there were already a lot of options in the JUZ: from billiards and table tennis to the latest games consoles and the girls' or action room.
In addition, there is a large outdoor area in summer.
Are proud of “their” JUZ: Head Robert Achhammer (l.) and social worker Stephan Zimny at the counter of the youth center.
© Forster
“The gaming room fits nicely into our concept,” says Stephan Zimny.
In the beginning we had to draw regularly to see who was allowed into the room, the crowd was so strong.
Things have now settled down nicely.
Has demand for the other offers collapsed?
“On the contrary,” says the 37-year-old.
“We even have more people who come specifically for gaming now, who didn’t even come here before.
And then they stay for a game of table tennis, for example.”
Mission in the spirit of youth culture
But what does gaming have to do with computer games and urban youth work?
The answer was provided in October 2020 by a fundamental decision by the Bavarian Youth Ring (BJR), the working group of youth associations and groups.
“Back then it was recognized that games were youth culture and therefore also part of youth work,” says Zimny.
“This gives us a clear mandate to integrate gaming and e-sports into pedagogical work and to create spaces for this in the analog and digital world.”
He and his colleague Yann Schmidl immediately used the Corona break in the youth center to develop a concept.
The result is 37 pages of project description including a bibliography.
“We wanted to put it on a scientific basis,” says Zimny and laughs.
The research was complex because all possible points had to be taken into account.
Some of them were also based on a Cologne youth center, which is considered a pioneer in the field nationwide.
At least in the district, the Moosburger JUZ is now the pioneer when it comes to gaming; the room is the very first of its kind in the region.
Monitoring gaming activities is a prerequisite for the offer.
© Forster
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As he tells the story, Zimny's eyes repeatedly flicker to a laptop behind the counter, on which five tiles depict what the teenagers in the next room see on their monitors.
The users know that all five PCs are monitored live by JUZ staff.
They even had to sign the passage - along with 14 other strict rules.
The balancing act between the freedom and data protection of young people on the one hand and the necessary control in accordance with the obligation to supervise on the other hand was a challenge for the educators.
“We therefore talked to the data protection officer from the district office about how everything could be implemented,” reports Stephan Zimny.
Computer games are no longer played in isolation on a local computer, but are usually part of an online network in which players compete and exchange ideas around the world.
In doing so, they reveal data - which needs to be protected, especially as a youth care facility for minors.
We wanted to make it so hot that as teenagers we would want to be in the room ourselves.
Youth center director Robert Achhammer
The next question was how the project would be financed.
The team was clear: the equipment should be upper middle class in order to offer enough incentive.
Or as youth center director Robert Achhammer (52) says: “We wanted to make it so cool that as young people we would want to go into the room ourselves.” After a survey among the students and many inquiries to companies, the total came to a total of 15,000 euros - 3,000 euros for each of the five PC workstations.
According to Stephan Zimny, the fact that this budget was approved was due to the support of the city council.
“We directly involved youth speaker Julian Grübl (
Fresh; editor’s note
) and the then digitalization speaker Philipp Fincke (
FDP
).
They said about our plan: 'Great, we support that!'
We were surprised and thrilled that it went through so smoothly.” According to Zimny, what made us even more pleased: “We submitted an application for funding in accordance with BJR guidelines.
As a result, the city got 11,000 euros back.”
Also visually impressive: the new PC workstations in the gaming room of the Moosburg youth center.
© Youth Center
Zimny opens the door to the gaming room.
The ceiling light is off, the monitors, LED lights in the PC towers, keyboards and tables as well as a colored strip of light on the ceiling create a futuristic atmosphere.
The young people themselves helped with the design.
Windows with frosted glass film prevent prying eyes from circumventing child protection.
Depending on the time of day and age group in the room, games with different USK approvals can be played.
When open from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., games for ages 16 and up are also permitted.
Right now everyone is playing “Fortnite”, the most popular game among young people for years.
It is rated USK 12.
15-year-old Ahmad sits in a row next to his friends Atal and Hamza and moves his character through the “Fortnite” world by clicking and tapping.
“At home I could only play it on my cell phone.
“It’s much better here and everything is very modern,” he says happily.
“The graphics in particular are really great!” His friends nod eagerly.
They all describe themselves as “regulars”.
Then they adjust their headsets and get back to the game.
Finally, according to the house rules, they have to make their seats available to others after an hour.
The next step: building e-sports teams
Stefan Zimny smiles contentedly.
He closes the door and returns to the counter.
“We have a lot more plans for the space,” he says.
He hopes that teams will soon be formed for e-sports - sporting competition with computer games.
This area has developed from a niche phenomenon to a mass phenomenon: competitions are now broadcast to an audience of millions via live stream or TV, they fill stadiums, and professionals can win up to eight-figure prize money.
The youth center also wants to do justice to this development, and fixed time blocks could soon be reserved for e-sports teams.
In addition to gaming, the PC room will also be used to strengthen young people's other skills in the future.
The JUZ has ordered Office licenses so that it can offer courses in CV writing, for example.
“I’ve also done programming courses with the children,” says Zimny.
“They really enjoy it.”
In addition to gaming, classics such as table tennis are still very popular.
© Forster
While the 37-year-old is handing out the next Spezi bottles, the two secondary school students Christian and Samuel are sitting on a pallet couch in the corner.
You play Bayern against Cologne in “EA FC24”, the successor to the football simulation “FIFA”.
The children really like the fact that, outside of the gaming room, not only the game software is up to date, but also the hardware.
“The PS5 is even better than my own console at home,” says Christian.
Why the Moosburger JUZ is so well equipped
The fact that the JUZ has been able to maintain the high level of equipment since it opened almost twelve years ago is not just due to the dedicated supervisors.
“The children treat the facility very carefully,” says Stephan Zimny.
“Of course there are sometimes border crossings, they are young people.
If that didn't exist, we as social educators would be superfluous.
But in all that time, almost nothing was smeared or destroyed.
Well, once a pool table was demolished.” Zimny laughs: “It was never entirely clear whether that was an accident.”