University for Continuing Education Krems Playfulness as a Meta-Strategy : Framing Esports for transformative youth media work and educational transformation Education systems currently operate under conditions of profound uncertainty shaped by the omnicrisis and rapid societal change. In this context, debates around digital games and Esports in education often remain limited, framing them either through risk-oriented perspectives (e.g. addiction or excessive use) or through instrumental logics focused on skills, performance, and employability. This opinion paper argues that such framings overlook the transformative potential of Esports as a lived educational practice in youth cultures. Drawing on the meta-strategies articulated in the Future:Guide Bildung—Playfulness, Lifelong Learning, Learning Environments, and Human–Machine Teamplay—the paper reframes Esports as a laboratory for educational transformation and democratic learning. Rather than positioning Esports as a model or solution, it is understood as a protected space for experimentation in which questions of learning, participation, power, technology, and diversity are actively negotiated. By examining Esports as a site of playful engagement under uncertainty and reflective human–machine collaboration, the paper positions it as a cultural impulse contributing to the democratization and future orientation of education, pointing toward the emergence of an era of human digitality. en TEXT book part Buchkapitel Capitolo di libro Testo Capitolo di libro Text Buchkapitel Text book part Esports Educational Transformation Playfulness Playful Learning Democratic Learning Human Digitality 2026-02-26 2026-02-26 Stephanie Wössner (Independent Researcher) University of Krems Press