By Amanda Tan

This was one after-school gaming session that teachers and schools were happy to have their students take part in.

A total of 19 schools and about 182 students battled each other in the GameIN challenge last Friday.

GameIN, an inter-school tournament, was held as part of Licence2Play, a three-day gaming cyber-wellness exhibition held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre over the weekend.

The event aims to inform, educate and provide entertainment to gamers and the public about gaming culture and its positive attributes.

Audition, a dance battle game, and Super Smash Bros Brawl were the two games that students could play in the cyber challenge.

Willie Ong, 15, a Secondary 3 student from Geylang Methodist Secondary School (GMSS) was one competitor.

The avid Audition player said: 'I'm quite good at the game. I spend one to three hours daily on it.' But despite their efforts, GMSS did not manage to make it to the top three places.

Other Audition fans like Long Qian Qian, 18, were just happy they got a chance to unwind after the recent examinations.

'This is something aside from academics and a leisure activity we enjoy. We are not here to win but just to have fun,' the Year 1 Hwa Chong Institution student said.

Top scorers were Si Ling Secondary School in Marsiling, Ang Mo Kio Secondary School and Compassvale Secondary School who clinched the top three prizes for Audition respectively.

Shawn Tan, 16, whose team came in second, said his win was 'unexpected', although all of them have at least 11/2 years' of experience playing Audition.

'We learnt that teamwork is very important, especially because this game requires good coordination among all players.'

For Super Smash Bros Brawl, Hwa Chong Institution Team 1, Team 2 and Tampines Secondary took home the top three places respectively.

Licence2Play was organised by Sphere Exhibits, the lifestyle events arm of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), and held in conjunction with the Singapore Cyber Sports and Online Games Association (SCOGA) and game publisher Asiasoft Online. SCOGA is a non-profit organisation that promotes healthy and responsible gaming.

The guest of honour at the event, Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, said that cyber-wellness is important for students to learn how to navigate the Web responsibly by being aware.

Parents' role, he said, was to provide the right information.

'I think we should help them to create awareness rather than tell them what to do... You create the awareness, let them know, but let them make the choice.'

According to Mr Chua Wee Phong, executive director of Sphere Exhibits, the event is estimated to have attracted 150,000 visitors over its three days.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.