Elizabeth Deczynski
Contributing Writer
According to Forbes, eSports as an industry will gross over $1 billion in revenue this year. As the industry grows, so too does its’ popularity, especially on college campuses.
The Game Society here at ESU is a group of students who meet every other Thursday to indulge in and discuss what they enjoy: professional gaming. The group participates in competitive tournaments throughout the year against other universities.
Erik Darling, a junior studying Computer Science and Security, said that “eSports is professional gaming, whether that be on the college level or something higher.”
Darling said that he doesn’t feel as though eSports gets enough recognition on campus and would like to change that by trying to make it a bigger, more active club on campus.
“I hold the players to the same standards as you would in other sports. You have to keep a good GPA and come to the meetings,” Darling said. “We’re trying to set it up so we have coaches as well. I’d like for us to be on the same level as any other sport on campus.”
Darling said that because the group is lacking members, they are unable to register as an official club sport to better obtain the funding they need.
“We’d love if we were able to have a designated gaming space,” Darling said. “Then if we wanted to, we could use that space so other teams could travel to us for tournaments.”
Typically, when The Game Society has a tournament, each member plays separately in their own rooms or gaming space using their own equipment. If the group advances far into the tournament, they will then travel to other schools to compete.
Darling also revealed that they would like to start streaming their League of Legends tournaments in real-time. Again, this is a difficult venture to undertake with the lack of funding for professional equipment.
Some of the games that The Game Society competes in are Hearthstone and League of Legends. If they had more members, they would be able to compete in other games like Overwatch too.
“We need the minimum number of what is required for that game to compete, which is difficult to do because the tournaments we compete in require PC,” Darling said. “Everyone would need to have the correct platform to play in the tournament.”
Darling is working closely with the Digital Media Technologies Chair, Dr. Otto, to make The Game Society more of a community. They hope to have more events in the future for students to attend and are considering collaborating with other clubs on campus.
According to The Guardian, eSports is bringing people together from all around the world. Their article stated that “games such as League of Legends, Dota 2 and Fortnite have become a cultural phenomenon, bringing young people from different religions and religions together and bridging divides.”
This is what Erik Darling along with The Game Society wishes to achieve on campus, bringing people together through gaming.
The Game Society is looking to add new members to their team with the hopes of being able to register as a club sport.
If you are interested in professional gaming or are just looking to meet more friends to game with, Darling invites you to come to one of their meetings or email him at edarling1@live.esu.edu.
The Game Society meets every other Thursday in Room B located in Rosenkrans.
Email Elizabeth at:
edeczynski@live.esu.edu
