The next level of sports for Marymount: video games

By: Santiago Cerquera Cabrera

Photos: Pixabay

Marymount is a great place filled with people from different backgrounds and hobbies, having some ESports and other video games can really allow people to make new friends and come together because of the similar interests.”

Video Games have been with us since the 80s classic arcades to gain coins from children to a home console to be able to take anywhere at any time, and today most videos are used both as a hobby and to win big prizes in tournaments much like real sports. Video game tournaments have grown in massive numbers viewed by thousands of people both online and in stadiums sold out by those big events. This growing culture of watching people play video games professionally in a competitive environment is now known as Esports.

Esports has shown to be a continuously growing community, such as the iconic streamer Ninja, one of Twitch’s most famous streamers, appearing as the first gamer in an ESPN cover.

While many people have started competitive video games at their own pace, others have started forming teams as college students. One company called Hi-rez has the Paladins Global Series where people around the world can participate in weekly rounds and win prizes in-game.

Video Games have been used to improve the lives of many people with various organizations. One of them called Extra Life uses the appeal of video games to help people support their local children’s hospitals. They run a yearly event called “game day” in which people live stream themselves playing games for 24 hours while raising money to help those in need. They work with the Children’s Miracle Network, which specializes in helping newborns to children in their medical need throughout the United States.

It’s not only companies but other organizations such as Tespa who promote, not only competitive games but having a gaming club in general in a college environment. Many students work as Chapters, people who are helping others with their tournaments and how to promote themselves for their university.

One chapter of Tespa named Tiffy Tsay in The University of California, Berkerley explained her experience in having a gaming club. Tsay said, “video games were a way to become more social, without the game club here I would not have met any of the people that I know as friends today.” Tsay has said that the gaming club is a way of making friends not only for her but for freshmen as well. She said, “having esport in a university applies more to the younger audience, while some universities are proud of having strong alumni in various jobs. It is equally as important to appeal to the heart of younger students, who may not know what they study but have a place where they can all meet and talk about their passion.”

While the growing esport scene can be profitable, with some universities having varsities for their students like Avertt University, Tsay has warned about such a viewpoint. She said, “it can be tempting to see esports as profitable especially as a varsity, and too many times universities throw big events and end up collapsing itself because they don’t know what is going on.”

However, there are ways of preventing such things. Tsay said, “letting the esport scale slowly, see what it will turn out. For some small universities, it is better to have one big event once a month, with the university helping promote them rather than giving them varsities. It is also important to know your target audience, like that it will be an easier way to organize what kind of students you want to have, whether those who want to go pro or those who put their education first. Listen to what people want and what is important to them, and what their expectations are when they join.”

Tsay has also pointed out the important factor of health within an esports team. She said, “just like in regular sports, having someone looking after the players in important. By having a leader asking ‘you doing alright’ or ‘how are you feeling?’ helps to prevent burn-out within the team. It also prevents the students from failing classes by having someone looking out for those as well, and daily check-ups with health centers can go a long way.”  This is the main concern for many campuses considering that even pros can suffer from a wide variety of health issues, the most common of which are wrist injuries or depression. These can be prevented easily if the team is able to think about ergonomics and healthy diets for their players, as explained in an article by redbull.

While looking at other universities is important, what’s more important is to get the views of Marymount students themselves. Freshman Amanda Cordon-Campa has shared her thoughts of video games. She said, “I think video games are great in terms of what it can do for society. Not only because it is entertaining, but because it can give us creative inspiration. For myself, I find video games to be a great outlet when it comes to entertainment or frustration. It gives me a chance to admire the amount of effort put into games and it is a great source of stress relief.”

Cordon explained how she views Marymount having their own video game club and esport in a positive way. She said, “It’s a great idea. Some students can use it as an opportunity to experience a new type of culture and this allows them to make new connections with new people. For those who are gaming for competition, it’s another great way to make friends and bring people together in that sort of environment.”

When asked to elaborate what she meant by gaming as a culture, she explained “one typically calls themselves ‘gamers’ and this itself can lead you to meet people who are the same. The types of games we play is another thing. When we play online and get on our microphones, we talk to those who enjoy the same things we do. It develops into a different type of relationship between these people. It’s a culture because of all the different things it can bring and what it does to each of us.”

Cordon has shared also her view on if Marymount should look into a video game club or even an esports team. She said, “I think it would be a good thing to do, yes. Because esports has so much variety when it comes to the types of games you’ll be playing. It’s a good way to introduce gaming into the community and who knows just how many people would be interested in having gaming in the Marymount community.  Marymount is a great place filled with people from different backgrounds and hobbies, having some ESports and other video games can really allow people to make new friends and come together because of the similar interests.”

She also has said similarly to Tiff Tsay how Marymount should approach esports. She said, “In my opinion, Marymount should approach this subject by listening to the suggestions and ideas that some of the students have. When all that is said and done, they can begin to spread the word like any other club would do. However, the most important thing to do is to really listen to what people have to say about the idea. Of course, they don’t have to dive right into it, this is something that can be eased into. When it comes to video games, there should be no pressure tied to it.”

Even upperclassmen also share some interest in esports, like Junior student Gustavo Barrera. While he sees video games as a hobby he has said, “as far as how society sees it, guess more recently that apparently, videos can be a psychological disorder which I think is kinda stupid. I wouldn’t call it an addiction, it’s like people who exercise a lot of the time you can say that they are addicted to exercise.”

Having a more casual gaming scene on campus, Barrera said, “a big factor for me would be what kind of games are gonna be played. I prefer things like Role Playing Games, First Person Shooters, very simple stuff like call of duty or halo.”

In terms of having a more competitive esports on at Marymount, he said, “feels like there would be a surprising number of students who would want to do it, but the only thing that would make it difficult would be finding the students who will put the time to it, which is a difficult thing for Marymount is wanting to join a club but then you can’t because it’s hard to with scheduling and all that stuff.”

Barrera has shared his opinion on how Marymount might look at the esports team. He said, “I would like to see as a highly respected atmosphere, but because not everyone is into video games, not everyone is into just watching people play games. In a practical sense, it would probably see like our hockey team a fun thing to see when it happens from time to time. I think it would benefit with the goal of raising the spirit a bit more because we are just kinda like here ‘yea Marymount’ but I feel it would be a good push because of how many people enjoy video games.”

Barrera said if there was an esports or at least a video game club in Marymount,, “I would personally be excited about it just because it would allow me to speak to other people with the same interest in it and also not been able to play games with a lot of people, being around other people in a competitive environment can help built relationships, while being able to talk to other people.”

Marymount having its own esport team would seem to be beneficial to not only the university but to the student environment as well. It would provide many of these students with a place to de-stress and play video games and also a place to meet people with that similar interest and enjoy their company as well. While it might seem slow at first, in the long run, it can be a place where students can freely share a passion as well as raise the spirit throughout campus. In the end, those playing the game are representing the university and their students’ views and goals in life.

*Marymount University plans to start an Esports team.