It’s natural to see a college campus with a football team or basketball team and their students rallying behind them. However, with today’s internet capabilities, colleges are now creating teams to compete in a considerably different kind of competition: esports.
These kinds of games don’t take place out on a field or with a ball, but rather on a computer or dedicated gaming console. Esports, or electronic sports, are competitive online multiplayer video game tournaments played across a wide variety of different game genres. Some of the most popular today are “DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) 2,” “Hearthstone,” “Overwatch,” “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” and “Rocket League.”
The list of esport games changes over time as new games are developed and gain popularity while some games lose developer support as they age and thus lose viewer interest.
Although, some older games are still greatly thriving. The 2018 world championship finals for the 10-year-old game “League of Legends” had over 200 million concurrent viewers — almost double that of the Super Bowl’s record of 111 million in 2015.
While the number of varsity esports teams around the US continues to grow, the University of Nevada, Reno, has yet to recognize them as a legitimate sport. Without that seal of approval, it is prevented from reaching the varsity level. However, some students are eagerly awaiting for that day to come.
“Regular sports just don’t appeal to me, so I guess I don’t get that same experience as other people,” said Ethan Watkins, 18, a freshman at the university studying computer science and video game design. “But I know video games well, I play almost every game that the pros do. I’d love to have a team here to root for.”
Although UNR doesn’t have an official team as of now, Nevada Esports, the school’s club, has taken on the responsibilities and challenges of creating teams and hosting events and tournaments to get students started. They have even competed in an “Overwatch” tournament hosted by Boise State University against other college teams over the summer of 2018.
“We have looked at the possibility of moving from a club program to a varsity level program. I think given eSports gain in popularity over the last 5 to 10 years, it won’t be long [before] we see more and more schools moving this way,” said Douglas Bookey, the staff advisor for the club.
An organization named Tespa has led the charge in promoting collegiate esports since 2012 when three students at the University of Texas, Austin, sought to make a better gaming experience for their school. Since then, they have been bringing students together who share a common interest, but might not know how to find other people to connect with. They currently have over 270 chapters across the nation and have organized tournaments for over 1200 schools.
Tespa also offers many benefits for students that join or help organize their school’s chapter. Students can receive gear such as shirts and various gaming hardware. They also teamed up with the game developer Blizzard to offer exclusive in-game items for players.
To date, Tespa has given out more than $3 million dollars in scholarship prizes. Their current Hearthstone Collegiate Championship Fall 2018 competition alone will give out almost $50,000 in scholarships between the top 16 teams.
According to their website, in 2013 UNR’s Nevada Esports team was one of the first collegiate esports organizations to join Tespa. Since then, the club has seen over 19,000 students and continues to grow today with the help of the organization.
However, despite their size and student involvement, they remain a club and not a sport. So what is stopping them from making that change?
“If we strictly base the decision on the merit of the definition of each, then esports are not, ‘sports,’ they are games. In most athletic circles the level of physical exertion required by esports falls well below that of a ‘true sport,’” said Jim Fitzsimmons, the director of fitness and recreational sports at UNR.
Competing at the highest of level of any sport takes time, patience and dedication. Many professional athletes in traditional sports — be it football, basketball, baseball, et cetera — have gotten their start by playing on their high school or college teams, and according to a study done by the the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), many started playing before the age of 12.
The same can be said for most professional gamers, in a way. The difference is that college esports teams of the past were not official. ESPN itself only started to cover esports competitions in January of 2016.
National competitions did exist, but were not followed as widely, as evidenced by viewership growth on twitch.tv, a streaming service for gamers. According to statistics from Newzoo, a game and esports analytics organization, an average of 79 million hours a month of esports content is watched on Twitch.
Currently, the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) aids official varsity esports teams for over 100 colleges in the U.S. According to their website, however, to receive their support the team must be officially endorsed by the school.
In the case of UNR, clubs also can’t give out scholarships. Only officially recognized sports teams can do that, according to KUNR, a national public radio station owned and operated by the school.
“[Scholarship opportunities] are I think the best way to justify making esports official for our school. Having your schooling paid for by playing video games sounds like the dream every kid from the past 20 years had,” said Ryder Patterson, 24, a former member of the Nevada Esports club.
According to Scholarships.com, schools such as the University of Utah and the University of California, Irvine, offer scholarships for gamers who show exceptional skill and for members of their varsity esports teams. The latter of which spent $250,000 on a state-of-the-art arena to further their commitment to their teams and competitions alongside their traditional sport teams.
“I doubt this debate will ever be satisfactorily resolved to all involved. Sports versus games, versus activities,” said Fitzsimmons. “For me personally, while I appreciate the ‘skill’ required to play esports, I don’t consider them true sports. But then again I struggle with bowling and golf.”
While UNR has no such plans as of now, it may be only a matter of time before the trend toward shifting to a varsity program reaches the school.
Alex DeMatteis 