Page 26 - Campus Technology, January/February 2019

:: eSPORTS
RETHINKING HOW TECHNOLOGY IS USED IN EDUCATION
• Fans can’t get enough; competitions among collegiate teams and professionals take place in arenas in front of massive audiences, both physical and virtual, raising the profile of winning colleges; and
• The scale of investment required to sustain esports is exponentially smaller and the active participation much higher than traditional varsity sports programs.
The importance of that last item deserves particular scrutiny. Take Clemson University’s much-heralded football operations complex, which was built specifically to house
its players. The facility boasts an outdoor living room, beach volleyball court, miniature golf, bowling alley, barbershop, indoor slide, team auditorium and team meeting room, strength and conditioning facility (with an “iFuelBar” for quick snack breaks), hydrotherapy pools, and a full-sized indoor practice field. It cost $55 million to build and furnish.
In comparison, when the University of Akron announced its plans last fall to open the world’s largest university-based esports facility, the new dedicated gaming areas consumed 5,200 square feet in total among three existing locations to house such features as 90 “state-of-the-art” gaming PCs and
Esports brings a democratic flavor to campus sports that no other athletic endeavor has yet emulated.
30 next-generation consoles, a “hyper wall display” where spectators can watch competitions, a studio for broadcasting events, a space for esports club teams to gather, and a recreational gaming café for anybody with “good academic standing” to access. The cost of remodel: about $300,000.
And whereas Clemson’s much vaunted ventilated lockers and on-site x-ray room are intended solely for use by its elite roster of about 110 football players, Akron’s facilities will benefit many more people, including about 60 students (predominantly men but also women) in its esports varsity program, esports clubs that draw many hundreds of students, and even casual players who just want to hang out on a Friday night. And it
isn’t just gamers who have been invited to participate in this initiative. Engineering and computer science students were recruited to build game machines; communications students serve as broadcasters and audio experts; and health profession majors have been invited to work as personal trainers, sports psychologists and nutritionists.
In other words, esports brings a democratic flavor to campus sports that no other athletic endeavor has yet emulated. Let the (virtual) games begin!
PRODUCED BY: SPONSORED BY: