By Lindsey Byars
Playing video games isn’t just something kids do in their mom’s basement anymore. Competitive gaming is serious business to its players and fans, and schools like Concord University are embracing the trend.
Photo by Doug Moore.
Concord is throwing its hat in the arena of the rapidly growing industry of esports by launching a varsity-level team. Esports is competitive video gaming watched by spectators. Team members will practice strategy and perfect their critical and analytical thinking skills to compete with other teams on games like “League of Legends,” “Overwatch” and “Call of Duty,” the three games Concord hopes to build teams for.
University officials across the country are recognizing the popularity of esports among their current and future students. Robert Morris University in Illinois sparked varsity collegiate esports when it announced a scholarship-sponsored “League of Legends” team in 2014. Two years later, the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) formed.
NACE is a nonprofit group collaborating with its members to advance collegiate esports, support its players and coaches and provide scholarships for players. When NACE officially formed in 2016, there were only seven universities and colleges with varsity esports programs. By 2018, there were 63, and as of January 2019, ESPN reports around 125 programs registered with the association.
At Concord, sophomore Jamie Nickell, a competitive gamer, helped administrators see the potential for a team, and a student survey further emphasized the student demand: 80 percent of participants wanted to see esports come to Concord. With the formation of a university-recognized varsity team, officials hope to give all types athletes an opportunity to shine.
For Nickell, an illness ended a promising track season his junior year of high school, but competitive gaming gave him an outlet to compete.
“Ulcerative colitis is a very hit or miss disease,” says Nickell. “Some days I feel like nothing is wrong, and others I just feel completely drained. This is why I love being able to game. It gives everyone a place to escape. I can’t go out and run like I used to, but I can always go sit down and play games with all of my friends.”
Nickell competes in events across the country. With this experience, he is guiding the formation of Concord’s team, an effort he hopes will be a foundation for a career in esports after he graduates.
“Esports is a dream career of mine, and I am always fascinated with how it is growing,” he says. “I hope to be able to help pave the way in it.”
And it is growing. In the first six months of 2018, HitmarkerJobs.com posted 2,497 jobs in esports, varying from travel agents for esports tournament organizers to managers for gaming houses for a team. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics expects employment of gaming software developers, graphic designers, virtual reality engineers, multimedia artists and animators to grow 6 percent from 2014-2024, which is good news for colleges and universities promoting STEM majors. More than 60 percent of “League of Legends” gamers major in STEM subjects as undergraduates, according to game executives.
“With the growing business opportunities surrounding esports, our hope is to eventually create a certificate program that utilizes many of the courses we currently offer,” says Concord University President Kendra Boggess. “By grouping business, marketing and graphic design classes, we would be able to offer a specialization that will make our students seeking careers in esports more competitive in the job market when they graduate.”
There is no official esports emphasis at this moment, but Boggess hopes to meet the demand she feels will follow the creation of a varsity team.
“The moment we issued the press release announcing our esports varsity team, we instantly saw a positive response from current and potential students,” she says. “We’re even seeing former students thinking about returning, all because of this team. If the esports industry is where our students hope to succeed after graduation, we need to do all we can to help them reach their goals.”
Esports has the potential to attract different types of students to the university campus. Competitive gaming has a growing female following—approximately 20 percent of the U.S. fan base is female. Unlike traditional sports teams, esports leagues are co-ed and open to a variety of different physical abilities. This is an opportunity to appeal to a wider variety of students, something Concord recruitment officials are excited about.
Chief Enrollment Management Officer William Allen considers esports a win all around. “When we meet the growing interests and needs of the student, the college can then use this to attract new students to campus,” he says.
Concord officials say applications for the coaching position are rolling in and there are some promising candidates. Technology experts are designing the esports arena, which will make use of an older lab space in the Nick Rahall Technology Center. The ability to repurpose existing space is just another appeal to adopting esports. Other than equipping the arena with gaming computers and consoles, there is no costly facility to build.
This is only the beginning for Concord’s gaming endeavor, and while there are perhaps more questions at this point than answers, the faculty and students are excited for what the future will bring.
About the Author
Lindsey Byars is the communications liaison for Concord University. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing and literature through the Harvard University Extension School. Byars has published her writing in West Virginia South, and she was a finalist in Shepherd University’s 2018 West Virginia Fiction competition.
