In an effort to gauge interest in gaming, officials at Iowa State University recently surveyed 25 percent of the student body, with results indicating 92 percent of respondents considered themselves some type of gamer. Sixty-four percent played video games for more than five hours a week, and 87 percent said they would support the construction of a gaming space on campus.
As a result, Beyer Hall is being revamped to accommodate casual and competitive gaming, including a dedicated eSports room for Rocket League, Super Smash Brothers and Fortnite eSports intramurals, plus a walk-in gaming area. Gaming PCs, gaming consoles, board games and card games also will be available in the new gaming space, set for completion in fall 2020.
Associate Director of Student Success Jason Vlastaras said, “We want the recreation center and specifically the gaming room to be where you can just come and hang out. Students have class and/or work and then they have home. We want this space to be your third place.”
Vlastaras added, “We’re trying to look at this from a wellness perspective. As ambassadors for wellness, the recreation services team feels like it’s our responsibility to be able to provide something recreational like the gaming space, where you’re able to do it in a positive atmosphere. Students are participating in these activities and they’re playing video games, but they’re not necessarily doing it together and they’d prefer to do it together.”
Vlastaras explained the gaming and eSports club, formerly known as Game Renegades, has been rebranded and inducted into the sports club council to give it more support for increased participation in esports events. The club fields teams to participate in independently run college eSports leagues including Rainbow Six: Siege, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, DOTA 2 and Overwatch.
Freshman Thomas Owens, quality design chairman of the gaming and eSports club, stated, “It’s a totally different feeling of cohesion and working as a team and a unit when instead of playing with your team online and in the Discord server, when somebody makes a play I can reach over and give them a fist bump.”
Owens added that participation in the Discord server, a text and voice chat application for gamers, is increasing. He said the club hosts a monthly open LAN; more than 500 gamers from 20 universities attended.
“Ninety-nine percent of the club is never playing alone. You’re still getting the social interaction you’d get outside. You’re making friends/ I can ping the Discord saying, ‘Hey, who wants to meet at the MU?’ and I’ll get five responses saying ‘Yes when does XYZ time work?’”
