The dean of the Petree College of Arts and Sciences is starting an eSports club on campus.
Dr. Amy Cataldi met with students Feb. 6 about their interest in the club and introduced a potential coach for it. Ten students attended the meeting, Cataldi said.
eSports is competitive, organized video gaming. Varsity eSports programs are present at 125 universities across the country, according to ESPN.
Cataldi said she has been thinking about creating the club for months and thinks it could improve students’ experiences on campus.
“I think the students would want it, whether they’re current students or future students. I think we’d be remiss not to have this experience for them,” Cataldi said.
She said eSports clubs are promoted as team sports, and there are recruitment and scholarship opportunities.
“I’d like to sponsor all of this so I can find a space, provide a coach who could enhance everybody’s ability, if they’d like to get into a competition. I’d like to see if I could sponsor that, so I’ve done all the work and figured out what that might look like. Now I have to assess student interest,” she said.
Cataldi said the club could be sponsored out of Petree, which has a computer science program and could support the club’s activities, but students of all majors would be encouraged to join.
She said there is already a league they could join that focuses on a few games including League of Legends and Hearthstone, but she wants to hear from the students what games they are interested in.
There are certain genres of gaming that the club would have to include to succeed, said Austin Hogue, music education junior.
“My interest are in fighting games,” Hogue said. “For the club to grow, they would need to focus on fighting games, first person shooter games and multiplayer online battle arenas.”
Hogue said other eSports communities have trouble keeping members because they focus on recruitment and advertisement, rather than the gaming itself.
“I hope to see this club grow into a community on campus,” Hogue said. “There’s a fine line between recruitment for enjoyment and creating a fun and enjoyable community, versus a community driven by monetary goals or reputation. If we can achieve that, then I think the group has a great chance of surviving.”
Cataldi said this semester will be experimental, but she has high hopes for the club. She said she sees this being a three to five year process to get the club where she wants it to be.
For questions about the eSports club and how to join, email Cataldi at acataldi@okcu.edu.
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