30FALL STUDENT LIFE Love It OR League I t A Rocket League tournament was hosted on campus with hopes for other e-sports matches. GAMERS UNITED IN FALL 2021 as Harding University hosted its first video game tournament. “When I got to Harding, I started talking to Dean Neal and some others about starting an e-sports [team] for the school because a lot of universities had started up teams in the 2019-20 year,” sophomore Ben Sloan said. With help from the Campus Activities Board (CAB) office, Sloan conceived the idea of a campus-wide tournament to kick off his vision. “Dean Neal pointed me in the direction of the CAB office, and we went through what it would take to host a tournament,” Sloan said. “We posted signups, scheduled it, made a chapel announcement and now, here we are.” After the announcement was made, the gaming community at Harding united in full force, quickly filling up the slots of the first tournament: Rocket League. “I was sitting in chapel when the tournament was announced,” senior Ty Allen said. “I texted my two friends that I play with frequently, and they were on board instantly.” The tournament was set up bracket-style, with eight teams of three competing for the grand championship. “Everyone got behind their screens, joined an actual Rocket League tournament in the system, got put in a bracket and then played,” junior Ethan Leslie said. “My team got eliminated in the first round by the eventual grand champions. It was kind of tough, but it was so fun.” Some students were off campus when they played, which spoke to the accessibility of the activity. “I wasn’t on campus, so I probably didn’t get to enjoy the full aspect of playing with my team members in the same room on campus,” Leslie said. “That’s the beauty of it, though; it was all online, so it didn’t matter if I was actually there or not.” The first tournament’s success set the stage for a slew of possibilities for gaming at Harding. “We’re planning on setting up matches between clubs —TNT vs. [Gamma Sigma Phi]— that kind of stuff,” Sloan said. “Eventually I want to move past intramural competitions to intercollegiate matches with other colleges, maybe even hosted by Harding and held on campus.” Other players were excited about future possibilities as well. “When you do online, lag is a problem,” Leslie said. “In the future it would be cool to do a big [local area network] tournament where everyone gets in the same room on the same consoles.” The participants enjoyed a new and unique sense of community. “With this being the first tournament, I wasn’t expecting too much from it, but I met some new people through it and had a blast,” Allen said. “I’m excited for future tournaments and the growth of e-sports at Harding.” WRITTEN BY ZACH BISHOP
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==