“I’ll let you play. . . if you read the entire manual front to back.”
This was my father’s response when as an 8-year-old I asked him if I could play World of Warcraft.
I would sit next to him to watch him play for hours; he explained all of the different mythical creatures and introduced me to my first virtual reality.
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| Michael Earhart, columnist |
Throughout my life, gaming has brought my father and me closer. The game changed over time, but our bond only grew stronger.
As I got older, gaming became more of a social activity for me. Several of my neighborhood friends and I would meet after school, grab some snacks and pop in the latest version of Mario Smash Bros.
After graduating high school and coming to college, I still keep in touch with my high school friends through Call of Duty nights and a season-long fantasy football league named Guardians of the Gronkowski.
So what?
My story isn’t unique.
In elementary through high school, my friends and I could meet at someone’s house for the afternoon. In college, where we might find it easier to socialize, it isn’t easy to pack four or more guys into a dorm room to play, especially without disturbing roommates or anyone else on the hall.
So I ask: What if there was a place at Berry to hang out without disturbing anyone? To come to and go as we please, making friends along the way?
One possible solution is for Berry and Memorial Library to invest in gaming equipment, such as consoles, games and controllers. They could be checked out by students for use in the Sandbox, to throw out but one possibility.
This equipment check-out procedure would hold individual students accountable while still providing the student body a way to integrate gaming into the larger community.
Going further?
Possibly to the surprise of some, the gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, eclipsing the film industry, and by quite a margin. One aspect of this industry is competitive gaming, which is growing nationally at virtually every level, including college.
“About five years ago with season one of the League of Legends world championship, there was probably a couple hundred people that witnessed the final,” said Matthew Swenson, co-president of the Berry College Alternate Realities club. “Last year’s season four, so just three years later, they filled an entire FIFA world cup championship stadium. That’s how quickly this thing has picked up.”
The concept of gaming as a competitive sport, often referred to as e-sports, is a relatively recent one.
While at first glance it may seem unorthodox to consider competitive gaming a sport, at least the same way that we consider football a sport, we have to consider the definition of a sport.
A sport is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment,” according to the Oxford dictionary.
In that definition, “physical” is the only word that might distinguish competitive gaming from football as a sport. If we can accept that competitive gaming is a physical activity, then we should also be able to accept that competitive gaming is a sport.
An even more recent concept is colleges sponsoring e-sport teams and even offering scholarships to individual team members.
Berry has shown a commitment to developing our sports community on campus. The introduction of the football team and the construction of Valhalla stadium are two recent, obvious examples.
Perhaps Berry could also consider sponsoring an e-sports team. Sponsoring a gaming team would require equipment, a place to practice and someone to coach the team, just like any other sport.
Gaming has played a big role in my life, and I strongly believe that its role in society as a form of social entertainment will only continue to grow. I also believe that competitive gaming will continue to grow, as well.
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