Gamers from around the area have joined together at SLUGO every semester to test their gaming skills against one another. 
The Lion’s Roar / Elizabeth Brown

Sports fans tuned into ESPN 2 in hopes of catching NBA Playoffs action or a game from the NHL Playoffs, but many were confused by what the “World Wide Leader in Sports” was broadcasting. That night, ESPN 2 took a break from the playoff action to showcase the finals of the “Heroes of the Dorm” tournament, a competition for the best collegiate team of a field of 430 in the computer game “Heroes of the Storm.”

In comparison to traditional sports such as baseball and football, eSports are relatively new. Competition has been a large facet of the game since the dawn of video games with titles such as “Pong” have been offering friends to duke it out on the screen since the 1970s. As time went on, developers produced bigger and better games that opened up the doors to genres that gamers could only dream of before. 

Fast forward to the 21st century and gaming is as big today as it has ever been. Console titles such as “Madden” and “Call of Duty” have become household names, but online computer games have gained a following in their own right. Games such as “League of Legends” and “Hearthstone” have become massive online games with millions of gamers playing daily. Intercollegiate gaming is not as new as some may think. The Collegiate StarLeague, an organization that pits teams from colleges and universities from the United States and Canada, has been around since 2009.

“CSL started in 2009, hosting a league for Starcraft: Brood War.” We’ve grown quite a bit since then and have added more games and have more schools than ever. This past fall over 450 universities participated,” said Duran Parsi, CEO of The Collegiate StarLeague.

Although Southeastern does not have a team for any of the games that the Collegiate StarLeague holds competitions for, there are several teams representing the Southland Conference such as the University of the Incarnate Word and Sam Houston State. Louisiana alone is represented by several teams, including Louisiana State University and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. 

Southeastern has a history of participating in eSports. SLUGO, an event that is held every semester that hosts tournaments in several games including “League of Legends,” has been put on by the Association of Computing Machinery for years. Vice President of ACM Jeffrey Balint believes that the university has the gamers to put together a competitive team.

“We have guys that can play ‘League of Legends,’ ‘Starcraft,’ and ‘Counterstrike.’ Those guys get real competitive,” said Balint. 

College eSports was recently brought to mainstream television when ESPN 2 broadcasted the finals of the “Heroes of the Dorm” tournament. Despite some negative feedback from viewers not accustomed to eSports on television, many stayed tuned to watch the team out of UC Irvine defeat Arizona State. Winners from the competition had their college tuition paid for the remainder of their college career. 

Growth in collegiate eSports has grown so much that there are now universities that are offering athletic scholarships to some of the country’s top “League of Legends” players. 

Robert Morris University in Illinois will begin its eSports program this fall, offering scholarships that will pay for 50 percent of tuition and 50 percent of room and board to its athletes. Weeks after the announcement from RMU of their eSports program, Pikeville University created a similar eSports program. 

“Other schools will follow Robert Morris’ example, there have already been several school who will announce programs in the summer,” said Parsi. “CSL will be expanding to “Counter Strike: Global Offensive” as well as “Hearthstone” in the coming fall. We’ll have more games than ever and more opportunities for people to feed their competitive fire.” 

For those interested in forming a team for Southeastern, instructions to sign up for the Collegiate StarLeague are available on cstarleague.com.  The last day to register for next season is Oct. 17.