The Texas Wesleyan esports program started with a 2017 conversation that wasn’t about video games at all. Eugene Friar, who was then working in student affairs and is now director of esports and gaming, approached the vice president of his division to talk about what the university could do to be a fun and exciting option for prospective students.
“I was hoping he’d give me some answers, but he flipped it on me and was like, ‘Bring me some ideas, and we’ll discuss it,’” Eugene says. “I wasn’t thinking esports at all, even though I’ve been a gamer since the Commodore 64 days.”
While brainstorming, Eugene came across fledgling esports programs at places like the University of California, Irvine, Missouri’s Maryville University and Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania. Groups of students were coming together to compete in multiplayer games like Overwatch, Super Smash Bros. and League of Legends.
Today, the National Association of Collegiate Esports, or NACE, recognizes more than 240 schools with competitive esports teams. The experience not only opens doors in the gaming industry but can also help students develop skills for a variety of careers.
Texas Wesleyan’s esports team evolved from a group focused primarily on competition to one that welcomes anyone from casual hobbyists to hardcore gamers. For Eugene, it’s an important community that supports students who might not share other interests on campus. But it’s also a Trojan horse for helping them find their path through school and beyond.
“We tell our recruits early in the process my job is to trick you into learning,” Eugene says. “If you want to try out for one of our teams, hopefully we’ll go to the stadium and play. But what’s your major? What are you going to do after you graduate? How is this going to help you get there?”
Leveling up
As access to high-speed internet expands from urban centers to rural areas, competitive gaming’s popularity has soared. A study by Pew Research Center found that about 70% of college students say they play video games at least once in a while.
While the Texas Wesleyan Rams have teams for the squad-based shooter game Overwatch 2 and the fighting game Super Smash Bros., it’s also important for Eugene to appeal to that larger audience. When the program was more focused on competitive gaming, he found that some students with a casual interest in gaming felt like they didn’t belong. That’s why the club includes a team that creates, edits and streams content for platforms like Twitch and YouTube, as well as groups for fans of anime, Dungeons & Dragons and more casual gaming.
“We started streaming and being much more active with our student organizations,” Eugene says. “We went from having seven teams to two, and the number of students in our program has actually gone up a little bit because there’s more ways for people to get involved.”
Bryce Edwards, a junior, received a scholarship to help run the esports program and became captain of the school’s Smash Bros. team. He says the social and leadership skills he learned in that role will be invaluable as he pursues a career in marketing.
For Kelvin Coker, a senior criminal justice major and wrestler, it’s been a new way to connect with people. “People need a place that allows them to be themselves and interact with people of different backgrounds so that they can develop the skills necessary to go through life,” Kelvin says. “It was a different vibe than wrestling, which was extremely refreshing. It felt good to be among people who shared interests in things outside of sports.”
Heath Price, associate vice president of partnerships at the University of Kentucky, found the same enthusiasm when he first met with an informal esports club on his campus in 2018. With school resources behind it, the UK Esports Club has grown to include hundreds of members who enjoy the university’s recently completed gaming lounge, along with approximately 70 students who play competitively.
“What we’ve seen is that the idea of a gamer just being someone who might be interested in building games is kind of a misnomer,” Heath says. “A lot of these young people have varying interests. I think as much of a career builder as anything is giving people some of those opportunities for exposure and to do things in the community.”
Tailor made
Eugene takes a similar approach at Texas Wesleyan. Whether it’s a student who wants to start a clothing line designing the school’s esports jersey or a mass communications major building the team’s content roadmap for the year, he always looks for ways the program can help students pursue their larger goals.
“The content team isn’t about making funny content. It’s about project management,” he says. “The student organizations aren’t just about talking about the things you love. They’re leading a meeting and organizing people.”
With the gaming landscape constantly changing, that may even mean meeting students somewhere other than esports. Texas Wesleyan’s teams currently compete in the second division of the NACE Starleague, the biggest collegiate esports league in North America.
The Rams had a national championship-winning team for the FIFA soccer game series. Today, that team doesn’t exist because the game no longer exists. Earlier this year, Electronic Arts, publisher of the FIFA series of games, ended its branding partnership with global soccer organization FIFA. That left some competitive players out in the cold and highlights a unique challenge for esports.
“You don’t win a national championship in football and a few years later it’s like, ‘Remember when we used to have a football team?’ So when the publishers get involved it’s tricky,” Eugene says. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the esports part of what we do goes away in time and you see the more content creation and pop culture things last. It’s about meeting the students’ needs and matching their interests in a really positive way.”