The Changing Landscape of Esports

[cousin oliver]

When esports at the University of North Texas (UNT) was first offered, gamers only had one space to use, and it was shared with the media library. But due to unprecedented growth in interest, UNT has expanded its efforts.

“Since then, we realized we needed more facility time for students wanting to use the space,” said Dylan Wray, the assistant director of UNT Esports. “The end result is the varsity team has their own space, and open recreation now has their own lab. The open lab is the most important component to any program right now. It’s a meeting ground of people who love to game and something we should always keep doing. It’s how to ingrain esports into the college experience. That’s been a big change for us.”

Similar changes can also be found at Franklin College where Todd Burris, the director of Esports and head coach, said they recently took an unused racquetball court and turned it into an esports gaming arena.

“I built this program from the ground up a few years ago,” said Burris. “When they hired me, I inherited maybe five kids. I started recruiting on campus to grow the program, and we now have over 40 students. It’s turned into something that’s very popular. We use esports at Franklin College to leverage our mission and retain students.”

Burris said once you combine views across all platforms, esports is now the second most-watched sport in the U.S. behind the NFL. The surge in popularity has led to a spike in the number of programs at colleges offering gaming opportunities for students.

read more:  https://campusrecmag.com/the-changing-landscape-of-esports/

[UNTLifer]

Not a sport

[greenminer]

8 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Not a sport

Is this a topic you're passionate about?

[UNTLifer]

3 hours ago, greenminer said:

Is this a topic you're passionate about?

They represent UNT so I want them to do well.  Passionate?  Probably not, but I am not sure why that matters.  I am passionate about UNT being successful in all things.  Let's just call it what it is, gaming.  It takes zero athletic ability.

[greenminer]

45 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

They represent UNT so I want them to do well.  Passionate?  Probably not, but I am not sure why that matters.  I am passionate about UNT being successful in all things.  Let's just call it what it is, gaming.  It takes zero athletic ability.

I guess I don't know why you insist on carrying this flag, and posting this each time it comes up on gmg.com

they're not going to change the name.  just forget about it.  The video game industry is bigger than all of the other major leagues combined.  Someone's not going to wake up one day and say "wait, this isn't really a sport. we got it all wrong here."   ESPN has taken it under their umbrella.  Either get used to it, or tell me how this effort on gmg.com is going to change the world.

[UNTLifer]

32 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I guess I don't know why you insist on carrying this flag, and posting this each time it comes up on gmg.com

they're not going to change the name.  just forget about it.  The video game industry is bigger than all of the other major leagues combined.  Someone's not going to wake up one day and say "wait, this isn't really a sport. we got it all wrong here."   ESPN has taken it under their umbrella.  Either get used to it, or tell me how this effort on gmg.com is going to change the world.

You are welcome to not read my posts regarding gaming.