Fla. shooting places esports in spotlight
Some colleges in Ohio at center of prospering new virtual pastime.
In the wake of the Jacksonville, Florida, shooting on Sunday, the concept of esports is gaining national attention and Ohio is at the center of the prospering new virtual pastime.
Three people — including a gunman — were killed and around 11 were injured Sunday at a video game competition inside a Chicago Pizza location in Jacksonville. Esports — short for electronic sports — is the concept of people competitively playing multiplayer video games for spectators. Typically the sport includes people who are considered professional gamers.
“That’s probably the worst place for something like that to happen,” said Phil Alexander, a Miami University professor who helped to create the school’s esports team. “When you’re at an esports competition, everyone is facing away
from the door because everyone is staring at what’s happening in front of them.”
Participants in the Jacksonville tournament were playing an NFL football game commonly referred to as “Madden,” according to reports. The type of game being played as the tragedy unfolded may be something of a “silver lining” for the esports community, Alexander said.
“It was interesting to me that it was a sports game and not a game that includes shooting, which I think was fortunate for the esports community if there could be any sort of silver lining,” Alexander said.
Video games have often been blamed for violence, though Alexander said he believes there is no strong link between the two. He does, however, believe video games can affect how people learn to socialize and that may have been a fac- tor in the Sunday shooting, he said.
In June, the World Health Organization made a contro- versial move by classifying an addiction to video games as a mental health disorder for the first time.
“Gaming disorder,” as the WHO calls it, is characterized by “a pattern of per- sistent or recurrent gaming behaviour,” manifested by “impaired control” over frequency and duration of video gaming, according to the classification. The distinctions of “gaming disor- der” are considered simi- lar to those of people with a gambling addiction.
Local psychotherapist Frances Duncan told this news organization that a video game isn’t likely the sole cause of such an extreme reaction but rather other mental health issues likely are.
“It can also create a lot of intense emotion when somebody is playing and it is not going as they hoped, or they are not winning or something is occurring in the video game that upsets them,” Duncan said.
Despite some concerns though, competitive and professional gaming is catching on across the country and Ohio’s colleges are latching on to the trend.
A survey released in June ranked some of Ohio’s colleges among some of the best for esports.
Miami Unive rsity was ranked No. 1 in the survey release by Value Gamers, a company that helps people make informed decisions when it comes to buying gaming equipment.
Miami received the top ranking because in 2016 it became the first “top-tier university” to start a varsity esports team, according to Value Gamers. Miami’s team won the 2017 National Asso- ciation of Collegiate Esports season for “Overwatch” a multiplayer first-person shooter video game.
“I think this is one of those situations that’s like a snowball rolling down hill,” Alexander said. “Once it got started, I don’t think there’s any time soon that it’s going to quit.”
Ashland University in Northeast Ohio is ranked No. 6 on Value Gamers’ survey and the University of Akron is also seen as an up-and-coming esports school.
Just over a month ago, the University of Akron announced it was plan- ning to open “esports facil- ities unlike any other kind in the world.” On Oct. 5, the university is planning to open three dedicated gaming facilities totaling more than 5,200 combined square feet, according to the school.
It will be t he largest amount of dedicated space for esports at any univer- sity in the world and will be outfitted with more than 90 state-of-the-art gaming computers and 30 “nextgeneration consoles.” The facility will also house a 1,222-square-foot gaming arena located on its first floor, according to the University of Akron.
“This reflects our program’s commitment to ensure — whether you’re a student who likes to game casually or are a dedicated competitive player — that there’s a space for you to celebrate your love of gaming with others who share that passion,” Michael Fay Jr., head coach of Akron’s esports, said in a prepared statement. “We’re not divided by the type of game we play, the platform we play it on, or how competitively we play it.”