{"id":3547,"date":"2020-04-20T12:30:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T16:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=3547"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:18:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:18:30","slug":"leaving-it-all-on-the-digital-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2020\/04\/leaving-it-all-on-the-digital-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving it All on the (Digital) Field"},"content":{"rendered":"
Seton Hall\u2019s video game teams are emerging as conference-leading competitors in the growing world of esports \u2014 and thanks to a new facility have a well-equipped home on campus. <\/div><\/div>\n
By Molly Petrilla<\/em> <\/h6>\n

The undefeated Pirates had already stomped Xavier University in the semifinals, shutting them out 4-0. Now the BIG EAST championship title rode on a final best-of-seven-games showdown against DePaul. Six games in, the schools were tied. Well into the seventh game, they were tied again. It would all come down to the final few seconds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the classic sports moment \u2014 a nail-biting final, the result of hours of training, and a last-second goal (in this case, DePaul\u2019s) to win the game. But there was an added twist to this particular matchup: the players were sitting at computers inside a New York City\u00a0gaming lounge, and their sport was a video game\u00a0called \u201cRocket League.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between dedicated club members, the recent launch of BIG EAST esports tournaments, and the University\u2019s new computer lab\/esports facility in Jubilee Hall, Seton Hall has officially entered the world of competitive video gaming \u2014 and its teams are emerging as serious, conference-leading competitors.<\/p>\n

While video games and competitions around them date back to the 1970s, esports \u2014 team-based competitive video gaming that mirrors traditional sports competitions \u2014 have risen to prominence in the past decade. And it\u2019s been a rocketing ascent. The global esports market was expected to generate $1.1 billion in revenue last year, more than double from just three years ago, according to the analytics company Newzoo.<\/p>\n

In 2018, more people watched the \u201cLeague of Legends\u201d World Championship than the 2019 Super Bowl. And in July 2019, a 16-year-old from Pennsylvania took home\u00a0$3 million for winning the Fortnite World Cup Finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no longer a trend,\u201d notes Paul Fisher, Seton Hall\u2019s associate chief information officer. \u201cIt\u2019s now an industry \u2014 and we need to look at it as such from an educational perspective, from a management perspective, and certainly from a business perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an opportunity here at Seton Hall to harness what\u2019s happening,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

From Fledging Club to BIG EAST Champs<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he wasn\u2019t in class or studying for exams, Victor Gomez \u201917 spent most of his time at Seton Hall either managing the school\u2019s first esports team or trying to help others understand why competitive video gaming belonged on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically anyone who would listen would get a miniature presentation on Seton Hall esports,\u201d he says now.<\/p>\n

Aside from turning himself into a walking Wikipedia entry on the history and statistics behind esports, Gomez personally understood their broad appeal. He\u2019d gotten hooked on playing competitive \u201cWorld of Warcraft\u201d in high school and discovered the game \u201cLeague of Legends\u201d at Seton Hall.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cIt was like when I was playing volleyball or running track or playing soccer \u2014 that feeling of, I want to improve because I know I could win if I just fix this one thing,\u201d he says. He also loved the camaraderie among teammates and the way winning relied on strong communication.<\/p>\n

The Seton Hall Gaming Sector club was less than a year old when Gomez joined in 2013 \u2014 the same year that the United States officially recognized esports players as professional athletes. Esports were beginning to explode on campuses around the country, and Seton Hall\u2019s teams started training to compete and entering regional tournaments.<\/p>\n

A high point for Gomez came in 2015, when Riot Games flew him and Joshua Caruso \u201916 out to Santa Monica for a \u201cLeague of Legends\u201d Collegiate Summit. Gomez offered the company his opinions, talked about the gaming scene on campus, and \u201cplayed a lot of video games,\u201d he remembers. He says Seton Hall was one of just 75 schools selected to attend the summit, and the only one from New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Still, the Seton Hall esports teams ebbed and flowed. Some years they were highly competitive. Others, more lax. And while the gaming club itself grew to 250 members in 2015, with up to 70 students playing \u201cLeague of Legends\u201d alone, \u201cthere was definitely a population we weren\u2019t reaching,\u201d Gomez says.<\/p>\n

When Christian Ciardiello, now a senior, joined the club in 2016, he set out to strengthen the teams \u2014 not as a player, but by managing them. A former varsity athlete in soccer and track and longtime video game enthusiast, Ciardiello counts himself among the hundreds of millions of people who don\u2019t compete in esports, but love to watch them.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessional players in the NFL, NBA, MLB \u2014 they\u2019re not simply good at what they do, but in a way they\u2019re also entertainers,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople love watching people who are really good at things they\u2019re passionate about. It\u2019s the same with esports.\u201d<\/p>\n

As esports manager, Ciardiello devoted himself to assembling strong player rosters, scheduling practice scrimmages with other schools, and placing the teams into leagues and tournaments.<\/p>\n

Today the Seton Hall esports teams practice together eight hours a week. A student coach doles out training assignments. The players review videos of their past matchups to spot mistakes and areas for improvement.<\/p>\n

The result has been a growing list of achievements \u2014 including, in 2018, when Seton Hall won the inaugural Electronic Sports League (ESL) BIG EAST Esports\u00a0Invitational for the game \u201cRocket League.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher says that the pilot BIG EAST season in 2018 showed that the conference was starting to take competitive video gaming seriously. And in March 2019, the commitment further crystallized when leaders invited Fisher and other CIOs from BIG EAST schools to conference headquarters to talk about collegiate esports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back from that meeting and started digging in, asking, \u2018What is this all about?,\u2019\u201d Fisher remembers. He met with Ciardiello and talked to Gomez, who had returned to campus in 2018 as both adviser of the Seton Hall gaming club and an assistant director of scheduling\/operations for the student life department.<\/p>\n

Fisher surveyed the Seton Hall campus about esports and was shocked by the results: 67 percent of undergraduates said they wouldn\u2019t go to a traditional sporting event, but they would go to an esports event.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we leave that kind of engagement on the table?\u201d he says. \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t we start investing in getting that 67 percent of students engaged in a University-supported program \u2014 getting out of their rooms, getting them in leadership roles and social roles, and playing the games as part of a team?\u201d<\/p>\n

IT had plans to renovate a computer lab in Jubilee Hall, and Fisher pitched the idea of designing it specifically for esports. With input from Gomez and Ciardiello, the space has become the first official esports facility on campus, with high-power PCs, gaming chairs, and consoles including Microsoft Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Though open to all students, the gaming lab is now the teams\u2019 home base for practices and matches.<\/p>\n

Gomez\u2019s reaction to the new spot? \u201cIn a word? Amazing,\u201d he says. \u201cI see it as a victory not only for myself and my current students, but for anyone who\u2019s been a part\u00a0of [Seton Hall esports] since day one \u2014 and even those who are only recently discovering our existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Than Games<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seton Hall isn\u2019t the only university embracing esports right now. The National Association of Collegiate Esports counts more than 170 schools as members \u2014 a number that\u2019s already double what it was just two years ago. (And that doesn\u2019t include the dozens of club teams, like Seton Hall\u2019s, which are not yet varsity teams as NACE requires, but still practice, compete and win.)<\/p>\n

The Ohio State University and several other schools have rolled out undergraduate majors in esports.<\/p>\n

The University of California, Irvine unveiled a 3,500-square-foot UCI Esports Arena. And in 2018, Harrisburg University in Pennsylvania became the first college esports program to award full scholarships to its entire 16-player roster.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Collegiate esports players can also land scholarship money through tournaments. Ciardiello says the Seton Hall \u201cRocket League\u201d team is already on track to earn \u201ca little bit of money\u201d this spring through competitive play. He\u2019s hopeful that those numbers will grow in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost students get scholarships through academics or through athletics,\u201d he notes. \u201cA lot of players on our teams \u2014 the thing they\u2019re really good at is video games. They know the games as well as someone knows a specific subject or an athlete knows how to play their sport. There are more than enough opportunities in the collegiate esports world for these students to earn scholarship money to help pay for college.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are nonfinancial benefits, too. Gomez sees the Seton Hall esports teams as a potential source of both student recruitment and retention. He says they\u2019re a place where game lovers can find a sense of community. \u201cThere\u2019s also a lot of space for diversity,\u201d he adds. \u201cIn a video game, it\u2019s only about what\u2019s on the screen and how good you are. If you don\u2019t want to, you don\u2019t even have to speak. No one\u2019s looking at you directly. A lot of times, people can find it to be very liberating.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as the new degree programs illustrate, collegiate esports is a passion that can flow straight into a career. According to Indeed.com, job postings for esports roles increased by 11 percent in 2019. \u201cJust think of all the careers around this billion-dollar industry that\u2019s coming to fruition,\u201d Fisher says, listing jobs like event planning, marketing, social media direction, sports management, and even athletic training for gaming injuries \u2014 not to mention professional gamer careers.<\/p>\n

The Seton Hall teams offer \u201ca huge opportunity to engage our students and get them into careers they have a passion for,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Bryan D\u2019Imperio \u201916 started playing \u201cSuper Smash Bros.\u201d his freshman year at Seton Hall, when Hurricane Sandy swept through the state and confined students to their dorms. He eventually joined the Seton Hall Gaming Sector and developed a zeal for competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt this drive to keep getting better and better,\u201d he says. \u201cAnytime a new person would come in and beat me, it would light a fire under me. I loved being able to push myself farther and farther.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today D\u2019Imperio works as the director of social media and brand content for Will2Win Gaming, a team founded by fellow Seton Hall graduate Brien Latumbo \u201915.\u00a0 <\/span>A career in esports is \u201cnever something I imagined when I started playing,\u201d D\u2019Imperio says, \u201cbut now there are so many opportunities to get into a team or even make your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esports experience can translate in subtler ways, too. Though he has never played with the team, Ciardiello says he refined his leadership skills as esports manager and president of the gaming club. After he graduates with a bachelor\u2019s degree in accounting and a certificate in information technology management this spring, he\u2019ll begin an internship with PricewaterhouseCoopers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single time I had an interview with any firm, I\u2019d talk briefly about my academics and classes,\u201d he says, \u201cbut most of the time, it was focused on esports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leveling Up<\/strong><\/p>\n

Esports show no signs of fading anytime soon. A report from Business Insider Intelligence predicts that by 2023, 600 million people will be watching esports. In Philadelphia, Comcast is building a $50 million esports arena, set to open in early 2021.<\/p>\n

As competitive video gaming continues to sweep through the sports world, Fisher also sees its potential to expand further at Seton Hall. In early 2020, he plans to bring together students, faculty and administrative leaders to explore how esports might grow at the
\nUniversity.<\/p>\n

As the winter tournament season wrapped up, Gomez, Ciardiello and the Pirate esports athletes were already looking toward their next matchups \u2014 including games through the ESL Collegiate BIG EAST \u201cLeague of Legends\u201d Invitational and the Collegiate Rocket League.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, this is very new not only to the University, but to every university both domestically and abroad,\u201d Gomez says. \u201cAnd we\u2019re excited to see how far our Seton Hall teams can go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seton Hall\u2019s video game teams are emerging as conference-leading competitors in the growing world of esports \u2014 and thanks to a new facility have a well-equipped home on campus.<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingLeaving it All on the (Digital) Field<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4613,"featured_media":3544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,259,14,10,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2019-2022","category-articles-2020-2024","category-campus","category-sports","category-students","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3547"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3556,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547\/revisions\/3556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}