St. Thomas Celt player Ivan Alizakhov’s hands wave in the air passionately as he describes the many ways he alters his desk setup in hopes of improving his gameplay. With more than 40 mice and multiple mousepads and keyboards, Alizakhov is known to shift the level of his monitor and length of his desk often to test out what works best for his body during competitive esports tournaments in which plays a character battling it out on near-future Earth.
His University of St. Thomas teammates, who sit nearby in their shared townhouse, are not as enamored with the ergonomics of esports, but they discuss the dynamics, rules and strategies involved when they play the game Overwatch, around which their university has established their league.
Some of it goes over the reporter’s head, which is not surprising. To many people, the world of esports can seem like the Wild West, they say.
Esports is played on a video game console or computer and involves individuals or teams who battle it out in a multiplayer competition on a screen, manipulating animated characters involved in battles or quests. Esports doesn’t benefit from a long-established fanbase or the broad familiarity of in-real-life sports. And to someone who has never played or watched an esports game, the screen can look cluttered and chaotic.
“It’s a little harder to see the skill in (esports) and see what’s cool about it,” Alizakhov said, particularly when you’re watching all of the skills happen on a screen.
But esports is booming, with huge audiences, steadily growing revenues and collegiate and professional teams forming all over the world. Colleges like the University of St. Thomas in Houston are taking esports very seriously.
The private Catholic university launched an esports coaching minor this fall and plans to expand its curriculum with more programs, said St. Thomas President Richard Ludwick. People who did not grow up playing esports can study it and get “an academic understanding on what the world is becoming,” he said.
The college has revamped a portion of its library into an esports facility, with three 70-inch screen TVs and 13 gaming stations, and launched its first collegiate team, specifically for the Overwatch game. Overwatch is a multiplayer shooter game produced by Blizzard Entertainment, the company that makes several popular video games including World of Warcraft and Heroes of the Sun. The game requires each player to play a different character and teams battle it out in complex, rapidly unfolding sequences.
Growing trend in schools
Other schools, including public high schools, have shown similar interest in the video game industry.
Rice University has an esports management certificate program through its Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, and a recreational club that can battle other colleges across the country.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference, which features multiple historically Black colleges and universities including Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern universities, launched registration for its league last fall to create a conference-wide esports platform. And the University of Houston-Downtown has multiple varsity clubs that allow students to congregate and compete in collegiate competitions.
Middle and high school educators across the region and state formed the Texas Scholastic Esports Federation to offer resources, coaching and clinics. Its board includes members representing Galveston, Houston, Aldine and Dallas ISDs among others.
“Texas Scholastic Esports Federation is a community of teachers who believe that esports can be an accessible, inclusive, and equitable path to college, career, and military readiness for all Texas students,” according to the organization’s website.
The regional growth reflects that of the competitive gaming industry, which consists of high school, collegiate and professional level players.
Esports is predicted to have more viewership than every sport other than the NFL this year, according to research from technology consulting firm Activate. The global games’ live-streaming audience is expected to hit 728.8 million, and esports revenues are expected to grow to $1.08 billion this year — a 14 percent increase from 2020.
Houston is also considered a hub — home to the esports tournament and event company Mainline and the Houston Outlaws, a professional Overwatch team. In addition, NRG Stadium has is interested in throwing big events and filling its facility with esports enthusiasts, said Adrian Collins, director of operations at Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation/NRG Park. (ESPN debuted its collegiate esports competition at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center in 2019)
Blizzard Entertainment, the owner of Overwatch, noted that its viewership for a tournament in 2020 more than doubled compared to the previous year, and colleges are trying to keep up with leagues, competitions and programs focused on the academics and science behind the gaming industry and its players.
Sports vs. esports
But collegiate esports programming and teams are still developing, and sometimes their processes don’t resemble that of typical athletic departments.
As an example, the Celts team at St. Thomas, which ranks in the top 500 among thousands of Overwatch players, was built by word of mouth, recommendations, reputation and rank, its players say.
Both Ryan Gandee, 18, and Daniel Ibrahim, 21 — the most experienced players on the Celts team — said they were recruited only after they advertised their esports skills, their Top 500 rankings, and interest on social media while looking for a collegiate team.
Neither had to participate in tryouts, and all members were offered scholarships, which sends a message to students around the country who want to turn a hobby into an opportunity.
“It’s the big reason I came here,” said Gandee, who serves a leader for the group. “My plan was to go to community college, but this opportunity came through last minute.”
On its esports program site, the University of St. Thomas notes it “teaches students how to make a career in the Esports industry” with potential careers in broadcasting, entrepreneurship, esports coaching, esports law and contract management, events management, sales, social media, and talent management. It also notes the $62,237 average salary for an esports coach in Houston, per ZipRecruiter.
And although competitive collegiate esports is not considered a traditional physical sport, it involves many of the same mental and physical skills, St. Thomas players say.
There’s training, intense practices, strategy — which involves effective communication between team members — critical thinking, psychology blazing hand-eye coordination and the subtle physicality of gaming as well as the fine-tuning of equipment.
Celt freshman esports player Andrew Mack, who plays a support role in Overwatch, for example, has a more physically spaced-out computer set-up to accommodate his longer arms, while ergonomics-obsessed Alizakhov, 18, has his ever-changing one.
Still, the players said they feel they are battling the negative connotation of the word “gamer,” which can often make people think of an aimless, anti-social, game-obsessed player who rarely leaves his room.
“People hear ‘gamer’ and think, ‘Oh you play games in your mom’s basement with no windows?’ said Akizakhov.
Alizakhov, who plays 40 to 50 hours a week, said competitive collegiate esports players differ from everyday gamers.
“What separates us from casual players is there’s a goal you have in mind,” agreed Mack, a business major. They train together, they strategize, they plan for tournament play.
Players are balancing their academics with gaming, and can often be found trekking from their home to the university’s game lounge to practice, to improve their gameplay and study other players.
The team has only played together consistently for about a month, but already they’ve established a growing reputation and a growing bond. They play and live together in an on-campus townhouse — a set-up that is a more popular tradition in the Eastern gaming world, Ibrahim said.
In Korea, the gaming capital of the world, gaming houses are considered a fiscally beneficial arrangement that allows a team to live together and focus on competing, practicing and winning, Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim said he’s seen several competitive and top-ranking esports teams who live apart break up within months because of lack of financial support, disappointment after playing in championship matches, or having players leave for better opportunities. Unresolved tensions or conflicts are also a common cause for splits, but living together can foster space to solve conflicts head-on, he said. Teammates can discuss issues and address them when they can occur — which can be more difficult if players are in different locations.
For the St. Thomas team, the living arrangement has worked in their favor. They are often home at different times, but when they find themselves in the same space, they’re often strategizing about the game or hosting team dinners, they said. Conflicts are rare, although there are the occasional questions about whose clothes are in the dryer, and an enduring, lively debate about Alizakhov’s original username, which he chooses not to reveal.
The St. Thomas players said that pressure and the ultimate desire to win the national collegiate championship can make it difficult to just “get up” and physically break away from the game while practicing. Competition in the esports world is next level, they say — complete with trash-talking, attempts to sabotage other players, and instances of players quickly shifting teams in hopes of winning and getting the highest rank. And so they’re striving for balance.
“At the pro-level, there’s this stress for excellence,” Alizakhov said.
“It’s always in the back of your head that if you’re not improving, you’re getting worse,” Ibrahim said.
But they are confident in their game, and they believe they’re slowly earning more respect for their craft, with fellow students stopping them on campus to congratulate them on their recent wins.
The group beat University of Texas-Dallas’s team in a July competition, and recently played in Harrisburg, Pa., against multiple schools. With a record of 2-2, they’ll compete in Overwatch Collegiate Homecoming 2021, an online tournament that starts Friday and runs through the final rounds in December.
Mack said his parents have had a hard time understanding what he does, but cheer him all the same. After a match, he recalled them saying: “I know you won, but I have no idea how.”
brittany.britto@chron.com
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