James Brown perfectly fits the stereotype of an e-sportsman (is that what you call them?).
He buzzes with excitement about his hobby, and often goes off on tangents about the latest in gaming gossip. “PCs have more power than consoles do. I kind of put that down to Sony and Microsoft sadly.
“When you’re relying on two tech companies that dominate the market, the PC is always going to have an edge,” he says before launching an impressive broadside against the latest next generation of consoles.
Anyway, back to the reason I interviewed him. James has set up the University’s newest College sport society.
Existing societies shouldn’t fear yet another sports club to jostle with over pitch bookings; James’ game of choice takes place entirely over cyberspace.
E-sports is competitive gaming taken to a level of earnestness some might deem excessive. Prize pools for professional tournaments have broken the $13m barrier.
In America, more people watch League of Legends than Ice Hockey. In James’ words “e-sports is a growing multibillion dollar industry.”
Although not aiming to tango with the best, James felt unfulfilled by simply watching streams of competitive e-sports online. He decided to set up an intercollege e-sports league to compensate. The society hasn’t exactly hit the ground running.
James missed the application deadline for college sport funding; that was before he’d even had the idea. Membership is also free. “We don’t have any money at all. A few very nice people are going to bring their consoles along. It’s all going off the back of ‘let’s everybody be nice to each other.’”
The (e)sports club doesn’t just draw it’s members from the Frag Soc regulars. The game generating the most demand at the moment is Fifa.
James explains: “I would say that 90% of uni age guys interested in football play Fifa. And I’m sure they all think they’re pretty good at it, so why not show you’re pretty good at it?”
By catering to multiple gaming communities James hopes to nurture a unique community of gamers.
James is under no illusions of what he can practically hope to achieve for his young project at this stage. Lancaster, not endowed with any similar society, can’t field their own competitive e-sports team so Roses is off the cards. Neither is it looking likely that the York e-sports club will be included in the National University e-sports League – yes, that’s a thing.
Despite the threadbare nature of the society at present James is optimistic about its future. Although some college teams only have one or two members Derwent and Constantine boast double figures.
There is certainly enough interest for a proper intercollege tournament to take place. It is, of course, also a growing industry that shows no sign of saturating yet.
Being a (e)sports club, James doesn’t have a formal committee underneath him and bluntly concedes it’s currently a one man band. I raise concerns over the future of the young project when James graduates. “A few months down the line I’ll have a proper community up.
“Rather than people coming in, playing some games, and sodding off home, people will know each other and make friends.” James hopes the community he’ll foster will produce a home grown e-sportsman to take up the reins by the end of term two.
So, if you’re about on a Thursday night (7pm in Langwith common room, specifically), and you don’t fancy going to Fibbers yet again, or playing Halo on your own for that matter, do pop along to Hes East, and join James and co. for the some not quite casual gaming.