Inaugural esports league is a welcoming sign to Chapman gamers

Chapman’s inaugural esports league is hosting its first “Call of Duty” tournament of the semester, and while not all Chapman gamers are participating, they’re excited for the recognition esports is receiving. Unsplash

The debate over whether video games are a sport has raged for many years, with some adamant that esports aren’t physically strenuous enough for the classification and some strong supporters of the skill necessary to compete. In recent years, however, with platforms such as YouTube and Twitch turning esports into a booming industry, that conversation appears to have shifted — and Chapman University is evidently taking notice.

Chapman’s Fitness and Recreation Center launched the university’s inaugural esports league  October 2020, and hosted a “Call of Duty” tournament Feb. 8. The tournament was made possible by the center’s connection to a company called Mission Control, a startup that created an app to manage esports leagues. The event ends March 6 and will see two winners take home $75. 

This isn’t the first time the center has attempted to boost student engagement through esports. Freshmen Drew Bozarth, a software engineering major, and Will Potter, a business administration major, competed together in a 2v2 “Call of Duty” last semester in November and became champions. They both had positive experiences with the tournament and took home gaming keyboards as prizes.

“It was definitely a fun tournament,” Potter said. “It was a little of a struggle to try not to talk some smack to the people we were playing against … We didn't want to leave like a bad mark, but everyone was mostly pretty nice and we had a good time.”

Bozarth felt the tournament helped with social interaction during a disconnected time.

“With (the COVID-19) situation, it's pretty hard to meet people or interact with anyone new, especially being a freshman and being new to campus,” Bozarth said. “So being able to connect with people through Call of Duty was a pretty cool opportunity.”

With more events to come and a growing gaming community at Chapman, students like senior Billee Wou, a business administration major and head of the Well Played gaming club on campus, are excited at the support their passion is receiving. 

“Chapman being interested in (esports) is actually a very good thing,” Wou said. “I'm really glad to see Chapman embracing it more now with the inaugural esports league, because it's something that a lot of kids nowadays and young people are really interested in.”

Well Played has 182 student members who play games like “League of Legends,” “Valorant,” “Rocket League” and “Overwatch” and have competed against other schools such as the University of California, Irvine, and the University of California, San Diego, from September 2020 to January 2021.

Additionally, Maddie Hill, a graduate assistant for Fitness and Recreation Center and supervisor for Chapman’s esports programming, said there are plans in store to cater towards Chapman gamers.

“(Connecting with Well Played is) one of the things that is a priority on our list because one of our main goals in the whole Fitness and (Recreation) team is to double our membership,” Hill said. “We've already hit that with the esports, which is awesome, so we're just going to increase (it).” 

As Wou and other Chapman gamers compete in this event, they look forward to more in the future.

“Being a professional gamer isn't just a pipe dream anymore,” Wou said. “It's actually something that can be really realized if you put your heart to it … Having schools being able to provide that opportunity for them and that (experience) for them is really good.”