Alvernia Presents Esports: The Next Competive Pastime

Cole Schlappich Contributing Editor

Ten years ago, if you asked someone if it were possible to make a career out of playing video games, the answer would most likely be no. However, competitive gaming tournaments have been around for much longer than many know. Spanning over half a century, the history of e-sports is short when compared to traditional athletics but has only grown in popularity over time.1

“E-sports will keep growing,” Joshua Buchanan, Director of Esports for Alvernia University, said. “It is going to be a cool space to see how Alvernia is going to make their mark.”

I sat down with Josh to discuss how e-sports leagues are influencing the communities around them, and why Alvernia made the decision to create a league of their own. Buchanan said that Alvernia examined the outcomes of other schools that created e-sports teams, like Albright and DeSales, and determined that a program of their own would be beneficial to the Reading community.

Alvernia’s e-sports facility, located in CollegeTowne, contains 36 PCs and 4 Nintendo Switch consoles to accommodate their 45 players. Alvernia is invested in creating a league to rival those in the Mid Atlantic Conference (MAC).

“When you look at Pennsylvania programs,” Buchanan said, “Alvernia is one of the schools that is the most invested and really committed to not only being competitive but also providing a really good student experience.”

Not only does Alvernia benefit from their e-sports league, but the students themselves are incentivized to improve their skills. Schools competing in tournaments award scholarships to students who achieve higher ranks. These scholarships are provided by the developers who created the games that are played. By providing scholarships, schools find it easier to recruit students to sign up for an e-sports league, and in so doing solidify a new athletic program.

Developers like Blizzard, who created Overwatch, work with universities to organize and promote tournaments.

As of now, there is no NCAA equivalent in the world of e-sports. Subsequently, because Overwatch is owned by Blizzard, a licensing agreement is needed with colleges to host a large-scale Overwatch tournament. The