Game On

Radford's Esports Program Gets High Scores from Students

By Chad Osborne

One new space on campus is something you really have to experience to fully appreciate. Words and photos can convey only so much.

When you first walk into this space, it’s dark, except for the rapid action zipping around on numerous screens strategically placed in the room. Scores of students are here, but despite the activity, it’s surprisingly quiet. Noise-canceling headphones have a lot to do with that. There is a competitive energy flowing. LED lights display an array of colors around this 1,800 square-foot room, giving off an ultramodern feel while also evoking an ’80s arcade ambiance.

“When students walk in here, their minds are blown –parents, too,” said Doug Benedict, the assistant director of Radford University’s new esports center, located on the first floor of Cook Hall, and the program he and others around campus hope will draw and retain more students to Radford.

The center is the physical component of the esports program Radford has steadily built over the past couple of years to capitalize on the booming industry. It has everything a gamer could wish for.

Benedict’s eyes light up when he explains it all.

The center has 40 gaming stations with “really high-powered PCs,” he said. Listening to him run through the specs would likely make anyone interested in gaming salivate. Those include, to name just a few, Alienware Aurora R13 PCs, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphic cards and I9 processors.

“This is some of the best stuff available on the market,” said Benedict, who was hired in February 2022 to help run the esports program. “We are definitely on the first wave of the newest technology.”

And the best games! Valorant. Rocket League. League of Legends. Super Smash Bros Ultimate. FIFA. NBA2K. “In reality, you can come in here and play any game you want,” Benedict explained. That includes old-school games like Pacman.

The esports center is designed to host tournament competitions. Teams are competing on two levels, a “varsity level,” Benedict said, and a club level. The former is competing against teams from other colleges and universities.

Team members can sit side-by-side in Radfordbranded gaming chairs while playing a tournament game against another school. Friends and fans can sit in the room and cheer on screens throughout the center. Plus, the computers in the center can stream their gameplay to the outside world, meaning fans can watch from their residence hall rooms, or in the library, or in Dalton Hall or anywhere.

“We want an audience similar to our basketball games and other sporting events on campus,” Benedict said. The esports program, however, is about more than games. Much more.

Unifying students was an important factor when planning for the esports center and the program.

“This is about engagement,” said Benedict, who recently earned a master’s degree in higher education administration. “The first thing we wanted to look at was giving a population of students, those who play games, ownership over a part of their campus.

“So many students are gamers. It’s estimated that more than 4 billion people play some sort of game, and we know students are already playing games, and we know they are playing games in their dorms,” Benedict continued.

Some students are competing on teams beyond the boundaries of campus and using their experience on the national level. Chad Matthews, a senior biology student, has been ranked as high as 12th in the nation playing Valorant.

“We have the research to say that students engage more on campus when they have perceived ownership of a space,” Benedict added. “And, when they are joining organizations, they are 100 or 200 times more likely to graduate. Those numbers aren’t an exaggeration.”

During the fall semester, 15% of Radford’s students population checked in to use the center, and more than 100 participated on teams, Benedict said.

Just three weeks into the fall semester and the opening of the esports center, Esports club president Michaela Johnson had already noticed the overall positive impact the center was having on her fellow students and gamers.

“It’s amazing to walk in here and see students playing games, doing their homework and just hanging out and meeting new people. Having this center and that in-person contact is the No. 1 thing,” she said, slapping her leg with each word for emphasis.

The program has an academic component as well, easing the minds of parents who sometimes ask, “Is my student going to play video games all day?”

Those academics come in the form of the esports services minor, which was created by the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism (RCPT) and offered in collaboration with the Department of English. It focuses on play, community, team building, inclusion and event planning. The minor is designed to prepare students for careers in the ever-expanding field. The course list has three required courses – Introduction to Esports, Applied Issues in Esports, and Game Studies and Design. There are also six electives students must complete.

“There are tremendous opportunities for students involved in esports. Not only are there significant benefits economically for players, but also for merchandise and supporting key stakeholders,” said RCPT Associate Professor Josh Carroll, Ph.D., who teaches the intro to esports course. “Esports supports huge events that require planning and implementation, as well as keen design features to attract these audiences and spectators. There are also tremendous networking opportunities for our students between major sponsors, host sites, players, event planners and game designers.”

The minor has been a hit in its inaugural semester, with many students like Johnson, a senior psychology major from Warrenton, Virginia, adding it to their academic slate.

“I teach right above the new Esports Lounge, and I have had the class fill up, then we open more seats. It fills up again until a full classroom capacity prevents any more seats opening up,” Carroll explained.

When students hear the word “esports,” Benedict explained, they think, ‘Oh, I get to compete,’ but when I talk about esports, I talk about academics, a career as well as competition and media creation.”

And all of these components of the program serve as a tremendous recruiting tool for the university.

“We know many students are gamers, and we are letting them know that we have created a space for them,” said D.J. Preston, Radford University’s director of student recreation and wellness and one of the leaders who helped develop esports on campus. “Many students cannot afford this gaming equipment on their own, but we have it here, and that shows them that Radford University is investing in them and the things they like to do."