35 ESPORTS FOCUS University Esports
community do a breakdown for a scene from one of our matches, and that’s something that we’re looking to expand on. But it definitely was a tough summer.” illustration of the daily life of a college esports programme, from the day-to-day challenges of the classroom to the heat of competition. Live broadcasts of matches are becoming more the norm. Over the summer, the team jumped headlong into live broadcasting, streaming all of its FaceIt Scouting Ground matches for League of Legends via Twitch. Unlike the US, the UK has no legacy of major college sports broadcasting. In fact, outside the US, most countries regard college sports as something to be enjoyed more between schools than spectacles to be shared with the country at large. But organisations like the UK’s Ousley has also been directing a documentary series, Legacy , an NUEL (National University Esports League), which has sponsors such as Amazon, Twitch, Intel and Red Bull, and official university body, the NSE (National Student Esports) have been major factors in helping boost esports both on campus and off. The NSE is a part of BUCS, the nationwide body representing major traditional sports in Britain. I REALISED THAT THERE WAS JUST NO REAL CONTENT OR BRANDING AROUND THESE TEAMS
and producer of the Warwick clubs video content. “If the university recognises us, we can get extra funding to have things like an esports arena built on campus.” NUEL and the NSE have been doing high-production value esports productions for some time, but Warwick is still trying to build up its esports content on a budget. It has just started streaming matches on Twitch, kicking off the season with content for incoming students to see some League of Legends, Rocket League and Valorant games from the Warwick team. “It’s a nice way to get freshers involved in what’s happening at the society. People liked the production quality, even though I messed up some of the transitions.” (It was Mankelow’s first attempt at live production.) “Something we’re looking forward to doing is promoting our players who are streaming their games. We have a number of people who stream their competition games. That’s something that other universities have been quite good at and that we want to do going forwards.” Mankelow’s hope is that esports gets even more recognition across UK universities. “When I was applying for Warwick, I had no idea we had good esports. At the moment it still has that big of stigma of somehow not being a cool thing.” But with a significant number of Warwick graduates entering the esports industry, that seems certain to change. Warwick also seems prepared to challenge some of the inequalities that have crept into esports culture, particularly the lack of female esports athletes. The society is about to elect its first equal opportunities
British Universities are also starting to build their own facilities. The University of Roehampton, in London, has built its own esports arena and is offering esports scholarships, and Staffordshire University not only has its own team and facilities, but is offering an esports MA and scholarships. The University of Warwick – winner of the NSE’s Esports University of the Year – is ranked as the Britain’s top university for esports. It is still waiting for official recognition of its Esports Society by the university. “There are a lot of people whose decision to come to Warwick has been influenced by the fact that we have such a good esports scene,” says Josh Mankelow, the FPS games coordinator at Warwick
READY PLAYER ONE Esports is starting to become more popular at British universities like Warwick, which the top university for esports
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