They host hours-long practices, compete in tournaments against other universities and have sponsors such as Xfinity and Red Bull, but their playing field isn’t on grass or a court; it’s on a screen.
UO Esports is a student life program that promotes the playing of video games on competitive levels, from “party games” like Mario Kart to team-based strategy games like League of Legends, the world’s largest esport. The program is one of hundreds of esports programs globally, with over 300 programs in North America, many of which award scholarships to players.
UOES began as an unrecognized League club in 2012. Now, the program is funded by the university and is essentially an umbrella under which five clubs fall, each associated with a game title: League of Legends, Marvel Rivals, Overwatch, Rocket League and Valorant.
Each title is a team-based cooperative game and has a varsity and junior varsity squad, with more popular games such as Marvel Rivals and Valorant boasting practice squads.
UOES Community and Event Coordinator and third-year student Nora Thimmesch was determined to leave such games in high school. She was a casual gamer then.
But when Thimmesch attended the club fair her freshman year, she didn’t discover a new passion as she had hoped she would, but the reigniting of an old passion when she heard someone yell a Valorant reference. It was then that Thimmesch discovered esports, and with it, a competitive outlet she missed having from participating in traditional sports growing up.
“I get to play with people who are as competitive and better than I am. I get to learn so much in a team environment where, not to say I’m the worst one, but I have so much to learn,” Thimmesch said. “They all have different strengths than me. It’s really nice feeling like a part of a core-five team, where I can really lean on them to be able to make sure that I can play my best, and we can all play our best, together.”
A trusted team dynamic is crucial to the success of respective teams, but also the realization of the program’s goal to build community — one of three core values, alongside career and competition, according to the UOES website.
Third-year cultural anthropology student Ceilidh McCallum is a “fill,” or a team substitute, on the JV Overwatch team. She feels her role as a team member goes beyond any video game.
“I’m the ultimate support. I’m there to not only support the team in the game, but support the team outside of the game, to make sure they can even play,” McCallum said.
UOES has provided experiences, both personally and professionally, for those who don’t participate on their competitive teams as well.
Fourth-year student and UOES Media and News Team Coordinator Jacob Gittelman became involved with the program as a broadcaster his freshman year, commentating games streamed on the program’s Twitch as traditional sport broadcasters would. When the opportunity to join the media team emerged, Gittelman knew he wanted to seize the opportunity to align his career goals with his passions, while keeping gaming casual.
“I’ve definitely been able to find my people, find people that I enjoy hanging out with, and working with, and making things (with),” Gittelman said. “But then also, career-wise, it’s definitely given me a lot of motivation. The job itself, I think, mirrors what you’d be doing in a graphic designer role in a lot of different companies, so it’s definitely given me invaluable experience to working in a team environment and making graphics at the highest level.”
In an effort to increase opportunity for connection among all players, the program is transitioning to include non-competitive gaming, absorbing the smaller gaming club into the esports dynamic. This decision will centralize game-related communication and events such as game nights and the UOES annual winter term stream-a-thon — a bonding event not explicitly tied to streaming, considering the Overwatch team took the opportunity to play soccer and the Rocket League team to film a Hot Ones segment.
Community expansion isn’t at the expense of competition, though. The penultimate UOES event remains, and is approaching: the third annual Platypus Cup.
On May 2, OSU’s esports team will bus down to Eugene to compete in an eight-game series hosted in the gaming lounge on the ground floor of the EMU. OSU won two years in a row, so UOES teams are reviewing esports guidelines, memorizing play calls and implementing coach critiques to prove the third time’s the charm.
“Esports and video gaming sports can be just as intense, time-consuming and emotionally rewarding and social as your physical contact sports that you would see in an arena,” McCallum said.
