In a ‘room full of introverts,’ gaming brought out their competitive side

A heated game between the University of Kansas and Robert Morris University Illinois played out on the first floor of Wichita State’s Experiential Engineering Building on Saturday morning.

The two teams — red and blue — didn’t face each other physically, but instead faced off through the online game League of Legends. The best two out of three would move on to the next round, and Robert Morris’ players were just ahead of those from Kansas.

It was day two of the Wichita eSports Video Game Tournament. The games brought in players, both on the collegiate level and semi-pros, from all over the country, including Illinois, Oklahoma and even Hawaii and Alaska.

Like any other sport, being successful in the tournament — and gaming overall — requires practice, teamwork and coaching.

Jose Espin, from Robert Morris University, watched the live game from the second floor mezzanine and cheered on his team below. The team has two coaches. One sat behind them as they talked strategy using headphones and microphones. The other sat in the audience, watching the game on a large projection screen, taking notes.

The university was the first to begin an eSports program that awarded scholarships, Espin said. The program started with 35 students and now reaches more than 100.

“Like like any other sport, we practice together,” Espin said. “It provides the same leadership and team building skills you’d get from playing football or baseball.”

And, built on a community of “mostly introverts,” Espin said eSports allows gamers to be a part of a community that they might not have gotten anywhere else.

It’s a community that’s been building for two decades, but has largely been ignored outside of their own. Now players who are passionate enough to put in the work, and who aren’t afraid of a little competition, can hope to become semi-pro and professional gamers with the backup from companies like Dr. Pepper and State Farm, Espin said.

It’s that passion that brought Jordan Trabue and his teammates together. On Monday, Trabue picked up the keys to their game house. The team, sponsored by Azio Corp., where Trabue is the eSports Director, will now live together.

Zachary Trevino, of Wichita, said team homes are becoming popular by semi-pro and professional teams.

Trabue’s dream is to go pro, he said. He and his Counter-Strike teammates play in the Mountain Dew League, and recently came off a tournament win.

“You can get the opportunity to compete across the world,” he said. “There’s a lot of traveling. Just like contact sports, this is all created through passion and dedication.”

And now, the stakes are even higher. Last weekend, for the first time, a North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team won a $1 million tournament. Cloud9 beat FaZe Clan at ELEAGUE Major in Boston.

“That was huge, we were definitely happy to see that happen,” Trabue said.

This weekend’s tournament at Wichita State University also included teams playing Overwatch, Hearthstone, Super SmashBros, Rocket League, Halo 5, Street Fighter, Call of Duty WWII, Dragonball Fighter Z and FIFA 18.

This story was originally published February 3, 2018 at 3:04 PM with the headline "In a ‘room full of introverts,’ gaming brought out their competitive side."