Senior Jeff Arnett hosted a preliminary meeting last semester to gauge interest for a campus esports team.After the meeting had a satisfactory turnout, funding was secured, and the esports club became an official extracurricular activity at Bluffton. Since then, Arnett and others have continued planning and preparation efforts for the club’s debut year, including renovations to a designated esports space in Neufeld Hall.
Potential president of the esports club for the 2019-20 academic year, Nicholas Hoffman. Photo by Nathan Heinze.
“[With the money from Student Senate], we’ve gotten five game PC setups,” said junior accounting and business administration major and potential future president of the esports club Nicholas Hoffman. “The computers, monitors, keyboard, mouse, chairs, desk, and then a few other things.”
Of course, five of these setups will take up a lot of space. According to Hoffman, that problem is being solved by renovating the Neufeld Hall basement for use by the club. He said Neufeld was chosen as it was the newest residence hall, and therefore, won’t be torn down in the near future.
“[The basement] has been repainted,” said Hoffman. “Currently they’re working on electrical wiring and stuff like that.”
With renovations to the physical space underway, current club president Arnett in also in the process of building the computers. He purchased the same parts he used to build his personal gaming computer and set about building the machines, each with identical hardware, according to Hoffman.
As to what games the club will be playing, Hoffman said that will be based on what the members want to play. He said the only restrictions placed by the university are against realistic military shooter games–everything else is fair game.
“Madden, 2K, Rocket League, DOTA, League of Legends, Hearthstone, pretty much any game is up to be played,” said Hoffman.
In light of the esports club’s recent momentum, Hoffman said he was optimistic about the club’s potential to attract prospective students.
“With the way things seem to be going in society recently, it would only make sense that more incoming students would be interested in this sort of thing,” said Hoffman.
As the school year winds down, the esports team is just getting started. The next club meeting will be held at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, in the Neufeld Hall lobby. The meeting is open for anyone to attend, not just club members. Students interested in joining the club should contact Nicholas Hoffman for details.
