E-Sports but The Girl Version

E-sports is a new sport that has been growing by the year. DSU has an E-sports team that, like a lot of other teams, are mostly made up of males. We spoke to Morgan Garber, who is one of the female gamers on our E-sports team, about how her experience is on the team.

She says that her experience has been great overall. “Being a part of esports and being on a team in the past has really helped me build up my confidence. [It helped] me become more outgoing. Because of how friendly everyone was it helped me feel more comfortable.”

E-sports is at the beginning of its journey. E-sports became a formal collegiate sport in 2014, according to Athletic Director U. In the past 7 years scholarships have been offered to gamers who exhibit extraordinary talents. The only problem was women were not often among those granted scholarships or were accepted onto an E-sports team. The women who were, did not always feel welcomed.

Our E-sports team, however, is very inclusive. “Even though esports is a very competitive environment, we all still love to play casually and have a good time together. Everyone is really friendly and welcoming, it’s what makes me want to stay in this club and do great things for it!” It is very important that our sports teams work together as a team and include everyone, regardless of who they are. “In my experience, being a female in esports hasn’t been too challenging for me. When I first joined my freshman year, it took them a little bit to be as comfortable around me like they were with everyone else. Once they [were] I felt like [I was] a part of the group.” When our teams are united, they are strong.

Garbers told us a few of her favorite games to play. “I’ve been playing Binding of Isaac and Inscryption a lot lately. I’ve always loved playing Binding of Isaac since middle school. It’s always just a fun game to pass time with or rage at.” She still has more advances to make in the game and hopes to earn 100% in the game, despite the new challenges being added. Earning 100% means that she has completed the full game and passed every challenge it presents to her.

As for Inscryption, she has almost completed it. “It’s a deck-building, puzzle, horror game,” which Morgan highly recommends gamers to try. She recommends it over other deck-building games because “you’re able to roam around the room you first start in and solve puzzles in a very spooky atmosphere that continues on throughout the whole game.”

As for the future of E-sports at DSU, Morgan says that she hopes it can grow and expand. It has become more common in colleges across America, but not many know about their events or the opportunities it presents. “It would also be really cool to see an esports game being streamed among one of the TVs in a sports bar or anywhere,” Morgan said. There are many different platforms used to promote gamers such as, YouTube or Twitch, but it is not common to see a clip from a gaming competition on ESPN.

Check out the DSU athletics page to see when the E-sports teams compete and show them our Trojan pride by cheering them on!