Esports Arena At SCSU A Great Space For Entire Campus To Connect

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A local university's new Esports Arena is having a big impact on its entire campus as well as gamers. St. Cloud State University's (SCSU) state-of-the-art Esports Arena opened in the spring of 2023 and was designed as a space for everyone to connect.

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SCSU's Director of Educational Technology Innovations Chris Stanley says they felt it was important for the space to be open for the entire campus community:

"So if you're a student interested in mass communication, video production, if you're a computer science student who wants to do a hack-a-thon, mess with the lights, the space was really designed to appeal to broad groups of students not just those hardcore gamers looking for that varsity spot."

SCSU's dedicated Esports Major was one of the programs suspended as part of its budget cuts but Stanley says the school has integrated esports into several other majors so while the degree isn't as specific they are more excited about the esports opportunities for students:

"We're actually better served by modernized, better courses  that have a broader appeal so if you're really engaged in esports but you can join that new video content creation or streaming course that mass communications is moving into, our esports students are now really well served if they choose a career path that's slightly adjacent to esports."

He says they have a grant through CentraCare to help explore mental health and virtual reality which is an impactful opportunity for students to advance their career pathway and make a difference, and for the school to leverage their program & equipment.

Stanley says 85% of teens and prospective students are gamers so having the arena is critical for them. He says having the space allows gamers and non-gamers to interact and build new friendships:

"Most of the modern games need a more powerful experience or a more specific experience and so this really enabled them to come and engage with the bigger community or get engaged directly with a club or a competitive esports title unlike they were able to do previously."

He says every campus across the country does things differently but SCSU felt it was important to have their space available for the esports team and casual gamers as well. SCSU's Rocket League Team was the Fall 2023 NECC Champions and NACE Finalists.

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