E-sports go varsity
The play-by-play might go: “Now at- tacking in the jungle, the legend of the league in the League of Legends, the pride of Pittsburgh and a master of dis - aster, Skidmore’s own…Coffeegoat.” Coffeegoat? This isn’t mainstream sports, is it? No, it’s League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle game, and Coffeegoat is the handle of gamer Dan Petricca ’15. He was this year’s president for the seven intercollegiate competitors and 30 casual players making up Skid- more’s e-sports club team. Skidmore is somewhat new to e-sports, but at least one university has begun offering athlet- ics scholarships for e-sports players, and the pro LOL championship in Los Ange- les sold out the Staples Center in five minutes. Skidmore’s club started as a way for
gamers to play in a positive social envi- ronment. That mission remains true, but then some members got good—so good that Skidmore’s LOL team competes in the top collegiate division. In match play, Petricca notes, “we are up there with big- ger schools like RPI or UConn. While we lost to both, we didn’t get destroyed. It’s really cool that a small liberal arts school was able to hold its own against a univer- sity with 30,000 students.” The members often practice individual- ly, by loading the game and joining oth- ers who happen to be online— Jay Sobel ’17 likens it to pick- up basket- ball. He
says, “These games are decided by individual skill and, to a lesser extent, the ability of five anonymous
players to cooperate with one another using only text.”
For team practices, they can usually come together only a couple of hours per week. Players are each in their own rooms or apartments but connected by Skype, so their gam- ing benefits from plenty of team com- munication. Also, their coach can watch and advise them how to use
“THERE’S SOMETHING
FUNDAMENTALLY E-SPORTSY ABOUT A HIGH SCHOOL KID NOBODY’S EVEN MET
COACHING THE TEAM OF A LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE.”
their individual strengths to help the team. Sobel reports, “Our coach is a sen- ior in high school in New York City who goes by the username Bananas for Sale. There’s something fundamentally e- sportsy about having a high school kid nobody’s even met coaching the team of a liberal arts college.”
Club members also volunteer at the Saratoga Springs Public Library, mentor- ing high school students in multiplayer gaming and being sure to instill the code of sportsmanship they adhere to. They acknowledge that the anonymity of on- line gaming can result in some pretty of- fensive trash-talking; the major e-sports governing bodies levy fines and suspen- sions for offensive behavior. But Skid-
more’s team sticks to its core principles of mutual respect. The very first line of the club charter describes its goal “to create a club which promotes cooper - ation, connection and leadership amongst members of the Skidmore on- line gaming com - munity.”
Eddie Gemson ’15 got involved in the club just this year, as a senior. He was attracted by its
strong community spirit and interest in improving players’ skills. With a back- ground in competitive tennis, Gemson applied the same principles he used for boosting his athleticism on the court to advancing his hand-eye reflexes on the video screen. He says, “I’d watch a Roger Federer and try to duplicate some of his movements on the court. And for LOL, I see the skills of the professional gamers and hope to carry some of that over to my own gaming.” With a commitment to both fun and success, it seems Skidmore’s e-sports team can only improve over time. The old joke might have to be updated: How do you get to the Staples Center? Practice. —Robin Adams ’00
ALL THE RIGHT MOVES: DAN PETRICCA ’17 AND JAY SOBEL ’15 HELP LEAD SKIDMORE’S INTERCOLLEGIATE VIDEO-GAMING TEAM.
SPRING 2015 SCOPE 7
GARY GOLD
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