Rachel Essner
Contributing Writer
ressner1@murraystate.edu
While the pandemic has affected sports negatively across the country, Esports has been on the rise at Murray State.
A few years into its existence Jacob Mitchell, the student president of the club, said that they have had an increase in views on their livestreams as well as interest in joining the team from several students on campus.
The many games that the Esports team currently participates in include Overwatch, Rocket League, League of Legends, Hearthstone and CS:GO. Mitchell explains how the pandemic has impacted their season, how the club is growing, and how to get involved.
Across the nation, many schools are beginning to recognize Esports as an official sports team. While Murray State is not one of these schools, the Esports team is hoping for enough recognition to make them official.
Mitchell says the team has grown by using the streaming service Twitch to gain money and funding from outside sources. Though the majority of the funding comes from Murray State, Mitchell says the money earned from Twitch goes straight to their club without having to go through any other processes.
With the use of Twitch, Mitchell says the Esports team has gained exposure to people across the globe . The views per video have gone from 10-15 to approximately 30 with one video even having 5,000 views.
With the new exposure the team has gained more recognition, causing more people to donate money to their organization.
During this pandemic, the Esports team has grown in popularity. The views of the team have been boosted with well-known organizations such as ESPN covering Esports games.
A big advantage and reason why Esports is growing is the lack of in person events. The team is able to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic while playing their games entirely virtually.
The Esports team competes against other universities in many tournaments for each type of game.
“The team typically competes in smaller tournaments with the occasional major tournaments against other teams who are considered varsity level,” Mitchell said.
This gives the Murray State Esports team more experience and helps them improve which will hopefully lead them to becoming a varsity level team rather than a club team.
With the team constantly growing and adding new games, the Esports team is looking for new people to join their team.
“The Esports team is a great place for all the avid gamers who are looking to explore their passion to go,” Mitchell said.
To check out the Murray State Esports social media, the website is twitch.tv/raceresports where they stream their games. Other social media handles include Twitter (@raceresports), Instagram (@racer_esports), and Facebook (Murray State Esports). To contact the team, their email address is msu.esports@murraystate.edu.