Keyboards clicking in unison with mouses and callouts for strategic play reverberate around the walls of Friends 101. Team members of the IC Esports Club line the two rows of personalized computers, preparing for their next competition while casual fans can be found playing their favorite games. Both archetypes of gamers anxiously await a new and expanded gaming room.
Through efforts by Ithaca College’s Division of Advancement and the Office of Information Technology and Analytics, Friends Hall will be introducing a new and refurbished space for all gamers on campus. The ribbon cutting of the refurbished Friends 110 room will be held at 4 p.m Oct. 14. While this new esports facility will be primarily serving as the new competition grounds for the IC Esports Club, more access to high-end gaming technology is coming to casual gamers as well.
Friends 101 is smaller than club president junior Max Austin said he would have liked. Although it has been host to dozens of teams across many competitive games at the college since 2019, the lack of new hardware, number of consoles and broadcasting space presented many difficulties in promoting the club for Austin and his members.
“With us having four games playing with multiple teams per game, it makes it difficult to practice outside of game nights because we have to have those PC’s set aside for [casual players] and their games,” Austin said. “For the past few semesters, we also haven’t had a great area to broadcast. We haven’t had a great production space in general.”
That’s all set to change with the plans set forth by David Weil, chief information and analytics officer at the college, as well as Andy Hogan, director of engagement and client technologies. Their partnership with the Division of Advancement has led to the drawing up and execution of plans for a new esports space entirely that will remedy many of the current problems.
Hogan said the Esports Lounge will support the IC Esports Club in its National Collegiate Esports Conference competitions, as well as cater to the rest of the student body.
“While the expanded Esports Lounge will support the Esports Club in their National Collegiate Esports Conference (NECC) competitions, it has been designed as a versatile space for use by the entire student body.” Hogan said via email. “Whether for casual console gaming (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Atari) or competitive gameplay, the space will cater to all levels of gamers. The venue features a distinctive and engaging design, incorporating integrated LED lights in the ceiling and walls, dimmable overhead lighting, and custom IC Esports wall graphics. For those outside of the Esports Club, the new lounge provides access to a variety of console and PC based gaming options that were previously unavailable on campus.”
Promoting esports through streaming platforms continues to be a core goal of the Esports club. The new venue will have a dedicated broadcasting space, according to Austin and junior James Sun, head of broadcasting for the club. Working together, the two plan to hit the ground running with esports on live service platforms, where the club can bring in more views and publicity for the team and the college as a whole.
“Our games will be streamed on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube, displayed through a professional broadcasting booth in a separate production area to run those games,” Austin said. “This extra broadcasting space will allow us to really get a professional upgrade to our streams, bringing in more views and possibly donations.”
Overall, Sun is looking for more community involvement from the Esports team as a whole. He said steaming is the ideal method to expand the club as a whole.
“I’m really excited. I’m gonna try and do some of the broadcasting from that new room.” Sun said. “Hopefully, this will get new players for the club, possibly even more alumni who are interested.”
This project has been a long time in the making for IT and Analytics. According to Weil, this expansion simply marks the beginning of a long process to bring more attention to esports altogether.
“The esports expansion is being funded by the college through money that Information Technology & Analytics put aside from savings we were able to achieve on some IT projects over the past few years,” Weil said. “We are also working with our partners in the Division of Advancement to try and raise additional funds for possible future enhancements if we can find more funding down the road.”
Austin, as well as team member sophomore Noah Robinson, recognize the inherent potential that comes with the new broadcasting space for competition combined with the added community gaming features. Austin said that having support from the college gives the esports team a new air of confidence in its work.
“It makes us feel good,” Austin said. “It makes us feel like we’re being supported and that people want to see us grow and thrive. IT is definitely really excited about the opportunity because of how it will bring in more students and be a thing that will put butts in seats.”
