Esports arena puts SUNY Schenectady in the gaming ring

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -An interest in gaming at SUNY Schenectady first began two years ago with the tabletop adventure of Dungeons and Dragons. Just four members would meet to play. Today, it has grown to 50 members and renamed the Gaming and Esports Club.

"We would be roughing it, bringing in our laptops up to the student government office, hooking them up to the ethernet. It was a whole ordeal. A total mess," described Daniel Van Buren, President of the club.

To bring order to the club, the college repurposed its old cafe into an esports arena. There's the newest gaming consoles and sixteen powerful computers ready to be played.

Cooper Hewison, SUNY Schenectady's Esports Coordinator, told NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski that these PCs can handle anything. "We have Tekken 8, which is one of the most graphically impressive fighting games of the current age and that'll make most machines sweat. These machines did not break a sweat."

College students will be battling against SUNY schools and also colleges across the country but not every gamer has to take the sport seriously.

That was why the idea of splitting it between the lounge and the arena side was so important," said Hewison. "Because we wanted to be able to foster that kind of community that's into the hardcore games or into the more casual environment just hanging out."

And for the first time, the esports team will be able to host tournaments in-person. "I mean hey, UAlbany, get over here!" exclaimed Van Buren. "Y'know what I'm saying? We'd be very excited to have them over here and be able to make connections and network with other schools."