On the first Friday of each month, David Kirk, director of Redbird Esports will highlight a topic of interest in the esports community and answer reader-submitted questions. Have an esports question? Email David at QuestionsforKirk@IllinoisState.edu for a chance to be featured in an upcoming article.
Illinois State University is often recognized as one of the top competitive esports programs in the country, having won multiple national competitions across the collegiate and semi-professional space in multiple game titles. What many don’t know is that Redbird Esports has several additional ways in which we are engaging our campus and local community through four pillars, which we call our four Cs.
Pillar 1: Competitive
This pillar defines our competitive varsity teams. Like a traditional athletics team, Redbird Esports varsity teams represent the highest level of competitive esports offered at Illinois State University. Players are recruited from all around the world to come and represent Illinois State University in intercollegiate competitions. Most varsity players rank in the top .01% of a game’s player base, which often consist of millions of players. Needless to say, with such skilled players, receiving a spot on our varsity teams is extremely competitive.
Pillar 2: Club
This pillar is where a large number of our students fall into, supporting 1,200+ unique students across multiple different game titles and/or genres. Much like sport clubs, we offer clubs focused on a variety of different games. Our clubs are constantly evolving with new games that get released and old games being sunset. Regardless of if you’re a social, casual, or competitive gamer, chances are we have a group of students already engaging in that game here on campus and they are ready to connect! Redbird Gaming Clubs are designed to serve as a social hub to connect like minded students around their shared passion of gaming, a developmental pipeline for our current varsity teams, as well as an incubator for potential future varsity titles.
Pillar 3: Casual
The casual pillar really serves as a low-barrier-to-entry way for students interested in esports and gaming to connect and decide if they want to get more involved. While we offer gaming leagues, game nights, and other social engagement events, our greatest tool is just having a space where students can come in to game and feel comfortable doing so. Our brand new esports arena is equipped with everything a student needs to just sit down and play, including an expansive game library. Our goal is to get students in, then show them the various ways they have to engage with esports and gaming on campus, aside from just coming in and playing. With our first year under our belt, we’re excited to have seen 31,392 total gaming sessions and supported 3,518 unique students!
Pillar 4: Career
Gaming and esports isn’t just about playing. There’s an entire billion-dollar industry surrounding it, and we’re helping students get real world experience and skills to be competitive in that industry. We support students via internships, professional practice, campus student jobs, and other experiential learning opportunities we’ve developed through our Redbird Esports Network (REN). We’re constantly expanding and looking for new partners or ways we can connect students’ degree programs and their passion for gaming/esports.
Each of these pillars, from competitive play to career development, forms an integral part of the Redbird Esports ecosystem, demonstrating our commitment not just to gaming excellence, but also to fostering a diverse and inclusive community where every student can find their place and thrive. While each one of these pillars could have its own article written about it, my hope is to shed some light that Redbird Esports isn’t just about playing games (and winning championships). Regardless of your skill level or game interest, ISU and Redbird Esports has a place for you. Now, on to some reader-submitted questions.
Richard from Bloomington, Illinois
What do you feel was the most difficult challenge in setting up the esports center?
The new esports arena project was a collaborative effort that involved a number of different stakeholders and departments across ISU’s campus. While several logistical challenges occurred simply due to the nature and scale of the project, I would have to say the most difficult challenge was trying to fit everything our students wanted and needed into space. One of the things we were extremely intentional about was listening to our students and assessing what it is they wanted in a facility. The cool chairs, consoles, and gaming PC’s were easy, because that’s a universal want, the tough part was determining how many we could fit while still allowing the facility to be multifunctional and support all the different pillars (four C’s) of the program. We’re very fortunate to have incredible technology partners across campus, particularly Student Affairs IT, who managed most of the setup and install and maintain our equipment for us. I’m sure if they were answering this question, they’re response would be much different (and more technical).
Wesley from Oregon, Illinois
Will there be more esports scholarship opportunities planned in the future (beyond current varsity scholarships)?
We are always assessing the collegiate esports (and professional) landscape to determine if/when it makes sense for us to add a new title. What a lot of folks don’t know is that there is substantial investment when bringing in a new varsity team. Here at ISU, we take varsity esports seriously, and it is our goal to ensure when we launch new varsity team, we’re doing it right. From dedicated head coaches, competitive scholarships, travel budget, more dedicated varsity facility space, and so on, it’s a decision that can have a substantial financial impact. Since collegiate esports does not have a universally-recognized governing body, we choose our varsity titles using the following guidelines.
- Student interest: We pay close attention to what our students playing or interested in on campus.
- Developer/publisher supported leagues: We rely on the game publishers as intellectual property holders to provide competitive leagues and tournaments. This also creates more structure which supports longevity for leagues to ensure we don’t recruit a team, and the league fails and there are no competitions to play in.
- Competition: We look at titles other universities offer for varsity esports. If there aren’t other sponsored programs or universities to play against, its likely not been around long enough to have staying power.
While we may not have a varsity team in a specific game, we have a number of other ways to engage in that game here on campus through our club pillar. Many of the most popular competitive titles have tryouts and form teams to compete against other universities. While there are no scholarships offered for these teams, there is additional support they receive from us and the Dean of Students office for travel, events, and registration costs.
Sandee from La Grange, Illinois
I see other universities struggling to get their esports programs off the ground. How/why is your program so successful?
I think it boils down to a few things, scope and intent. In my experience, many universities want esports because it’s a popular buzz word particularly for the younger generation, however not many folks have the knowledge as to what esports is or could look like, fun fact, it’s not just about gaming. This is where ISU did it right, their first step was soliciting feedback from and involving the experts from the beginning, the students. When other schools reach out for advice on building a program, the first thing I usually ask them is “What is the outcome you want from an esports program?” Normally I hear something along the lines of fielding teams and competing in XYZ game, or building a facility to have a place for students to play (hopefully at no cost to the student, but that’s a topic for another time). The hope for the first answer is to attract new students who may have not been considering the university to represent them and perhaps increase their notoriety to spawn additional awareness and new recruits. The issue with this approach is that in order to be competitive in todays collegiate esports landscape, you need a larger investment to bring in top players. High end PC’s, dedicated training space, head coaches, housing stipends, etc. It’s possible to be successful with smaller scholarships and resources, but it’s not common. If you’re not winning or at least performing well in the major collegiate and amateur tournaments or matches, you’re not getting a lot of publicity so potential students aren’t seeing your brand. Additionally, only supporting competitive teams really limits your overall engagement ability. For our program, we have anywhere from 20-25 students in our varsity program, however our clubs engage 1,200+ student and the casual program in our facility saw over 3,400 unique students in our first year. The issue with the second approach is often a facility is just built and its off limits to the general student body and only accessible by students on the team (again limiting your engagement). You lose a low barrier to entry way to find and engage new students on campus who may have a passion or interest in gaming/esports. Without a dedicated person to develop new programing or support clubs/casual users, you again stifle growth opportunity and overall engagement. While I’m obviously biased, I believe having a campus comprised of competitive teams, social and competitive clubs, everyday casual users, and career engagement opportunities is the secret sauce in creating successful, robust, and vibrant gaming culture on college campuses. It also doesn’t hurt that we have the best staff in the world leading Redbird Esports!
Additional frequently asked questions:
What games are available at the esports center?
We have a number of PC and Console games available for users. If there is a game we don’t have pre-installed, we’re always happy to add it to our master image. We also have paid licenses for some games, so if you’re interested in trying something out before you buy it for yourself we’ve got that option!
As a student at Illinois State University, how can I get involved with esports?
We have a number of ways to get involved and connected with us. We normally point students to joining our online community, Redbird Esports Discord. There we have a wealth of information on the different clubs and events happening in Redbird Esports, including contact information for the area you’re interested in. We also encourage students to just drop in and game in the new esports arena. There you’re likely to find other students interested in a similar game, as well as staff to help answer any questions or point you in the right direction. Have a particular question? It’s likely others do as well, so submit it here and maybe it will be answered in a future Questions for Kirk article!
The next issue of Questions for Kirk is expected to be released on March 1. Submit your questions and subscribe to receive the latest issue each month of Questions for Kirk below as well as stay up to date with all things Redbird Esports.
