The College of DuPage eSports program took home four national titles in its first two years as a competitive team. But team members said they are still waiting on college officials to provide the team a true home on par with the school’s other sports teams.
COD eSports boasts eight competitive teams, 50 competitive players and hundreds of casual gamers in the organization. Former student president Katherine Wolfe served as the president of the eSports program and a player on the varsity Overwatch 2 team for the 2023-2024 academic year. As one of the founding members of the eSports scene at COD, she said a permanent space would help members of the competitive teams and community.
“Because the district that College of DuPage is in is so large, sometimes there’s people who are commuting 40-45 minutes out from campus,” Wolfe said. “To have those people, if they’re already coming to campus for a class that day, it would be easier for them to just be here on campus all the time rather than going the extra 10-15 minutes down to Scrims. It’s just rough for people who are further out. Going in after [driving] an hour there, playing your match for an hour and a half or two hours and then driving an hour home is a long day.”
The eSports competitive teams currently practice at Scrims Esports Gaming Center in Lisle, Ill. on a rotation. COD rents out 10 gaming computers throughout each semester that each team shares and creates schedules around. While this helps the competitive players play together in the same space, scheduling sometimes creates stress for the members running the practices.
Wolfe and other game title coaches schedule practices to avoid overlap with the competitive teams. Although the program is making its 10-spot work, Wolfe said better access to gaming computers would help matches and practices run smoother for each team.
“I think somewhere in the range of 20-30 [computers] would be ideal with the current size of our program,” she said. “We could have some people [playing] casually. We could have teams practicing or playing a match. I think that would be a good spot to be in. We don’t have a space like that on campus, and that would be half of the room in Scrims.”
Koral Flinn is a former player and coordinator for the League of Legends competitive team. As the person who schedules the team’s practices, Flinn finds it hard to get the team focused on game days inside of a public establishment. Flinn said an ideal place to practice would be on the COD campus.
“There is the issue that’s more so on game days where I want my team to play at Scrims,” Flinn said. “It gives us a different environment from playing at home. We can really focus on our game. However, with Scrims, sometimes there’s a lot of tournaments. Because the League [of Legends] team always plays on the weekends, our space could be limited. Especially if Scrims is running their own tournament at the time. If it’s possible, or whenever it is possible, I think COD would benefit from having our own space in the school to play from.”
The eSports program found its strength in numbers through hosting different events on campus. With a planning committee that helps arrange different events each month, the program hosts game rooms and outings for their community and newcomers alike. Wolfe explained an activity eSports hosted on their Discord server, a gamer-focused social app that allows voice communication in real-time.
“Most of our stuff has been online just because there’s less hassle in scheduling and all that goes into advertising an event,” she said. “We recently had an event where we did what we call a gaming triathlon. People registered for it, and we put them all in teams. Then we had them compete in three separate games; it was League of Legends, Valorant and Overwatch. The team with the most points at the end got free eSports [merchandise], which was fun.”
The eSports program has hosted many events in the past, including club fair tables, open gaming days in different classrooms and outings to non-profits like Feed My Starving Children. Flinn described how having a specific space would increase the program’s interactions with their community and opportunities for growth.
“With having a specific room, it would allow us to run events all year round a lot easier,” they said. “Most of what we do currently is over Discord. When we do in-person events, we have to find a classroom that’s open and have it be big enough. What really is a disadvantage is right now we can only run games that are on console. If we have our own designated lab, we could do tournaments for [more] games. It gives that option of having more variety. It would give us an opportunity to run more of our own stuff during the week and during the year, and not just be limited to us having events online. If you’re in person, there’s a much better chance that you stay and you talk to people. You’d get connected easier and faster.”
With 185 competitive junior collegiate eSports programs across the country, the industry is growing rapidly. Colleges such as Illinois Wesleyan University and Northern Illinois University boast eSports facilities, and Wolfe believes it’s time for the biggest community college in Illinois to have one, too.
“Dream of dreams would be to have an actual eSports lounge-type space,” Wolfe said. “We’ve seen a ton of schools that have one. Generally, it’s either a converted room or space where they will have a bunch [of] PCs. They’ll decorate a little bit. Just a physical space where you can have your teams practice and play their games from, but you can also have spots for people to just casually come in and play a game. With a free play space open, people can come in and play games and meet other people who also play those games on campus. It [would be] just a nice space to be able to foster a sense of community on campus.”
Flinn echoed the same sentiment as Wolfe and illustrated how an eSports lab would enhance the program’s reach by drawing in talented gaming enthusiasts on campus.
“We are a very winning organization,” they said. “We have a chance to go above where we are. We’ve been playing in [DIII] for NJCAAe, and we’re currently working to move up to [DI]. If we have our own facility, then we’d also be able to run [tournaments] with other schools. Then other people can get recruited from us just like traditional sports. We’d have the capability to foster talent and send it elsewhere. Having our own facility would allow us to do what we’re already doing but at a much higher rate.”
To learn more about the COD eSports program, you can visit their Linktree featuring their Discord server, Twitch channel, Instagram account and more.
