Co-Op Mode: How Esports Brings Students Together
By: William Dryden
Tags: League of Legends, Southern Virginia, Esport, College Sports, College Life

By William Dryden

It’s clear to anyone paying attention that big changes are taking place at Southern Virginia University. One of the most exciting new projects contributing to this change is the newly formed esports team, headed by Michael Daniels.

“I love the idea of unifying people through video games,” says Daniels. “Unity and community have been his goals since the foundation of this program.

The program as we know it has roots from long ago, in Jacksonville, Florida, where Daniels grew up. Unlike some youth growing up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Jacksonville’s congregations didn’t have a significant social network. So, Daniels turned to other social outlets.

“The one commonality between me and people of different faiths that believed different things and liked to do different things was video games. We all came together, and we all loved the same games,” Daniels says.

When he was 16 years old, Daniels wanted to pursue gaming professionally after attending a Local Area Network (LAN) party — where multiplayer games are played by everyone present connecting to the same internet network.

“There were 12 or 13 people there, everybody brought their own consoles and TVs,” recounts Daniels. “It was the most fun I’d had. At that point, I thought man, this should be a profession, like this should be a career.” Daniels was inspired not particularly by the games themselves, but by the camaraderie and the memories they created.

This passion lasted through to 2015 when Daniels first arrived at Southern Virginia University and began introducing himself to all his professors as the Video Game Guy. Whenever asked about his plans for the future, he would always bring up video games as a career path, particularly from a business standpoint.

Following a brief break in 2016, during which he worked in Florida and got married, he returned to find facilities director Art Furler already proposing the idea of an esports program to various directors at the University.

Introduced by a mutual acquaintance, Jake McMann, Daniels and Furler began brainstorming plans to make the program into a reality.

League of Legends team praying before a practice match

The duo faced unique challenges trying to explain how the program could benefit the University. They faced the task of trying to convince people, who had little experience with gaming, that video games could contribute to the University’s culture of inclusion and friendship.

Daniels explained that there can be a stigma with gamers prioritizing video games over other responsibilities, which if true would create issues in an academic setting.

“There was a fear that [potential student-gamers] would stay up super late playing video games and neglect their responsibilities in school or church or whatever else,” explains Daniels.

However, there came a time when the issue hit a specific turning point during a meeting with some administrators to discuss the possibility of bringing esports to campus.

“For a little while there, it actually looked like it wasn’t actually going to go in our favor, and that was unfortunate. But towards the end, [President Wilcox] stopped the meeting and said ‘I have some specific questions that I want to ask.’”

President Wilcox asked everyone to listen as he directly spoke with Daniels. After that discussion, everything turned around.

Up until then, everyone had only been arguing why video games weren’t bad. In that moment, they turned the point to why video games were good.

“It doesn’t matter what the game is… it’s about the students, and it’s about creating a home where they feel like they’re safe and where they feel like they’re comfortable,” Daniels argues. “If you think people are gonna come to college and not play video games, you’re wrong. They’re doing it in their dorm rooms. We’re trying to create a community that gets them out of their dorm rooms and gives them an opportunity to come and meet people.”

The pitch was successful, and the program began in the fall of 2017.

The esports room in the basement of Main Hall today is the fruition of the efforts put forth from the beginning of the program. Even with social distancing guidelines in place, the room is full of energy and life as teammates practice, train, and encourage one another, just like any other sport.

Teammates call out strategies and positions in games like League of Legends inside, while the Super Smash Bros players banter over round after round out in the hall.

Professor Jeff Swift, who has also been highly involved in getting the program off the ground, says that “Our University’s competitive esports program helps teach the message that games can be used as a tool for personal, spiritual, and social growth. Thanks to the inspired leadership of Michael Daniels and Kevin Lamb, students get to practice the art of putting their minds to a difficult task and sticking with it. They have opportunities to work collaboratively as a team toward a common goal.”

At the beginning of the fall 2020 season, the team hit its highest enrollment to date. Many new students are coming in to join the esports community and spread the excitement even further.