Handle With Care

GAMING GLITCHES
ANIKA KRISHNASWAMY, elizabeth yuan
Varsity “League of Legends” (LoL)
team captain Kevin Diggs ’23
watches his computer intently,
clicking furiously at his mouse to maneuver
his character across the screen.
However, all of Diggs’ hopes of winning
a little black error window. The school’s
chance at victory with it.
Started in 2016, Stevenson’s eSports
team is one of the longest-running in
the area and hosts players from across
cent
years—with the popularization
of formal high school eSports—James
Barnabee, eSports club sponsor, believes
that the program has faced challenges
in keeping up with its rapidly
growing pool of competitors. He cites
outdated equipment and poor internet
quality as culprits behind hindered
performance and membership capacity.
With the iMacs used by the school
unable to host most games smoothly,
the club’s capacity for teams competing
through the IHSA-recognized PlayVS
platform is limited.
In spite of these setbacks, the varsity
LoL team is currently ranked second
in the state for its fall 2022 season, and
three other teams have also advanced
sult
of his team’s consistent dedication
and passion for the game during their
weekly matches.
“Everyone is working and collaborating
together really well,” Diggs said.
“Whether it be making sure that our
practice environment is healthy and
that everyone is having a good time or
just organizing rigorous practices, we
all want what is best for the team.”
Christina Wang ’25, varsity
“Valorant” player, explains that a supportive
school environment has also
26 sports • december 2022
been important for female gamers
like herself, who often face pushback
when participating in the generally
male-dominated gaming industry.
Wang says that the team’s sense of community
has drastically minimized the
toxicity many female gamers face.
“Having a girl playing at the same
level is often intimidating for guys, so it
creates this common theme where guys
Wang said. “Although the gaming community
is pretty toxic overall, having
this school community has really helped
that because it’s made up of people you
trust and know in real life.”
Though Wang says that the eSports
club community has been a safe space
for her and other female players, she
the club are still prone to stereotyping
its members. Both she and Diggs have
often faced scrutiny from their peers for
playing video games competitively.
“I do have friends that laugh at me because
of eSports club and say ‘oh, you’re
such a nerd,’ but I feel like some people
is something I’ve always concealed, but
if it’s going to be such a big part of
my life, I might as well just accept it
and enjoy being a part of the club.”
According to Barnabee, the key
to diminishing this stigma is being
more respectful while gaming. By
bringing students into a more formal
eSports environment where
they are able to meet and discuss
with peers who have similar interests,
he feels they automatically
challenge stereotypes of
eSports players being “rude”
and bring eSports further into
the mainstream.
“These stereotypes persist
because of online behavior,”
Barnabee said. “We’ll always have the
stigmas of, ‘video game players are nas-
that is by creating better video game
players, which is where eSports club
comes in.”
Barnabee feels that the formalization
of gaming has also caused a surge in its
popularity. CNBC reports that viewership
numbers from the 2019 LoL World
million unique viewers—nearly 2 million
more than the previous year’s
Super Bowl. Even colleges and univer-
full-ride athletic scholarships for eSports,
with over 175 across the United
sity
eSports teams.
“Although there still exists the badmouthing
of the behavior of a few,
there are so many nations involved in
eSports other than America—these
games are enormous and everybody
plays them,” Barnabee said. “Now that
colleges have teams and are beginning
tinue
to force the mainstream understanding
of games to change.”
123 eSports teams
in 2021-2022 IHSA
Tournament