UCF students compete in Major League Gaming Pro Circuit

With $120,000 up for grabs, UCF students competed with hundreds of other gamers as they took over the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center Oct. 14-16 for the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit featuring competitions for StarCraft II, Halo and Call of Duty.

"This has been a blast for me," said Tyler Lincoln, a sophomore dual majoring in science and marketing. "I'm a huge fan boy, so seeing all the pros in person and having it so close to home has been just absolutely amazing."

Lincoln competed in the StarCraft II open bracket alongside friend and fellow UCF student Ledio Hysi. Both were eliminated from the competition Saturday, but the open bracket gives any player off the street the chance compete against some of the world's best professional gamers like Chris Loranger, who goes by the name HuK.

"There are a lot of fans in Florida and I think this is second to maybe Anaheim only," said HuK, the weekend's StarCraft II champion. "There are a lot of StarCraft players that are in this area, and it's definitely way bigger than last month's event in Raleigh, [N.C.]."

More than 200 players registered for the StarCraft II competition. For most, it's just an opportunity to say they played with the best; for others, it's a chance to try and shock the world. However, for the UCF students competing there were no big upsets on their behalf.

"The competition went about as well as I expected," sophomore history major Hysi said. "I didn't really think I would do all that well, but I wasn't expecting to, either. I played for the experience and really enjoyed it."

But while just an experience to Hysi, it's a living to others. Dozens of professionals came from all over the world to try and claim their stake of the six-figure prize pool. E-Sports, short for Electronic Sports, is now so popular that hundreds of thousands of viewers were estimated to tune in online and watch over the weekend for MLG's seventh visit to the Orlando area.

"In the 2000s [E-sports] were getting bigger with Quake and Counter-Strike," said Lincoln. "But, with StarCraft II's release last summer it's been like a spearhead of exponential growth in terms of the size of the community and overall media reception for e-sports. I can only see it go up from here."

However, Lincoln said that despite the e-boom over the last 16 months, there still seems to be a negative perception of videos games and competitive gaming by some that holds e-sports back.

"People attach a stigma to it even though a huge number of dorm rooms here on campus have Xboxes, PlayStations or computers for gaming," Lincoln said. "If more people out there just embrace it and see what it's actually like at conventions then they could see how great it is and maybe fall in love with it."

But, there's no doubt that despite the stigma the popularity is on the rise, and there are plenty of ways for UCF students to get involved including LANKnights.

The student organization brings gaming fans together on campus for local area network events every few weeks.

"When you actually get involved and look at LANKnights and kind of read up on what they do, it shows UCF is pretty involved in the gaming scene," Hysi said. "Other than that, though, I don't see it advertised much as it could be. If I hadn't gotten involved in StarCraft, I would have never found LANKnights."

HuK thinks providing the option for students to get together is only beneficial to e-sports as a whole.

"University students or just students in general are probably the most important demographic," HuK said. "There's going to be a lot of people coming from school with a lot of good ideas and a lot of fresh ideas that will come in and push e-sports in the right direction and help it grow. It's nice that they can enjoy the game, play the game and help develop it even if they don't become a competitive player."

Like most sports, video games started with the purpose of bringing household fun to its users. Nowadays, professional gamers like professional athletes make a living off playing video games. E-sports might never take off to world-wide reception like other sports have in the past 100 years, but gamers think that maybe that isn't necessary.

"I think the No. 1 thing is just playing the game and enjoying it," HuK said. "Just enjoy the game and if you love the game come out have a good time, support your favorite player and just have fun with it."

For more information about LANKnights, visit www.lanknights.net.