Kickstart Start

 I think Esports/Video Games would be a really cool topic to research for my Kickstart project. I was previously a Computer Animation Game Development major, and video games have always been a major part of my life in one way or another, either as a gamer (consumer) or developer/designer. I was also previously president of the on-campus Wildcat Gaming club, and currently staff multiple conventions as a part of the Gaming Hall division. While I have experience in esport associated organizations, I was never formally a part of any esports event or activities, so this would be a really fun area to explore more of having dealt with it primarily on the side, and now more majorly as a staffer of convention gaming halls. I understand the basics of tournament running and setup, I have little to no knowledge of the professional esports world, shoutcasting, or anything of that nature. I find it incredibly fascinating and have actively expressed interest in getting involved with the scene more, whether as an organizer or lead, or as part of the support team on either technical or social organization. 

Video games on the other hand, while I have a huge amount of experience both as a developer and consumer, I have not gotten the chance to explore the topic on an educational/formal level. I find this a fascinating topic to explore as a topic through the lens of “communication technology”, rather than as an art form or simply a hobby or pastime. I’ve been able to explore the topic as a formal art form (game development processes, storytelling, concept to product, etc), as well as a hobby, but never as a piece of communication technology. I find this quite interesting as I’ve never even considered it under that umbrella topic, but it makes sense that it would fall in that genre.  

I also firmly believe that video games and esports are here to stay, and are the way of the future. While traditional sports will definitely stay around, I believe it would be interesting to explore how these two things will grow and evolve as the world does, and how it will integrate into our lives. Being relatively recent in the world’s history, video games and esports are constantly changing and evolving to keep up with our rapidly changing world, having become more relevant than ever with the pandemic, and beoming more and more mainstream across the world.