BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WTRF)

OUE now has its own esports center for students who are passionate about gaming.

It is competition play, but with video games instead of athletics.

Their esports center opens officially March 7.

“Where with basketball or softball, you have to have people together at the same location, with esports—thanks to the Internet—you can compete against each other around the world,” said Peter Lim, OUE application support analyst. “We haven’t made those contacts yet to compete with, say, someone from Japan, but potentially you could do that.”

“In fact, some students the other day were playing, competing with students on the main campus,” said David Rohall, dean of campus and community relations at OUE. “And you certainly can’t do that with basketball, so it’s a unique thing. I would also say it’s a great way to connect people with the community. There are high schools and there are libraries now that have esports units. So I think we can start working together and doing some local competitions as well.”

There is a student worker in the room who is in charge of the esports club.

Students can go in, play some games and check out any games from the library if they aren’t already installed.

There are also simpler games available. They have three high end computers for competition play, and they have space to add more