Humber College Esports Club brings the world of casual and competitive play into one room where gamers can come together and play the games they love.
The mission of the Oct. 17 drop-in is to create a community within Humber to show that Esports exists on campus.
Senior Administrator of Esports Bernard Mafei made the weekly event for that reason.
”There was no gaming presence whatsoever on Humber College on any of its campuses I wanted to create a community first,” he said.
IGNITE and Humber Esports joined forces for the first time to share resources to help bring each other up.
the entrance of the Drop-In Photo credit: Gabriel Noda
People who entered the space were greeted with PCs, consoles, and VR headsets and were welcomed to set up any sort of game they wanted. Different genres of gaming like fighting, sports, Multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA’s) and racing appeared at the drop-in.
The drop-in attracted many gaming students alike. Some came to meet with friends they met online. Others were just walking past L159 came in and were later seen playing with other members of the community.
Community member and Humber College Esports Club President Lanvy Nguyen was shocked at the turnout of the drop-in
“I have not seen an Esports event here at this school in person this buzzing,” she said. “The previous year’s Esports at Humber College has almost been like a secret society, but now I am seeing everyone in person.”
A student Playing Mortal Kombat Photo credit: Gabriel Noda
Nguyen said the partnership with IGNITE is expected to boost the number of people dropping in and may have to change their venue.
“Hopefully we move to a different space and we’re able to host more drop-in gaming events,” she said.
People filled the room wanting to play or see what was happening. People surrounded players to watch people fight each other in Mortal Kombat, as well as some streaming their games on Twitch.
Humber Esports used Twitch to help showcase their tournaments at Humber so those who weren’t there could watch the games happen.
This a new stream team headed by Julius Lalik-Williams, who was able to do his first stream for Humber Esports,
“It’s a lot of fun we had some troubles early on and that was a little stressful but as we got everything going smoothly it was good, this has been fun,” Williams said.
Mafei thinks this drop-in will significantly affect the Humber community in general.
“There is a place for you that is welcoming and safe, I think the messaging is [that] gaming, in general, is a big part of society most people game in some way,” he said. “What college would we be with this many students (more than 86,000) if we didn’t bring that to life in some way?”
The weekly event happens on Tuesdays from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. until April. Gaming and players can be viewed on @Humber_Esports on Twitch.