Building a gaming oasis

Tucked away on the ground floor of Craige Residence Hall is a gaming oasis.

Red and blue lights set the mood. Bright digital screens line the walls. Soft house music drifts below the sounds of keys clicking, students chatting and the Mario Kart theme. Headphone-clad gamers fill the rows of high-tech computers and monitors — 36 stations, to be exact — and more sit in beanbag chairs in front of a wall of interconnected screens set up to play the Xbox or the Switch.

This is the Carolina Gaming Arena, which officially opened Sept. 7. The gaming space was made possible by the expert, behind-the-scenes work of Carolina Housing, ITS networking and ResNET, which provides IT help for Carolina’s residential communities, as well as a major private partner, the computer maker Lenovo.

Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz and his wife, Amy (both on the left), and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Amy Johnson (right), greet incoming students and their families during move-in on August 12, 2021. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

The arena was designed for students of all skill levels to come together to play games, a well-earned break from their schoolwork. Games available for free range from Fortnite to League of Legends — and if someone doesn’t know how to play, the friendly student staff is there to help.

Lee Hyde, program director of ITS ResNET, was one of the arena’s masterminds, along with the ResNET team and Matthew Belskie of the Office of Arts and Sciences Information Services.

Lee Hyde

Hyde said resident advisers and staff members noticed there was a large gaming community with no dedicated home on campus. Many students were using the lounges in Sitterson Hall, but the infrastructure wasn’t there to support so many people playing games simultaneously.

“We had already done a Carolina Makerspace in Carmichael Hall and an art studio in Morrison, so this is the next space where we felt we could serve a niche and a void that students were requesting but also provide a clear asset to our residential program,” Hyde said.

In addition to all of the Carolina team’s hard work, the arena would not be possible without the generous contributions of Lenovo, which has its operational headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina. The company donated the 36 Legion systems, as well as all the accessories to accompany them, along with consultation and server access, at no cost to Carolina.

Carolina is the first school in the ACC to have a gaming arena, Lisa Marie Ferrell, head of communications and public relations for Lenovo, said.

Lenovo has an existing relationship with Carolina but specifically chose the University to build its gaming arena because of how the University differs from other schools.

“Lenovo really cares about North Carolina, and the perfect place is the University,” Ferrell said.

Other schools were focused on launching stellar varsity teams, Jeff Palumbo, Lenovo’s global esports solutions manager, said. Carolina was focused on engaging students from all walks of life.

“One of the reasons that it’s so important to us is thinking about the spirit of inclusivity,” Ferrell said. “Gaming does not discriminate. You have the opportunity as a student — whether you’re a gamer or not, it doesn’t matter. You put that headset on, and you play those games, and it doesn’t matter.”

(John Roberts/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Bryson Loflin is a first-year Carolina student and a residential computing consultant who works shifts at the arena. He said the arena is an important resource for students, many of whom couldn’t bring their PCs with them to campus, to take a break from schoolwork and have some fun.

“They come to college in this new environment, and they’re leaving that part of themselves at home, or they just can’t access it,” Loflin said. “I think it’s one of the best ways to have fun and express yourself because people really have an outlet through games.”

Another goal behind creating the arena is to gradually integrate esports into Carolina’s curriculum. While the fundamentals are already being taught, many professors aren’t gamers and don’t know how to connect their lessons back to what students want to learn.

“What we’re seeing from a trend is that students are already engaged,” Palumbo said. “Professors and teachers and faculty are actually saying, ‘Hey, students are coming to us to learn certain things.’”

Lenovo is working with the University to give instructors the resources they need to be able to teach students what they need to know for a future career in esports. Palumbo said that many students who had never tried gaming would flock to esports were they exposed to it as an option.

There are currently professors from several departments working with the arena to incorporate esports into their curriculum, including the ergonomic design of gaming chairs, business management around gaming brands in esports, eye-tracking devices to improve game play and gamification and design, Hyde said. One professor hopes to have the class present its senior design project in the arena.

Thus, one goal of the arena is to introduce all students to the world of gaming, which can be not only a fun break from coursework but also a career.

Another goal is to tackle some of the issues that exist within the gaming community, such as gender, race and socioeconomic gaps. By providing free access to high-end PCs and a staff trained to be informative and inclusive, the arena is working to close those gaps in the Carolina community.

“That way we can connect students who have never gamed before and who are very intimidated by it with players who are incredibly competitive and maybe don’t have as much awareness of how they come off to the rest of the community,” Hyde said. “We’re trying to bring everyone towards the middle.”

Some nights, the arena hosts gaming tournaments and other nights, karaoke. It is truly a space for everyone to enjoy.

“There’s no reason to be anxious about coming here if you’re not a gamer,” Loflin said. “Everyone can come; everyone can play.”