The Harvard Crimson reports on the growing eSports movement at the college: “’It was me and three other girls, and I was like: ‘Wow, I did not expect this to happen,’” says David Y. Jeong ’17, a game director of the Harvard eSports Association. He is talking, of course, about a four-player ‘Super Smash Bros.’ game he played on a Nintendo Wii at his club’s first LAN (local area network) party of the year.”

“For the uninitiated (a group I would have fallen into just last week), eSports is, essentially, professional video-gaming—a way for gamers at the highest level to compete with one another for status, and oftentimes for money, both on the Internet and in large viewing venues across the globe. LAN parties are eSports-centered gatherings, in festive settings, where players set up a local network, connect with one another, and then compete.”

“According to the club’s co-President, Andy Kim ’17, the Harvard eSports Association, which was started last spring to connect a series of disparate Harvard gaming communities, has three central principles: promoting the social aspects of gaming, entering high-level eSport competitions, and destigmatizing the video-game world at college. This message seems to resonate with the student body. After all, in less than a year, the club’s two co-Presidents, Kim and Jason C. Shen ’17, with the help of its board of 10 students, have created an organization of more than 100.”