We all have our pass time. Some of us bake, others write stories, and some even make music. For three HBCU students in the DMV, they play video games but not in the way you would think. Instead of playing for fun, they play competitively.
Esports, also known as competitive video gaming, has been around since 1978 with the first tournament being for Atari’s Space Invaders. However, esports really began to take off during the 2010s and became extremely popular during the pandemic as a solution for individuals to socialize with each other. This was a popular solution on college campuses, especially at HBCUs- with Morgan State University and Howard University being among these schools.
Teyana Watson and Chelsea Casarrubias, two juniors from Morgan State University, and Violet Edwards, a sophomore at Howard University, were a part of these schools initial esports launch and have played crucial roles in the development of these programs.
“I got into esports during the pandemic, along with streaming on Twitch. When we came back to campus, I saw a flyer for the esports club and decided to go to the interest meeting, and the rest is history,” Watson says.
Many young women within the field of esports were introduced to gaming through male family members and friends. After a while, they stop playing with family and friends, and move on to playing independently. It is through this exposure and independence that has led these women developed their love and passion for gaming.
“As a kid, I used to play Mario Kart with my dad. Usually, when parents play video games with their kids they go easy on them but that was not the case with my dad. He would continuously smoke me. Eventually, I decided to look up some techniques on YouTube about the best character/vehicle combinations. I started to get better and eventually, I beat him,” Edwards says.
Esports has mainly been seen as a male-dominated field despite the amount of women who are present. Due to this, there is a lack of female representation within the esports community. This is what led students like Chelsea and Violet to step into positions of leadership within their respective programs. However, this has not been easy.
"It's difficult being president when people constantly question if I truly deserve my position of if I did something in order to get it. I was constantly being questioned about my every success," Casarrubias says.
This ties into a problem within the esports community that still persists to this day- gender discrimination.
Leadership positions aren't the only area where this is experienced either. This is experienced on the playing field as well. As a student player for the game Valorant, Violet recalls how her advisor tried to talk her into giving up her spot on the team because she was "ranked" lower.
"I knew this was a bold-faced lie... I was definitely targeted for who I am," Edwards says.
However, there are individuals within the esports community who help these young women gain footing within the field of esports. Tarrin Morgan, a content creator, a professor, and the founder of the esports program at Morgan State University, created the program as a way for students of all skill-levels to come together and game.
"I'm all for women taking up as much space as they want. There are spaces within the esports community that are full of women that will allow young female players to network and enter into spaces that they may not have known about before" Morgan says.
Tarrin Morgan currently teaches the inaugural Esports Broadcasting class with the hopes of creating a major department for esports itself. This would be following Johnson C. Smith University, the first ever HBCU to have an academic program dedicated to esports and gaming, according to WCNC.
Morgan State University and Howard University have partnered with several organizations, whether it be for scrimmages or leagues. Two organizations that both universities have worked with is the MEAC Esports League and Cxmmunity, which offers internships and jobs to students who are interested in pursuing a career in esports.
Charity Phillips, a collegiate representative for the MEAC Esports League from North Carolina Central University, started her own company called B U Gamerz, with the mission to create a safe space for all levels of gaming.
B U Gamerz works directly with the MEAC Esports League, it also offers internships and paid opportunities for collegiate players, as well as work with big named sponsors like Verizon, Wendy's, and Mountain Dew.
“I remember when I was just a student at NCCU, when we got our esports lab with the eight desktop computers and the refrigerator stocked with energy drinks. It was all so exciting,” Phillips says.
While working with the MEAC Esports League, Phillips has worked on bringing the competitive aspect of esports to B U Gamerz and plans on opening this opportunity up to the public during the summer of 2023, as well as more opportunities for college students to work as student shoutcasters and paid internships.
Darya Johnson-Marshall, a game dev with Cxmmunity, also vouches for female esports players on the collegiate level- especially since she was in their shoes not too long ago.
“I was hired as a game dev for Cxmmunity while I was a senior at Georgia State University and I have been in esports since I was a child. Cxmmunity is full of kind and caring people, and I want to be able to work with them for as long as I can on projects and opportunities for all gamers. I know what it’s like to grow up without representation, so to be able to be a role model for young women in esports is a dream come true,” Johnson-Marshall says.
With upcoming opportunities from organizations such as the MEAC Esports League and Cxmmunity, things look bright for women in collegiate esports. As for Chelsea, Teyana, and Violet, they all plan on doing something within the professional field of esports, with Teyana and Violet aiming to become color casters or official Twitch partners.
“I hope to become a partner with Twitch or a shoutcaster, or maybe even continue to play Valorant, Smash, and Mario Kart. If it means that I will be able to give female and queer representation to somebody that will be enough for me,” Edwards says.
As for Chelsea, she hopes to give back to her community and bring positive representation in esports to her community. Her recent accomplishment, receiving a full-ride scholarship to any University of California institution should she decide to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree after doing paid research at UC- Irvine during the summer of 2022.
“I hope to build upon my contributions to my community, just like when my friend and I built an esports lab. I hope to one day hold tournaments there and possibly create my own esports team there, among other things,” Casarrubias says. "I also hope to collaborate with MSU Esports after I graduate and offer middle and high school girls who are interested in esports the opportunities and representation that I wish I had gotten."
The world of esports is constantly evolving and making its way into the mainstream media, from social media apps to cinematic works such as The Super Mario Brothers Movie which has received stellar reviews and made $1 billion dollars in the box office globally according to articles from The Verge and Variety Magazine.
And with women like Chelsea, Teyana, and Violet, already making waves as collegiate esports players and student leaders, it's only a matter of time before they hit the professional world.