The construction of a new 3,000-square-foot eSports Gaming Arena is well underway at Durham College in Oshawa, Ont. and, once complete this spring, it will be one of the first arena-type facilities at any college or university in the country.
eSports, a competitive video game tournament usually played by professional gamers and watched by spectators, is one of the fastest growing industries in the gaming market.
“To our knowledge this is the first arena-type venue for eGaming in the college or university system in Canada, the first one of this style,” explained Erich Tratnik, director of capital projects and space management at Durham College.
“Essentially what we are doing that is different than others is we are creating this arena in a physical way but also from a standpoint of atmosphere, so there will be lots of cheering. We will be setting up a sports desk where there will be an announcer to monitor the games and give commentary. There will be many cameras…much like a sporting event broadcast. This is done over the Internet.”
The centre will be located on part of the first floor of the student centre building at the Oshawa campus and is part of a larger renovation of the former E.P. Taylor Pub which used to be housed in the space.
It will provide a space and the equipment needed for students to participate in the eSports both recreationally or competitively. The college has an eGaming team but they currently don’t have a dedicated space.
“They don’t have a home court right now and that’s what we’re creating,” said Tratnik.
“It (the team) needs somewhere to perform its function both from a practicing standpoint and a playing standpoint against other competitive teams. It was suggested that perhaps the student centre be converted to a new facility that could house the varsity gaming team.”
The project manager for the centre is Bart Lucyk, project co-ordinator, Durham College. The general contractor is Snyder Construction and WalterFedy is responsible for the design and layout of the facility and the electrical package.
Half of the space will be dedicated to eSports and the other half will be a student lounge. The area will contain 30 computers for use by eSports club members and 20 computers in a separate glassed off section for varsity gamers to train.
There will a concentration of tables with computers and chairs for gamers, a seating area for spectators and screens set up around the centre to live stream the games.
“It’s set in a purpose-built arena that is co-ordinated to create a sporting-event-type atmosphere,” said Tratnik, adding eSports is an opportunity for non-traditional athletes to participate in team events.
“eGaming gives the students a team to cheer for but instead of an athletic competition in real life, it’s a competition on a computer screen. They still follow it, they still come and watch it both live and from their own computers.”
Renovations began in the fall.
“It’s being renovated cosmetically. We’re not doing any structural changes,” said Tratnik.
“We felt the pub was too large for a gaming facility and we wanted to create a lounge area so we put up a permanent dividing wall. We are effectively done the physical changes that needed to be made and we’re now in the process of completing the electrical scope of work which includes all the lighting and computer cabling.”
The arena is the first part of a four-phase eSports plan at the college that will see an eSports club, a varsity level program and integration into the curriculum. Once the varsity program is launched, it will also provide experiential learning opportunities, allowing students the opportunity to participate in the planning, promotion and broadcasting of eSports events.
While other colleges and university’s have dedicated spaces for eGaming, they are usually more simple in design.
“Effectively what they had done was taken a classroom, put up some tables and chairs, the high-speed Internet connections, the gaming computers, which are more of a high-end, supercharged computer that can handle the speed of the gaming world,” explained Tratnik.
One of the challenges was the timeframe to get the facility operational. The college was hoping to have it up and running earlier this year.
“It would have made sense to be ready for the second semester while students were here. As it turns out, we are going to basically be opening in March towards the end of the semester,” said Tratnik.
“We’re going to be in full flight when the students return in September this year.”
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