Good Game

When Shrinidhi Vaideeswaran arrived on campus as a first-year student in 2022, she mostly socialized online, meeting high school friends in virtual gaming environments like “Valorant” or “Minecraft.”

“I had to build a friend group from scratch—but I hate small talk,” says the now-junior double majoring in international business and business analytics. “I’d rather just hop on a game.”

Then she heard about the new OHIO Esports Arena in Scripps Hall.

“The first day I came in, they asked if I wanted to stay and help broadcast the varsity Twitch stream,” Vaideeswaran recalls. Before long, she ran both a broadcast camera and OHIO Esports’ social media. She soon moved up the ranks from club treasurer to vice president to president.

“Shrinidhi’s now my second-in-command,” says OHIO Esports Director Jeff Kuhn, MA ’11, PHD ’17, “because she found her people.”

OHIO Esports offers a high-end gaming lounge and a competitive ecosystem ranging from casual groups to the 40-member varsity team competing in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). But for Kuhn, and many of the club’s 800-plus members, it goes far beyond competition and entertainment.

At least 85% of U.S. teens report playing video games, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center report. Gaming has far outpaced movies and music to become the world’s largest entertainment industry. The gaming market is estimated to approach $350 billion in 2025 according to The Business Research Co.’s Gaming Global Market Report.

“That means jobs,” Kuhn says, and not just for programmers and engineers, but also for artists and academics.

Through Scripps College of Communication, Ohio University has been at the forefront of the shifting multimedia industry, including the growth of gaming, to prepare students for careers in an evolving field.

In 2005, Ohio University opened its Game, Research and Immersive Design (GRID) Lab to provide students with space and equipment to gain experience in virtual reality and 360-degree video technology. In 2019, Scripps College combined the GRID Lab and its work with its School of Information and Telecommunication Systems to launch the J. Warren McClure School of Emerging Communication Technologies.

The following year, the McClure School partnered with OHIO’s College of Business to launch an undergraduate esports certificate that combines gaming technology expertise with the University’s excellence in sports administration. The certificate offers three track options: sport management, game design and information technology. Adding it to an existing major prepares students for jobs in a variety of fields, including supporting the dozens of global esports tournaments held annually, with prize pools topping out at $60 million for the Esports World Cup. And in 2021, Scripps College added an undergraduate major in virtual reality and game development, also through the McClure School.

“As media has changed and technology has changed, our college has worked hard to not only keep pace with but to stay ahead of those changes,” says Scripps College Dean Scott Titsworth. “We’re applying our decades of excellence in training award-winning storytellers to all the ways that stories are told today. That includes virtual reality and gaming.”

Titsworth notes that the OHIO Esports Arena is far more than a recreational space. It also serves as a facility for experiential learning and a test lab for students interested in careers in game development or the competitive side of gaming.

This spring marks four years since the OHIO Esports Arena first opened—and the extracurricular program has grown from its original 12 members to more than 1,000 students and alumni. OUCU Financial recently became the club’s first multiyear sponsor; its commitment through June 2027 marks a new era of growth and support for Bobcat Esports.

Kuhn originally pitched the idea of an esports program in 2017 as a doctoral student working in the Office of Instructional Innovation and the GRID Lab.

“We had this fantastic game development program, but no place to just play,” he says. “There were spaces on campus for music, books, film, theater—but nothing for games.”

The space was vital not only for its social component, but for the career development opportunities it could offer as well.

“Anyone can gain a professional advantage from gaming,” Kuhn adds, regardless of whether they’re interested in the gaming industry as a career. “Our competitors spend hours critically analyzing their opponents’ videos, honing complex strategies and problem-solving as teams.”

The OHIO Esports Arena’s collaborative culture attracts an increasingly diverse pool of campus gamers. Women now comprise at least 25% of OHIO’s varsity team and more than 40% of its club teams, largely driven by a club of self-proclaimed “Gamer Gals.”

The positive impact of OHIO Esports ripples out through community outreach events: On April 5 and 6, OHIO will host regional playoffs for the Esports Ohio league, drawing 200 high school gamers from across the state.

Best of all, OHIO Esports students gain friends and connections for life. “Normally, you’re in a campus club, you graduate, and you lose touch,” says Kuhn. “But with esports, alumni stay involved.”

Vaideeswaran currently counts 300-plus alumni active on the OHIO Esports Discord server. “They watch our streams and come to tournaments,” she says. “It is actually a great networking resource for post-graduation.”

Until then, Vaideeswaran sees friendly faces from the OHIO Esports Arena everywhere on campus. “We definitely break social and professional barriers,” she says, “and that’s only going to grow.”

Feature photo by Ben Wirtz Siegel, BSVC ’02