Crestron: Building an Esports Facility

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From George Claffey – Chief Information Officer, Central Connecticut State University

Esports: An interdisciplinary approach

In 2019, Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) funded a proposal from the
Dean of the School of Education and Professional Studies and the Chief
Information Officer to construct an esports center on campus. This space, in the
center of campus with windows facing the main courtyard, was in
demand. Many people asked, why esports? What is esports? How will this help
our students?

After approximately 65 days, the transformation was complete and the CCSU
Esports Center opened to an excited crowd of students, faculty, and staff. The
pandemic forced a shutdown in March 2020, and the center resumed operation
in September (2021). The value of esports is even clearer now than it was on
opening day.

Start and finish with students

CCSU had a thriving “gaming and esports” club team of approximately 190
members in 2019. What started in one student’s dorm room had gradually
transitioned. In 2019, it had evolved into two or three classrooms converted on a
Friday or Saturday evening with pizza, board games, and students bringing in
their gaming desktops into a classroom and construction of a make-shift network
so they could compete together. The students’ passion was overwhelming.

We approached them about the concept of a dedicated space, and they were “all
in.” The university greatly appreciated the esports club’s commitment
throughout the summer demoing keyboards, monitors, and other components
that would be part of the room install. It was great to work with this group as
they evaluated what would be good for the “serious gamer” versus less
intimidating technology for first-time gamers. From ADA compliant controllers to
interchangeable peripherals, our student club was deliberate and purposeful
researching, testing, and recommending devices.

Shortly after the center’s launch, the club team and new varsity teams grew to
over 320 students, almost doubling from the exit of the Spring ’19 semester. One
of the main takeaways was that the Esports Center created a true bond between
our residential students and commuters. Previously, commuters were less likely
to unhook their computers, drive it to campus and participate in the pre-2019
esports activities. Now, they have access to robust hardware and an easy and
convenient location to use it. They also have a space purpose-built for game play.
Appreciating that “keyboard and mouse controller” esports might be
intimidating to the casual user, the university created a “console alley” within the
Esports Center which features Xbox®, PlayStation®, and Nintendo® systems.
There’s a good chance that if you walk into the Esports Center, you will see at
least one familiar type of game system.

Interdisciplinary by design

From conception, CCSU’s vision was not just to build a gaming room, but to build
our next generation classroom, gaming space, recreational space, and
competitive area. There is a similarity between high- end computational
computers for data science, data analytics, and engineering and those needed for
esports gaming.

Leveraging the Crestron DM NVX® solution, touch panels, and displays, our
center can switch from a classroom to a varsity competition room in under 30
seconds. Using the same Crestron interface has allowed us to reduce the barriers
to faculty who want to experiment in this space for one or two classes.
Programmable macros and familiar interfaces make converting esports screens
into PowerPoint® presentation viewers very easy.

This concept of rapid room changeover also exists between the club side sports
and the varsity esports teams. The room can shift from a club-style competition
to varsity scrimmage very quickly. From a technology standpoint, speeds and
signal quality were large drivers in our equation. We knew the design we had on
day one would likely evolve into a different design by month one, and so on. The
DM NVX system allowed us to keep the 4k signal and offered enough speed that
we could route the signal to a shout casting booth which we setup as part of our
eSports room for play-by-play announcing. Two years later, we’ve made a few
programming changes and created some new macros, but the technology has
been well regarded by the students, faculty, and visitors.

Information Technologies to Students during COVID

When COVID started, campus closed and like many institutions, CCSU pivoted to
remote learning. In reopening campus, we used a phased-in approach, working
with the university’s COVID team and facilities staff to make sure that the spaces
would offer air filtration, UV cleaning, and appropriate social distancing.
Overwhelmingly, returning students wanted to know when will the esports room
would reopen, and by mid-September, it was up and running.

For me, this showed the power of technology. More than GPU cycles, SSD Speeds,
or refresh rates, the Esports Center is a physical location where students can be
around like-minded individuals—peers, prospective and current friends, and
perhaps teammates for a day, semester, or four years.

When the room reopened this fall, I was a daily visitor. The first week I saw two
freshmen playing as part of a League of Legends game. When they finished, one
commented to the other on how well they played, their skill, and their combined
value in a match. They then introduced themselves to one another, learning they
were both freshmen living in different dorms and set a day and time to play
again. Making personal connections during COVID was impossible, so providing a
space that helps generate these opportunities is gratifying.

Esports: Opening the door to transformation

We are excited to have opened the esports space and are happy that current and
prospective students see it as a place for instruction, fun, and competition. As I
reflect on our journey from inception to reality, I think the process is just as
important as the physical room and space. For our university, this was an
interdisciplinary project which brought together academics, varsity competition,
and recreational gaming. It is a room which united residents and commuters. It is
also a space that is open late at night and during weekends providing students
time to relax and take part in something they are passionate about. For our
faculty, we’ve created a safe space to innovate and try something new. We’ve
seen a significant increase in faculty requests to experiment with a simulation in
VR, try to gamify their curriculum, or experiment in a virtual world. The
academic side of the Esports Center has been seen as an incubator space for
different technology often before it’s ready to go into the mainstream
classroom. Since opening the Esports Center, we’ve begun campus initiatives in
XR and advanced business analytics, all which had their foundation in
technology

If you’re looking for information regarding the Esports program at your organization, please fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch!