Article by Jack Brummel, Liam McArthur, and Thomas Harris
Christopher DuPlayee is the new Esports coach for Greenville University and is now coaching a team of 45 students that are going to nine events and two conferences this semester. His expertise in video game playing is taken to a whole new level and the strategies learned are only the best when playing on his team. Chris DuPlayee’s favorite video game is Fortnite and is currently on the brink of becoming top 500 in the world. He plays on numerous consoles, being proficient on PC, Xbox, Playstation, and many Nintendo consoles. He has managed to accumulate more than 35,000 gamer points, which is very impressive to say the least. Putting in countless hours and formulating the best strategies across multiple platforms, Coach DuPlayee has an impressive resume of hardcore gaming, and with his professional prose, he was able to take over the development of the Esports Program.
Positions Enthusiasm
Depending on the gamer’s experience with the type of games they played, they built a passion for the types of teams that each GU student has a passion to participate in. This opportunity opens up a door for everyone to enjoy their favorite video game within a competitive atmosphere. Gamers can build knowledge of different video games while being involved in a strategic player base experience that opens a window for a professional passion within the gaming industry. The Esports program improves consistently with team structure and competitive gamer involvement.
Esports Structure
The Esports program takes pride with how they set their teams up. You would almost never think that in a first person shooter (FPS) or a role playing (RPG) game that a player could be classified as a specialist within the team.
Coach Duplayee emphasized this by explaining the different skillset every Esport member has, like taking on the role of a healer, tank or assault sniper specialist. This chain of experience opens up a door for Esports members to have their own assigned role depending on the game and the gameplay experience for Greenville students. The different teams for different video games, rather than League of Legends, Overwatch or Rainbow Six Siege, give players the opportunity to pick which team to be a part of with some of their own gameplay experience, video game knowledge and competitive strategic planning.
Competitive Gamers and Being Involved
Many Greenville University students expand within the premises of First Person Shooter, role playing games, and starting platforming combat title video games. Since there are a wide range of games to be involved in like League of Legends, Overwatch or Rainbow Six Siege, Esports players have a range of opportunities to enhance their skill within these games.
The competitive nature of Esports within the GU community is quite broad. Not just being an activity to do just for the fun of it, but to have an opportunity to enhance the students while participating within the competitive nature of Esports. That is why Esports is able to accomplish the competitive involvement of every Greenville student. To keep in mind that the Esport community gives students the experience to test competitive nature within the gaming industry. When asked what students could learn from being on an Esports team, DuPlayee emphasized the importance of teamwork, problem solving, and communication between squad members. Without proper communication, teams will often be scrambled and won’t know what their teammates need from them. Players learn a lot about problem solving in order to find new ways to beat the competition, as different teams will require different strategies to beat, and good teams will always adapt quickly, so it’s important to be able to change your strategy as well. This was all apart of DuPlayee’s overarching goal- to drive the Esports community into the spotlight with not only their talents, but the life skills they will take away from their time on the team.
