Hofstra University’s Lawrence Herbert School of Communication (LHSC) hosted its first-ever esports championship on Monday, April 15.
The competition, called “Level Up: Esports Championship,” was the RTVF 165 class senior capstone project for Tim Eletto, Justin Brown, Jason Spiller and Jo Ricci.
The event took place in Studio A of the LHSC and served as both a class project and a charity event. Proceeds from “Level Up” were donated to Child’s Play, which donates therapeutic games and technology to pediatric hospitals worldwide.
Brown said he felt Child’s Play was the perfect organization for the event to donate to because he believes they symbolize why video games are important.
“[Video games] bring people together so effectively and allow for a space to escape from the troubles of the real world,” said Brown. “Offering that escape to children in hospitals, who may be scared or feel like everything is a lost cause, that’s powerful.”
The game selected for the competition was Rocket League, described by its developers as a “high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem.”
Junior journalism major Antonio Schoenhardt hosted the event, and he said the production was one of the most “unique” and “entertaining” he’s been a part of.
The two teams facing off were Neon Phoenix and Dark Eclipse, led by alumnus Jason Valverde and Kieran Morrisey, respectively. Both teams were made up of Hofstra and non-Hofstra students. Ricci said finding players was one of the most challenging aspects of the production.
“I did everything I possibly could to recruit players, including printing out flyers, connecting with local gaming leagues, emailing every college esports team I could find, and DMing people on Instagram, Discord and Twitter,” Ricci said. “We also had a very high-ranked player drop the week before our show, and I scrambled to replace them. I truly had never felt the weight lift off my shoulders faster than when I got the Discord message from Kieran [Morrisey] saying he would play for us.”
The matches garnered huge levels of excitement among fans in the crowd who expressed admiration for their respective teams.
“When there’s 100 Dark Eclipse fans, I’m gonna be one of them; if there’s 10 Dark Eclipse fans, I’m gonna be one of them; and if there are no Dark Eclipse fans, I’m dead,” said junior television production and studies major Noah Fields, parodying a popular meme format.
Students in the crowd also shared how they were excited to see something new come to Hofstra’s campus.
“I’m so excited; I’ve been at Hofstra for three years and never experienced anything like this,” said Melina Lazarou, a junior music business major.
Those who attended the championship in person were entered into a door prize to win one of three PlayStation 5s donated by Sony. By the end of the night, Neon Phoenix emerged victorious, over $1,000 was raised for Child’s Play and three lucky winners went home with brand-new PlayStation 5s.
While the production proved to be a hefty load for its producers, they say their enjoyment from doing it made it all worthwhile.
“The most fun was seeing the entire thing come together,” Spiller said. “Even though it was a lot of stress and a lot of me running around between 30 different rooms, it was awesome to see these high-level Rocket League players play against each other.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT FISHER // THE HOFSTRA CHRONICLE
