Hi howdy hey! I'm Alex (@Alex61#1122 for the Discord peeps) and I'm running for President of eSports Society this upcoming year!
You might've seen me around at socials and events run by the society this year, as I've personally enjoyed going to every single one even just to have a chat with society members. What I want to do as president is maintain the success of this year's society by elevating it through my long-term goals over the next academic year.
Mission Objectives
Secure Greater Funding for the Society
» I plan to obtain and make good use of the LUU Activity Grant. This grant can be used for many things across the society – we can hire facilities and equipment (like gaming PCs and adequate venues) along with transport for big trips. This means that the society can have more varied trips across the year (something I'll go into a bit further down!) and better equipment for a breadth of different eSports games. Additionally, this means that competitive teams who advance to national finals can receive funding for transportation to represent the university.
» Along with this, I shall endeavour to secure sponsorships from various companies (especially eSports-specific ones like Intel and Razer). This not only provides us with more funding, but also can allow other things – if members want to discover how to get into the gaming industry or how the industry works, these sponsorships may allow us to have access to a variety of people who work in the industry who can provide their own first-hand experience.
Upgrade the Weekly Socials
» Current socials are already highly successful with dozens of people turning up to play games and chat. However, I believe socials can be improved even further. A large majority of eSports are based around PC games, notable examples include League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch and CS:GO. At current socials, I notice society members playing games like TFT on their phones. I would like to introduce gaming laptops, setups and LANs for socials so society members can come and have a vastly greater experience playing games like this.
» I do not want to overhaul how socials are operated at present, however. Many society members attend to play games like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart with friends from the society. With the funding I'm setting out to achieve, I wish to amplify this by getting more equipment, controllers and games for the current consoles including games like Guitar Hero for the Xbox.
» Furthermore, I think there is scope to continue providing interesting and fun society trips. Events like Arcade Club were a huge success for the current society; capitalising on that I'd like to go to the National Video Game Museum in Sheffield (which is two minutes away from a gaming bar!) and I know there's various conventions like Insomnia that I'm aware society members would like to attend.
» I'd also like to emphasise the importance of casual gaming within the Society. eSports is a largely competitive community, but casual games are a welcome break for most people to help cope with the stresses uni can bring – a majority of people who currently attend socials do so to play games like Jackbox and casual eight player Smash. This is something I'd like to retain and expand upon by running many multiplayer games at socials while also including crossover events with other societies (like the Nintendo and Pokémon Soc!) who would be willing to collaborate.
Using eSports as an Online Platform
» Various games get events such as tournaments run for them throughout the year. Whether this is through NSE or a casual university-wide tournament, these normally garner a lot of people attending and external interest from casual players or even society members. Because of this, I'd seek to capitalise on utilising the society's Twitch page to stream these events. The Twitch page can be used for major events like tournaments, but it could also be used to stream events like socials sometimes for people who might want to join in on the fun from home (especially for games like Jackbox).
» eSports needs events and competitions to happen in the first place for Twitch to work, however, and this is something I'd also like to capitalise on. I'd like to promote more online events for games. Some games already have this in place and some ambassadors have already done outstanding extracurricular work to facilitate this – I'd like to continue this and attempt to implement it across a scope of games through Discord, maintaining it for people who want to compete in games like Overwatch and introducing it for people who want to unwind in games like Overcooked.
»These events don't have to be strictly within the scope of the university, though. Through using the society as an online platform, I think the society can branch out and have events between different universities. Currently this is only done through NSE and NUEL, but as events like this year's Christmas quiz (which had about half of its entries from Leeds Beckett) have demonstrated, the society can have occasional events between universities for their equivalent to our society.
»Our online platform can extend far beyond this. As part of our online platform, I'd like to host charity streams and events to provide a dual benefit on top of having society members enjoying games. Charity streams have been a marked success in the past, but with the improvements of our online platform as a society I believe we can elevate this even further.
Awareness and Visibility in Gaming
» One of the greatest appeals of the eSports society is that anyone is welcome to join it. Though this is something that may go without saying, it is something that I think is crucial to bring awareness to. As a president, I'd want everyone to feel included and welcomed by the society and everything it does, no matter who they are.
» As someone within the LGBTQIA+ community, I am aware of the vital need for visibility within eSports. LGBTQIA+ people make up 21% of the eSports community, and though visibility is already being improved on a larger scale for eSports – many sponsors and events now list a player's pronouns next to their gamer tag, for example, something our society has already adopted.
» I am aware I cannot speak on behalf of every community or group within the eSports society, however. As a result, I would love to work with gamers from traditionally marginalised groups in order to understand what experiences they face, as well so that I can understand what to do as a President to ensure these groups are comfortable within the society. This could be through opt-in Discord chats for these groups, or through setting up of some sort of trust-based buddy system within the society so everyone feels confident they have someone to lean on in the society.
I've set my goals to be deliberately ambitious but achievable to elevate the success of a society which is already thriving. My goals aren't the only thing you're voting for – you're also voting for me to be the President to spearhead these throughout the next academic year. I've accrued a plethora of experience in leading people, working with the Union and working with eSports globally.
Current XP Points
Former Owner of the Global Super Smash Bros Ultimate Discord Server
» During my first year, I was the leader of the Discord-partnered Super Smash Bros Ultimate server. In this role I performed an array of different activities related to eSports and managing a team, including:
⊛ Introducing a competitive matchmaking/ranking system for players within the server
⊛ Leading a team of more than twenty staff across the world
⊛ Organising and running worldwide tournaments for players (some of which I also competed in and commentated on)
⊛ Above all else, running and owning a Discord server with 40,000+ members!
» Along with this, I have (and continue to run) a plethora of community/activity-based Discord servers and have TO'd and competed in offline eSports events.
Course Representative for Two Full Academic Years
» I am a current course representative for Mental Health Nursing cohort and have been since the start of my first year.
» As such, I have already engaged and worked with the LUU and have held meetings, raising concerns and working with other student representatives.
» From a student perspective, I have offered ideas and represented a large group of people to improve overall experience and satisfaction.
Current Punctuality at eSports Events
» I have attended almost every social event held by this year's society as a member and thoroughly enjoyed gaming and interacting with everyone there.
» By willingly arriving early, I have on many occasions assisted with setting up of weekly socials, as well as this year's Give It a Go event so I have an understanding of how the socials should work/run as well as the work that's required behind the scenes.
» On top of this, I have attended many online events, competitive events and events hosted for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, sometimes twice weekly.
Many thanks for reading my statement for presidency! You're welcome to @ me and DM me on Discord (@Alex61#1122) or just have a chat with me through any other means. I hope to receive your vote come election week – here's to pushing next year's society to be the absolute best it can be!
