Office Hours

OFFICE HOURS | Professor Walker White Discusses eSports and Gaming (Part 2)

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For our first installment of “Office Hours,” a series of interviews with prominent personalities on Cornell’s campus, Sunspots writer Bruno Avritzer sat down for a chat with Computer Science Professor Walker White, Director of the Cornell Game Design Initiative. In the interview below, which has been edited for clarity, White shares his thoughts on why gaming may or may not be viable as a college sport. Part 1 of this interview can be read here.  

One thing I want to touch on a little bit is how collegiate sports is developing. Blizzard is really pushing TESPA (Collegiate eSports) pretty hard.

Office Hours

OFFICE HOURS | Professor Walker White Discusses eSports and Gaming (Part 1)

By |

For our first installment of “Office Hours,” a series of interviews with prominent personalities on Cornell’s campus, Sunspots writer Bruno Avritzer sat down for a chat with Computer Science Professor Walker White, Director of the Cornell Game Design Initiative. In the interview below, which has been edited for clarity, White shares his thoughts on the global popularity of eSports, their potential as spectator sports and comparisons between certain video games and sports like football.  

So the first thing I wanted to ask you is about your opinions on eSports, the phenomenon. Why is it sort of limited in the USA, compared to Europe or Korea? I think some of it is just the cultural acceptability of it.

Entertainment

ATARISTOTLE | Super Smash Bros. in the Black Community

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So if you’ve read my bio or just know me personally, I absolutely adore the party, fighting-game Super Smash Bros. So much so, that winning or losing in a game of four player free-for-all or one-on-one I will physically  transform this angry, volatile beast that has me taking my shirt off and foaming at the mouth to play again and again and again. And if I can’t do that, I will train alone in my room for a few hours the next morning until my nails chip and the skin on my thumbs peel. Silently, I savor every moment. 

Sounds unhealthy? You bet.