With the semester already a quarter of the way through, students spent October 4th playing video games in hopes of unwinding from the stress of the school year.
Dozens of students gathered in the E-building to play games casually as well as participate in small tournaments for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and FIFA 17. The winners of these tournaments were awarded various gift cards for stores such as Starbucks.
There were more attendees than expected, which the tournament coordinators adjusted for by doubling participants from 12 to 24. While many students weren’t able to compete they still watched to support their friends or simply absorb the energy of the room.
During the tournaments, the air was filled with excitement for upcoming matches and screams of disbelief when a game didn’t go as planned. The loudest of these cries came from the crowd surrounding matches of Super Smash Bros for Wii U.
Super Smash Bros. is a fighting game series featuring Nintendo’s most popular characters.
Given the gaming community’s affection for these pop-culture icons, even as participants lost matches the group barely thinned. Students consistently filled vacant seats to continue competing with one another, playing as their favourite video game characters.
The tournament came to a climax in a pairing between Will Au and Daryl Jean-Pierre.
Au played as R.O.B, while Jean-Pierre, who played most of the tournament as Sonic the Hedgehog, decided to change to Ike for his final match. Jean-Pierre won despite the risk in his last-minute decision to change fighters, and said that “skipping class was worth it.”
“It’s like a dance,” said Au. “You have to read your opponent’s moves and react accordingly.”
Even with the heated competition, some students were just there for a break from the pressures of schoolwork. After a five-hour class on working drawings, Bailey Julien, a first-year architecture student, wanted to dabble in a tournament since he watched so many online. It’s a fun way to relax, get out, and meet new people after class” he said.
The event was run by a company called We Got Game, which organizes gaming events throughout all of Ontario, from post-secondary schools to corporations. They had bins filled with a variety of games to play, ranging from sports to first-person shooters.
This is the fifth year the company was hired by the Students’ Association. We Got Game will host another gaming event next semester.