The Place to Be: Drexel Esports & Gaming Association

Esports is a fast-growing trend in Philadelphia and the world over, and with the pandemic hitting us full-force this year — electronic sports interest has skyrocketed. While most people think of sports as involving some form of physical activity, electronic sports (esports) bridge the gap between calling soccer a sport as well as chess. Much like chess is mostly a mental game, the same could be said about electronic sports, requiring the players to balance both a strategic mental battle with the hand-eye coordination to quickly react to their opponents' actions. Esports takes the form of a variety of different genres, from first-person-shooting games to strategic turn-based games, and all are welcome in the Drexel esports & Gaming Association (DESGA).

What is DESGA? It's the people to know and the place to be if you're at all a fan of esports or video games in general. Run by Drexel junior Hung Nguyen, DESGA serves as the home of gaming at Drexel University, with a current member count of over 1,000 active students. Their goal is to foster and expand the casual and competitive gaming communities at Drexel, and though the pandemic has made in-person events too difficult to organize, DESGA continues to strive in hosting online events for its members. They currently have 11 competitive gaming teams in video games like Smash Ultimate, CS:GO, and Overwatch, among others, participating in a myriad of national and international competitions. Additionally, their casual gaming scene changes with whatever is currently popular, such as the Among Us game.

Esports takes the form of a variety of different genres, from first-person-shooting games to strategic turn-based games, and all are welcome in the Drexel esports & Gaming Association (DESGA).

I had a chance to talk with Hung in preparation for this blog post, and he was excited to get to share all about what DESGA does. On their Discord server, they host all kinds of events, from movie nights to pick-up-group (PUG) matches and competitions/giveaways. Hung expressed that he was saddened to not be able to host in-person events anymore, but quickly added that adapting all of their events to be hosted online has grown their community even further. Gamers both casual and professional are welcome to join and play with each other. Once campus safely opens back up, DESGA plans to look into hosting more 12-hour LAN parties and competitive events. Hung reports that everyone looks forward to hanging out again and encourages anyone who is interested in esports or gaming to come check them out through DragonLink.