Fierce competition is heating up in the Huskie Gaming Club, as the popular shooter game “Call of Duty” is joining the lineup of competitive games for the spring semester.
The team will be organized by junior sports management major and former “League of Legends” varsity player, Charlie Farmer. Farmer plans to form and facilitate a competitive team through the Huskie Gaming Club for the upcoming game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 7”, which releases Nov. 14. He plans to finalize a roster for the team, organize practices and advise the team in an involved capacity.
The team plans to play under the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC). The Huskie Gaming Club pays a membership fee every year that allows for this team, as well as their many others to compete alongside other competitive collegiate groups. As NECC members, the membership fee for “Call of Duty” stands at $300 for an initial team of four players, and $200 for every secondary team.
In NIU Esports, a varsity team competes as part of the university. These teams will play in a league or conference against other schools, and will be funded by the university rather than by themselves. Varsity teams have a strict recruiting process, and those on the roster have the potential of earning incentives such as receiving scholarships for their participation.
During the 2023-2024 school year, varsity players for every team, including substitute players, received a $500 scholarship through the NIU Esports Scholarship Fund.
Comparatively, competitive teams for Huskie Gaming are community and student-led, as well as being largely student-funded. Though they may use some university resources, such as the Esports Arena in Altgeld Hall for practices, they do not share the same privileges as a varsity team. Those involved with these teams, either through management or participation in gameplay, are responsible for the teams’ development, without much financial assistance from the university.
Huskie Gaming’s recruitment process is more lenient than NIU Esports by comparison. Unlike NIU Esports, there is no dedicated tryout process or requirements, and anyone who wishes to compete on these teams is allowed to participate. Skill level is not a requirement to join the team, opening up greater opportunities for those who wish to test their abilities within the game.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s your first Call of Duty or if you’ve been playing since you were nine years old like I have,” Farmer says. “It really comes down to if you have the desire to play in a competitive setting.”
Development of the team is still in its early stages, as the game being played has not yet been released. Interest toward participation on the team is still being gathered, however. Ideally, eight to 12 players are desired for the roster at large, depending on how much student-raised funding is accumulated.
“We will assemble as many teams as we can, and if there’s overflow and we can’t assemble a full team, then we can have substitutes for people that are unavailable,” Farmer said.
Farmer is also looking into potential plans for spectators to watch the team’s matches as they happen, either in person at the Esports Arena, or online through a streaming site such as Twitch.
Farmer’s goal in the creation of this team is to build a community around “Call of Duty” where people can enjoy competition in a more casual and flexible outlet than that of NIU Esports varsity programs.
“As a former (esports) athlete, I love to see competition in any capacity, and I think that video games give the ability to compete with people from all backgrounds and all walks of life to kind of come together and be able to utilize communication skills, team building skills and really achieve something great,” Farmer said.
Interested spectators who wish to follow the future of this team, as well as any other of the competitive teams formed by the club can join the Huskie Gaming Club Discord server for updates and promotions.
