Interview Summary

The Askew Student Life Center has a variation of attendances; the day I visited (July 11) was fairly busy, especially around the gaming area. I wanted to perform my interview with a member of the gaming committee at the ASLC last Wednesday, because that is when they have their weekly meetings. I may do another interview with another member, but I did find a member of the gaming committee that was helpful in satisfying my interview questions. He seemed like he was the only member their since he was moving around and assisting fellow gamers with their consoles or for basic assistance.

Before the interview, I developed questions that pertained to more of the social aspect of the ASLC and how they developed a community of gamers on campus. When he finally didn’t seem to busy (I forgot to record his name), I introduced myself and asked if I could interview him for my research project in ENC2135. He asked what I was researching, and I told him “I want to learn how the ASLC established a gaming community here on campus.” He told me that the ASLC is the building in general that has the movie theater, the gaming portion, a lobby area with televisions, and the Grindhouse Café. He then told me that the gaming committee is responsible for everything that goes on in the Cyber Café. The Cyber Café is what he referred to as the portion of the building that hosted all the gaming consoles. He then went back to my question and told me that gaming itself is a niche activity, “we are here on a huge campus with all kinds of people, so if someone likes to game, they’ll most likely come and hang out at the Cyber Café with the other gamers here.” I then asked him “do you think video gaming would be at the same level as traditional sport, and would you even call it a sport?”. He said he saw no difference between playing an outdoor sport like football and sitting down with others and playing a game on the Xbox. He continued talking about competitive video gaming. He referred to competitive video gaming as an “Esport” which was short for electronic sport. He said that without a doubt esports will continue to grow in popularity and he mentioned titles such as Dota 2 and League of Legends having a massive fan base that continues to grow. “Competitions are still being held out there for these games with huge prize pots that everyone is trying to compete for.” I then asked him “is the Cyber Café geared towards a community of competitive gamers or people who play video games casually?” He replied by saying “both”. He elaborated by saying that gaming itself is a huge subject with all kinds of types (genres) within it. He told me to check out the ASLC website and checkout the gaming tab to see what the Cyber Café offers to its visitors. He mentioned that their was a Super Smash Bros tournament that they hosted this past weekend had a huge attendance and it was definitely a competitive atmosphere.

I then left the ASLC since the person that I was interviewing at the time was alone during his shift and he went back to assist gamers. I checked the website that he mentioned at movies.fsu.edu/games/ and saw what the Cyber Café offered. They regularly host gaming events that and enjoy creating a social atmosphere at the café. Gaming events range from tournament style gameplay to fun party games. I believe they do this in order to appeal to the casual gaming community and the competitive gaming community. The Cyber Café has 12 gaming PCs with 24 different games, and 12 different gaming consoles with hundreds of different games. The Café literally has something for everyone, and the even have board games to top it off.