{"642173":{"#nid":"642173","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Esports Symposium and Invitational Tournament Held at Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMore than 300 people participated in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s inaugural esports symposium and esports invitational tournament which was held virtually on December 8, 2020. This event, hosted by Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Institute of People and Technology (IPaT) and the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR), combined two engaging panels discussing the topics of \u0026ldquo;esports and universities\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;esports and Atlanta,\u0026rdquo; as well as an invitational tournament of Rocket League contested by Georgia Tech students.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech athletics department also co-sponsored the event, which was produced by SkillShot Media, a turn-key esports production company, which organized and ran\u0026nbsp;the four-hour event and conducted the competitive, online multi-player video game competition which involved cars playing soccer in a multi-player video game called Rocket League.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESkillShot, based in Alpharetta, Georgia,\u0026nbsp;also provides hands-on training for educators who need a deeper understanding of the entire esports ecosystem. Topics include tournament organization, production, coaching, and program setup. Georgia Tech\u0026#39;s EVPR office is supporting these esports educational events as they could lead to new workforce development initiatives within the state of Georgia.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe four competing teams in the Rocket League esports competition consisted of Georgia Tech students who were invited to show their skills and compete for prizes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe winning team members were:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003ETanner Price\u003C\/strong\u003E, undergraduate in computer science\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EKhalil Tafiti\u003C\/strong\u003E, undergraduate in civil engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EAlec Webley\u003C\/strong\u003E, dual-enrolled student with his high school\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe runner up team members were:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003ERithvi Ravichandran\u003C\/strong\u003E, undergraduate in biomedical engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003ECharles Haskell\u003C\/strong\u003E, undergraduate in mechanical engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003ECarson Clements\u003C\/strong\u003E, undergraduate in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEach winning and runner up team member was awarded the Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality (VR) gaming headset.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERaheem Beyah\u003C\/strong\u003E, Georgia Tech\u0026#39;s vice president for interdisciplinary research, gave the opening remarks as the esports symposium started followed by additional opening remarks delivered by \u003Cstrong\u003EBeth Mynatt\u003C\/strong\u003E, executive director of IPaT.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe first panel at the symposium focused on universities and their impact on the future of esports. The panelists were: \u003Cstrong\u003EAbhinav Venkatesan\u003C\/strong\u003E, vice president of Georgia Tech Esports; \u003Cstrong\u003EMichael Brooks\u003C\/strong\u003E, executive director of National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE); and \u003Cstrong\u003ELucas Bailey\u003C\/strong\u003E, assistant director of Georgia State University Esports. The panel was moderated by \u003Cstrong\u003ELaura Levy\u003C\/strong\u003E, research director of gaming and esports applied research at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe National Association of Collegiate Esports is a nonprofit membership association with more than 170 member institutions. They are developing the structure and tools needed to advance collegiate esports in the varsity space.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe second panel was structured as a fireside chat focusing on the rapid growth of esports and Atlanta\u0026rsquo;s contribution. The participants were \u003Cstrong\u003ETodd Harris\u003C\/strong\u003E, founder and CEO of Skillshot Media; and \u003Cstrong\u003EGrant Wainscott\u003C\/strong\u003E, vice president of ecosystems for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Harris\u0026rsquo; company Skillshot Media has hosted thousands of esports tournaments, paid out over $10M in prizes for competitive video games and delivered over 1 billion views of esports content. Wainscott is the vice chairman of the newly formed Atlanta Esports Alliance, a division of the Atlanta Sports Council that focuses on attracting and managing esports events and investments to the metro Atlanta region.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We were excited to host the first esports summit and invitational here at Georgia Tech and aim to build on the event\u0026rsquo;s success to make it an annual event that brings the larger Atlanta community into the emerging world of esports,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Cstrong\u003ESiva Jayaraman\u003C\/strong\u003E, director of partnerships at Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Institute of People and Technology (IPaT).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYou can \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/tSwxsibPf50\u0022\u003Eview the recorded event here:\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMore than 300 people participated in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s inaugural esports symposium and esports invitational tournament which was held virtually on December 8, 2020.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Esports Symposium and Invitational Tournament Held at Georgia Tech"}],"uid":"27513","created_gmt":"2020-12-16 19:26:40","changed_gmt":"2020-12-21 20:28:10","author":"Walter Rich","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"642172":{"id":"642172","type":"image","title":"Esports Symposium Tournament - Screen Image","body":null,"created":"1608146725","gmt_created":"2020-12-16 19:25:25","changed":"1608148125","gmt_changed":"2020-12-16 19:48:45","alt":"Esports Symposium Tournament showing Rocket League Game with Commentators-- Screen Image","file":{"fid":"243964","name":"screenshot_mercury.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/screenshot_mercury.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/screenshot_mercury.png","mime":"image\/png","size":408479,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/screenshot_mercury.png?itok=3SmujSc5"}},"642175":{"id":"642175","type":"image","title":"Esports Panel with Laura Levy Moderating","body":null,"created":"1608147120","gmt_created":"2020-12-16 19:32:00","changed":"1608148163","gmt_changed":"2020-12-16 19:49:23","alt":"The first panel at the symposium focused on universities and their impact on the future of esports. The panelists were: Abhinav Venkatesan, vice president of Georgia Tech Esports; Michael Brooks, executive director of National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE); and Lucas Bailey, assistant director of Georgia State University Esports. The panel was moderated by Laura Levy, research director of gaming and esports applied research at Georgia Tech.","file":{"fid":"243965","name":"panel 1.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/panel%201.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/panel%201.png","mime":"image\/png","size":414008,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/panel%201.png?itok=hHSqGP7E"}},"642192":{"id":"642192","type":"image","title":"Rocket League Video Game","body":null,"created":"1608216775","gmt_created":"2020-12-17 14:52:55","changed":"1608216775","gmt_changed":"2020-12-17 14:52:55","alt":"Rocket League Video Game","file":{"fid":"243968","name":"RocketLeagueVideo Game.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/RocketLeagueVideo%20Game.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/RocketLeagueVideo%20Game.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":516085,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/RocketLeagueVideo%20Game.jpg?itok=pKO-tl0T"}}},"media_ids":["642172","642175","642192"],"groups":[{"id":"69599","name":"IPaT"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["walter.rich@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}