Six Ball State University students battled a team from the University of Central Florida in the virtual world of Team Fortress 2 on Friday night.
The match up, sponsored by Dell's College Gaming League, was the first intercollegiate gaming competition. Gamefire.TV streamed the match live on the Internet, where professional gamers from Team Pandemic provided commentary of the action.
Ball State team member Anthony Coplen said the competition was interesting because of the large gaming communities at both universities.
"We're seen as the underdogs," Coplen said, "but we are going up against the seventh largest undergraduate college in the nation, so I guess we are."
The six Ball State men practiced together for several weeks in preparation for the match.
"Our biggest challenge is working as a team, instead of beefing up our own stats," sophomore communications major Jed Wilcox said.
From the start of the match, UCF's slow, powerhouse strategy contrasted Ball State's standard techniques and put pressure on the team, Wilcox said.
As the game progressed, UCF's aggressive playing strategies challenged Ball State's teamwork. Ball State rallied their efforts and pulled ahead with an unexpected win in the first of three rounds.
"We found our footing with a strategy that works for us and UCF never adjusted," Wilcox said after the first round.
Problems with UCF's server worked to Ball State's advantage several times when UCF gamers were disconnected from the game. But even with a faulty server, UCF managed to keep their morale and scores high enough to claim the next two rounds and the overall win.
The mood in Ball State's Gaming Lab was light, even after the loss.
"We might not be the best team," Coplen said jokingly, "but at least we have the better server."
Ball State team members Richard Tinsley and Thomas Mast said they felt good about their team's performance, considering their lack of experience in comparison to UCF.
Coplen looked past this loss to the bigger picture of the future of the gaming world.
"This match was a stepping stone into another sport," Coplen said. "It's an E-sport. Hopefully it picks up because it's a lot of fun to compete with friends. We hope this will expand to other games, like Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft."
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