With increased member retention and a victory in winning Club of the Month for January by the Office of Student Involvement, Gaming Club has drastically improved throughout the 2018-2019 school year.
President Nick Walko (’19) and Vice President Noah Cass (’19) claim they have made great strides towards making a more inclusive environment for their members and making sure everyone’s voice is heard.
To make the Gaming Club feel more inclusive compared to previous years, Cass said he redesigned the layout of their meeting space in the Corcoran Conference Room in the Student Center to make it a more inviting space.
“Before we had two big tables in the middle and then a bunch of tables on the outside… people would crowd the middle and the people on the outside would have no one to talk to so they would just be looking at a screen and a wall,” said Cass.
Now, however, there is a better sense of inclusivity where there are more tables set up on either side of the room so more people can interact.
Walko said, “On average we get about 20 to 30 people in and out” of their regular meetings. He went on to say that their member retention has drastically improved throughout the last few years and he is glad to see familiar faces.
Gaming Club normally follows a bi-weekly event calendar, but due to popular demand, they are looking to host weekly events.
“We have tried to introduce a lot more events this year… that increases the number of people [who] come and see us,” said Cass.
Last year, the Gaming Club E-Board sent out an engagement survey to learn what their club members wanted and what types of events they wanted to see for the future. Many of the members stated in the survey that they wanted to see more tournaments for games such as League of Legends (LoL). Therefore, Gaming Club will host a LoL tournament in the coming weeks.
Gaming Club often co-sponsors events with other clubs and organizations. Recently, they did a co-sponsorship with the organization “Fluid” where they played games from the LGBTQ+ community. One of the more popular games they played was “Celeste,” which is a computer-based game.
“We never say no when it comes to an opportunity to co-sponsor with anyone,” said Walko.
In lieu of Valentine’s Day, Gaming Club hosted a “Couples Night” where people played pair based games such as “Overcooked” and “Taboo.” In order to continue their goal of inclusivity, they opened the event to everyone and encouraged them to bring a friend so that singles could celebrate the holiday as well.
Walko also stated advancements that are being made to the Gaming Club’s social media. In fact, most of there current pages were created within the last year. Not only did he believe this would help people find the club easier, but to allow them to tag other organizations on campus when they are co-sponsoring events.
Walko hopes to partner with COSI to share the club’s social media and Discord information with the SNHU online population. He said he wants to “bridge the two [populations] together, so that way online students can play with on-campus students.” Cass added, “Gaming – anyone can do it no matter how old you are, what sex, what race; anyone can!”
Cass talked more about what they have been posting on their social media. He said they have been posting articles that can benefit their members in regards to gaming. One article Cass spoke about focused on how gaming can help kids at a young age develop certain skills, which was found by their Events Coordinator, Taylor DeForrest.
Be sure to follow Gaming Club on social media at @SNHUGaming on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Twitch.
