Kent State video games club sees increased engagement

Two members of the video games club play games on the Nintendo Switch at their horror-themed game night on Oct. 31, 2018. 

Jenna Langan

video games club video from Jenna Langan on Vimeo.

The Kent State video games club is growing as more and more students bond over playing video games each week.

Every Wednesday, over 20 students gather in Room 62 of Stopher Hall to play video games together.

The club started last year and has taken off since then.

“We have a lot more different faces coming in, playing a lot more games and having fun,” said Chris Venable, a video games club president and sophomore digital science major.

The group utilizes different themes every week in order to keep members and the student community engaged.

Some of this semester’s themed nights included rhythm, fighting, stealth, horror and creative games.

“We separate the room in half so one side will be more invoked for the theme and the other side is more free,” Venable said.

Students can bring their own consoles and games or enjoy what is brought along for the theme.

“For the main themes, we bring our own consoles, and anyone can bring their own games if they want to contribute,” Venable said.

The club keeps members connected outside of meetings with an app called Discord. 

This Discord channel allows members to communicate, whether it be for taking votes on the next meeting’s theme or asking each other to play video games.

“It serves as a general chat, mostly about video games, and it helps people who can’t come to our meetings still stay connected to the club,” said Joey Lagucki, a video games club board member and sophomore computer science major.

You can join in on the Discord chat here.

The video games club is expanding and hopes to grow with even more members and events in the future.

“My favorite part is seeing the variety of gamers from all different kinds of backgrounds,” said Max Kunze, a video games club vice president and sophomore computer design and animation major. “It’s a variety of people that love all kinds of games, and they’re coming together for the idea of celebrating games.”

Jenna Langan is the consumer tech reporter. Contact her at [email protected].