One Kent State sophomore came to Kent with the hope of joining a community in which he and his peers could grow within the video game realm. There wasn’t one until he started his own.

Sophomore computer science major Cody Minnick is the founder and current president of Electronic Sports — E- Sports for short — because he said there was a need to have a place where gamers can do what they love together.

“I had some experience in an E-Sports type of club in high school,” Minnick said. “I wanted to join a similar group in college. Kent ended up not having one,so I decided to start one. I saw other schools starting E-Sports groups, so I brought it here.”

He immediately got two of his campus security co-workers involved. One is a supervisor for campus security, and the other is the coordinator of safety and security. The first is the group’s vice president, and the latter is the adviser.

“We found ourselves talking about all sorts of video games,” vice president Daniel Rodenburgh said. “It kinda sparked. Even though I graduate soon, it’s definitely an emerging sport here on campus.”

Minnick approached Rodenburgh and adviser Carlo Mojica with the idea, and the two were immediately enthusiastic about the idea.

“Our generation and after grew up with video games,” Mojica said. “This created a competitive nature in video games, so there’s an obvious need for a club like KSU E-Sports.”

KSU E-Sports meets Fridays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and at the meetings, members discuss upcoming tournaments and play dates. These play dates are times when the club will open up community play to whoever is interested in playing a certain game. The club tweets the time and game, and those interested direct message the Kent State E-Sports Twitter handle to gain access to the game.

Minnick held the first meeting on Friday, Feb. 26, and went over the guidelines of the club. He went over the games Kent State E-Sports would play and opened the floor for members to suggest new games the group could add.

One of Minnick’s most stressed guidelines was sportsmanship during playdates.

“We’ve all made nasty comments when playing,” Minnick said. “But when you’re a member of this club, you will be respectful to all players, especially teammates. This club is supposed to get you to come together and play together and help each other, not bring each other down.”

The floor opened up to add video games to the set list, and Minnick asked about adding Call of Duty. 

“Call of Duty games are weak in my mind,” said member Kevin O’Neill, a freshman aeronautics major. “Arma is the Michael Bay version (of) any military simulation game. This better not go to a gaming magazine or anything.”

Other video games on the group’s list are Rocket League, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros and Smite.

Minnick tightened the group’s ties to the Kent State gaming community by partnering with the KSU Smash Community.

“I decided that would give KSU E-Sports a larger reach,” Minnick said. “Partnering with KSU Smash Community would bring experienced members in and help in giving us solidity as a group.”

Contact Eric Conway at [email protected].