The sports they come back into presence. After a year and a half of competition and virtual initiatives, fans return to invade the physical spaces. A return to normality that affects every aspect of electronic sports, including the university world. To prove it are Networks e CUS Milan with their UNI Sports Day, a full day open to students of Milanese universities and young video game enthusiasts to help them rediscover the value of aggregation and the sense of community.
UNI Esports Day: a multifaceted universe
To open the dances ofUNI Sports Day it was a round table led by the videogame journalist Massimo Triulzi and animated by Laura Anna Ripamonti, teacher, director and co-founder of the research laboratory PONG – Playlab for innovation in Games, Dario Ambrosini, head of AVM’s online sales channel, and by the eSport reporter Francesco “Deugemo” Lombardo.
A varied triptych that brought three different ways of seeing and approaching the world of eSports to the stage of the Campus Reti auditorium. The chat, which lasted just over 40 minutes, painted a particularly varied and original scenario, highlighting less obvious aspects of the eSports sector.
It is in fact an ever-expanding universe, which still struggles to find a definite shape but which now involves different areas. Laura Anna Ripamonti gave the example of the new Business School of the University of Milan where we talk aboutbusiness use of video games. It is now essential for any manager and any company to understand videogame culture and understand its languages.
“This type of culture cannot be ignored – said Prof. Ripamonti – We are talking about a market that is constantly growing, with the pandemic that has further accelerated this phenomenon. “
Hence the need to fill this training gap by integrating the classic economic and managerial knowledge with some information on eSport, its peculiarities and its mechanisms.
Dario Ambrosini instead focused on infrastructure. Competitive electronic games are based on the Internet, hence the need to have the right tools but also to produce modems and accessories that can meet the needs of gamers. This is why AVM has teams that deal precisely with studying the needs of consumers to create products that marry this evolution of the market.
Worried about the Italian situation? Don’t worry, in reality the events of the last two years have accelerated the digitization of the country. We have not yet overcome the digital divide but we are certainly making big steps forward.
To conclude was Francesco Lombardo, a report specialized in the world of eSports who brought his particular vision, that of a communicator who had to find the right language to tell this world both to enthusiasts and technicians and to those who are only now approaching the export world. Are you curious to know how the problem was solved? Simple: using the sports vocabulary. Taking advantage of words and expressions already present in our culture allows beginners to understand the mechanics of electronic games.
The opening round table of theUNI Sports Day it has therefore allowed us to understand how multifaceted this market is. However, some legislative difficulties remain. It is still difficult to regulate this sector, also because here the rules of the game are not universal but are subject to the will of the publisher, owner of the title and all its derivatives.
The message with which this chat ended, however, is positive: eSport is a young universe, with time it will evolve and set clear rules. Let’s give it space for fareas.
Why Networks?
What does it has to do with it Networks with the world of eSports? In short, why offer an entire campus for an event like UNI Esports Day. This is clarified Lorenzo Beliusse. The marketing director of Reti Spa explained how important it is for the company to create an environment that responds to the proposals of employees and young people. Hence the idea of offering workers the spaces to tell their passions, from table tennis to cooking through video games.
Thus the first ones were born NETgaming Night, that is, tournaments that had Reti employees as protagonists. The initiative was a huge success but in reality it became the first step of a more complex path that includes the creation of a popular format, Sports Italy, sponsorship of a team – HG Sports – and dedicated training courses. And in the future? Well, that’s still to be written.