EIU Media Relations

EIU ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate new eSports arena on campus

[CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR: MORGAN AUSTIN]

(Charleston, IL) – Eastern Illinois University will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new eSports arena at 3:30 p.m. Monday, September 23. Eastern’s eSports arena will be located in the Student Recreation Center near Lantz Gymnasium, on campus at 600 Lincoln Avenue, Charleston.

The eSports arena was developed as a proactive response to meeting the needs of a unique and growing audience who are involved with or follow online gameplay. The enthusiasm behind computer and console gaming is backed by a robust global gaming community, which drives more than $43 billion in worldwide revenue annually. Because of its widespread popularity and influence, universities like Eastern are embracing the unique eSports audience by creating a dedicated campus space where gamers and gaming enthusiasts can gather and interact as part of a broader student engagement experience.

The audience for eSports includes more than just gamers—it includes game designers and producers as well. To help meet the growing demand for professionals in that field, EIU’s digital media degree program has been specifically designed to prepare students in gaming and animation arenas—specifically in career roles such as technical artists, animators, game developers, graphic designers, and game programmers. Students in EIU’s digital media degree program can also strategically focus their studies on a product’s overall concept-to-console development, motion capture technology, 3D modeling and design, computer-driven character creation and object animation, object-oriented programming, and virtual reality simulation.

More detailed information about events taking place after the ribbon-cutting event will be available soon on EIU’s website.

For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its growing assortment of programs and services, visit the university’s website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIU’s public information office at (217) 581-7400.