Maria Britos/ Contributing Writer
It is impossible to miss the section better described as the “corner of the gamers” while walking through Graham Center.
Located in front of Chili’s and the Game Room, this section is inhabited by enthusiastic video game and card game players. How this famous corner became so popular is unknown, but it has become the perfect getaway for video game and card game lovers.
“I don’t really know when everyone started sitting here,” says Michael Estrada, a junior biology major. “But I always sit here in between my classes and hang with friends and mostly play League of Legends.”
The players can be seen playing the Pokémon Trading Card game while others are concentrated on their own computers playing video games such as World of Warcraft. Not only men are spotted playing; some women have also taken part involved in the section.
These card games and video games even have their own competitions nationally. For video games, Collegiate StarLeague is a popular international competition that brings together all the best universities from Asia, Europe and the United States to compete in StarCraft. For the winning team, there is thousands of dollars in prices.
Carlos Camargo, a junior biomedical engineering major and a video game enthusiast, is currently in the process of launching ESports Club, an FIU team for competitive video gaming.
“This club is going to be focused on competitive video gaming whether it’s with League of Legends or StarCraft II or Call of Duty or anything that has to do with competitive video gaming,” said Camargo.
Camargo also helped put together an FIU team to compete at the Collegiate StarLeague last semester. He reported a 30 percent win of all games during the competition.
Camargo was also the captain of the FIU team that mainly competed in the League of Legends game. The team included 10 participants, a far larger amount than it had in its first attempt to form the team in 2011.
Brandon Oramas, a junior in English, is often seen sitting in the gamers’ spot playing a dual game of Pokémon. He is a league owner for the Pokémon tournaments that take place every year. Because the tournament is open to anyone, there is no FIU team.
“I play both card games and video games usually my preference for both is with Pokémon where I’m actually an organizer. So I run events, I judge at official tournaments and I help promote the events,” Oramas said.
A huge assumption with gamers is that the only thing they do is play video or card games, however, Oramas said that this is big misconception and misunderstanding.
“Players have lives; this is just a hobby,” he said. “I don’t neglect my responsibilities.”
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