With a lot of growth and a vast amount of money on the line, esports offers a bright future for gamers and competitive video game enthusiasts.
Today, numerous educational institutions have begun to offer gaming-related courses. The new Carolina Gaming Arena at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill is a dreamland for aspiring gamers. The arena can is located on the ground level of UNC's Craige residence hall.
Student users have the opportunity to play, hang out, learn from other players, and make new friends in a fun and healthy environment. In addition, the esports facility uses ggLeap management software to enable students to log in safely using SSO and help the admins monitor and manage the PCs. They also use ggRock PXE software to manage game and software updates efficiently.
Stay tuned to learn more about the UNC-Chapel Hill gaming arena and esports program.
- Does UNC Have an Esports Program?
- What Kind of Equipment Does the Carolina Gaming Arena Have?
- Does UNC Offer a Gaming Curriculum?
- Does UNC Have an Esports Team?
- Summary
Does UNC Have an Esports Program?
The University of North Carolina is a well-known institution with a top-notch esports program unrivaled in the industry. Under the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) StarLeague, their esports program is a collection of competitive teams that compete and represent UNC-Chapel Hill.
Not only does the esports program help aspiring professional gamers, but it also benefits esports enthusiasts in many different fields, such as:
- Game Developers
- Content Creators
- Game Casters and Hosts
- Esports Team Managers and Coaches
- Game Moderators and Admins
- Game Analysts
The Carolina Gaming Arena is a place where everyone is welcome. Its carefully designed programs promote healthy competition and adaptability and create a great gaming community.
The UNC's esports program goes beyond gaming and gives students the chance to grow academically, competitively, and professionally to become leaders in the world of esports.
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What Kind of Equipment Does the Carolina Gaming Arena Have?
For students to experience the full potential beauty of gaming, UNC-Chapel Hill exclusively provides high-quality and top-of-the-line equipment in its esports facility with impressive specifications. Lenovo supplied the hardware and helped Carolina Gaming Arena with its setup.
Gaming Desktops
Photo courtesy of Carolina Gaming
There are 37 gaming PCs (Lenovo T730) in the arena, where 36 of the desktops are used in the gaming area, and one is used for the viewing area video wall for those who want to watch the current games.
Check out the specs of the desktops:
- i9-9900K Processor
- 32 GB DDR4 RAM 2666MHz
- 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD and 256GB SSD
- GeForce RTX 2080 8GB
- Lenovo Legion K500 Keyboard
- Lenovo Legion M500 Mouse
- Legion H500 Gaming Headset
- 27″ Legion Y27gq-25 Monitors
- 43.4″ Legion Y44w-10 WLED Curved HDR Monitors
The gaming arena is also equipped with Respawn 100 Gaming Chairs to give comfort and boost the energy of the players.
Gaming Consoles
Photo courtesy of Carolina Gaming
The Carolina Gaming Arena has three-game console zones that house PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, and Nintendo Switch consoles.
Casting Area & Video Wall
Photo courtesy of Carolina Gaming
For viewing of a live official match, there is a Casting area with a huge video wall. The casting area is set up similarly to official and major tournaments hosted worldwide. In front are casters and analysts, while behind them is a massive video wall.
This creates the atmosphere and feel of a real and legitimate tournament available to both viewers and players.
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Does UNC Offer a Gaming Curriculum?
The Department of Computer Science and the Carolina Gaming Arena offers a well-designed and effective curriculum that focuses on essential aspects of esports and game-related development. Students who want to pursue a profession in gaming can enroll in the available courses:
- First-Year Seminar - COMP 061: 3D Animation with Computers - Your Cinematic Debut
- First-Year Seminar – COMP 080: Enabling Technology
- COMP 523: Software Engineering Laboratory
- COMP550: Algorithms and Analysis
- COMP 590: Serious Games
- COMP 631: Computer Networks
- COMP 633: Parallel and Distributed Computing
- COMP 651: Computational Geometry
- COMP 734: Distributed Systems
- COMP 737: Real-Time Systems
- COMP 750: Algorithm Analysis
- COMP 768: Physically-Based Modeling, Simulation, and Animation
- COMP 770: Computer Graphics
- COMP 790: Robotics: An Introduction
- COMP 790: Motion Planning in Real and Virtual Worlds
- COMP 790: Recent Advances in Medical Robotics and Simulation
- COMP 790 - Distributed Collaboration
- COMP 832: Multimedia Networking
- COMP 841: Advanced Computer Architecture
- COMP 870: Advanced Image Synthesis
You can check the UNC's Department of Computer Science for more information about each game-related course and decide which course is best for you.
Does UNC Have an Esports Team?
Yes, UNC has esports teams for numerous games. Each team's athletes and varsity represent the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Here are a few games that UNC teams are highly competing in the NACE leagues:
- Rocket League
- Valorant
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- DOTA 2
- League of Legend
- Overwatch
- Rainbow Six Siege
Summary
UNC is just one of over 100+ universities that ggCircuit has helped with their software, services & support. With the bright future of esports, Carolina Gaming Arena can certainly enable anyone interested in it to improve their talent, pursue their passion, and potentially make a profession out of it.
