Blount Library Blog

Archival Display, March 2024: Video Gaming on Campus

Current students - frittering away leisure hours on anything from friendly Smash Bros. tournaments to casual cellphone games - may be surprised to learn that they are part of a tradition of video gaming on Averett's campus that goes back at least 40 years.

Although the global history of computer gaming extends at least as far back as the 1950s, these early experiments were largely confined to the computer labs of major research institutions and technology companies.  There is no extant evidence of video games even being on the radar of Averett students until 1981, when the Silver Odyssey "electronic game room," across the river in the Piney Forest Shopping Center, advertised directly to the Averett student body with a 'free game' coupon in the pages of The Chanticleer.

It wasn't until the fall of 1983 that Averett developed an organized relationship with the developing hobby of digital gaming.  That summer, the Bottom Inn - a student center on the bottom floor of Bishop Hall offering food, a public television, and general communal recreation - was renovated to add, among other things, a wall of arcade cabinets.  Throughout the 1980s, images appear in the college yearbook of students playing the likes of Centipede, Galaga, and especially Ms. Pac-Man (one of the most popular games both on campus and nationwide).  Although the industry in general was struggling through what has come to be known as the "video game crash of 1983" - a financial downturn caused primarily by the market being flooded with poor games designed to make a quick buck - the Bottom Inn machines were reportedly in nearly constant use, with many students spending upwards of $5 per week on their gaming habit.

From that point, video gaming never really left campus.  Although the Bottom Inn arcade slowly disappeared (by 1990 there were only three remaining cabinets, although a pinball machine had been added), console gaming took over immediately.  By February 1989, the Nintendo Entertainment System was declared the "latest campus craze" in the pages of the Chanticleer.  Multiple students were interviewed about their consoles - the habit reportedly having been picked up from their younger siblings, many of whom had acquired Nintendo consoles "during the 1987-88 Christmas season."  Although gaming consoles were never again openly discussed in the Chanticleer or other archived materials, students have been bringing their Nintendo, Sega, Sony, or Microsoft gaming consoles to school ever since.

In recent years, as the industry has matured and become a stable part of popular culture, gaming has appeared in more official venues at Averett.

The first turn was from entertainment to education.  Video games have been a subject of study in multiple courses over the past decade.  Computer science students have occasionally created small games as class projects at least as far back as 2002.  Retired professor Steve Lemery has retained screen captures of student game and game-like creations ranging from an adaptation of the classic game Asteroids to a silly geography application called Random Drunken Walk.  Semester-long courses in game analysis and various elements of game production and culture have been offered or developed since at least spring 2014, when I taught "Reading Videogame" for the first time as a general education elective.

In 2017, gaming leaped from the classroom into the field of official competition, when Averett launched its own esports program - the first four year school in the state of Virginia to offer esports in varsity competition.  In a delightful twist of fate, Main Hall - a building that didn't even have electricity when it was first constructed - has been the home of Averett's competitive gaming for the past 7 years.  The team currently occupies the southern wing of the basement, and participates in regular competition in a variety of games.

Students, staff, and other visitors are welcome to visit Mary B. Blount Library any time during the month of March and take a look at a display of images, artifacts, and newspaper reports on gaming on campus.  Any alumni with additional photos, mementos, or memories they'd like to add to the University's collections should always feel free to contact the University archivist.