Hof University eSports (HUe) is a student initiative that was founded a little over a year ago to give gamers among the students a platform for pursuing their shared passion. We wanted to know how the project is developing and spoke with founder Vincent Tischler.
Mr. Tischler, ESport at Hof University is now just over a year old. Where does the initiative currently stand and how has it developed since its founding?
“A lot has really happened! Quite fundamentally, you can say
What was the hope of a single student back then has now grown into a huge undertaking!”
Vincent Tischler, HUe
Today, we are happy to be a point of contact for all topics related to the world of Esports, not only for students, but equally for faculty and staff. Through our platforms we can provide contacts to students with similar hobbies and show the “active” side of video games to everyone who is interested
…But this goes far beyond just games, doesn’t it?
“Yes. More or less we are doing club sports and there the experiences with each other and social activities in the team are just as much a part of it as the test of strength with other universities across Germany. In addition, we have the honor of representing the university at trade fairs and events around Hof and also giving people from outside insights into Esports and the industry behind it.”
How many esports players are currently involved and which games and leagues do they cover?
“On the “Discord”, our communication channel among each other, we have now gathered almost 300 users. However, it has to be said that there are also people who only keep up to date via the channels and perhaps come to our events, but don’t actively play in a team themselves. In addition, there are also a few administrative staff members and also students from the Hofer Land region who have shown interest in getting involved even before they started their studies. With active players in our teams we come to a total of about 40 people! Primarily the titles “League of Legends”, “VALORANT” and “Rocket League” are played. As expected, League of Legends has the largest share of players. We mainly play in the “Uniliga”, which is the primary platform for Esports at German universities. There are individual, smaller league subdivisions per title. So regardless of skill level, everyone finds a place and can actively participate.”
…What about the performance level of the leagues?
“Some of the best players in Germany play in the top leagues, and it is not uncommon for them to be under contract with major German or international teams and clubs! We ourselves have also been allowed to participate there and gain experience – albeit with rather minor successes so far. Thus we are also broadly positioned with our teams and find usually for all students with interest a field of application, on which they are neither over nor underchallenged.
In addition, there is always the possibility to participate in individual tournaments of other universities or sometimes even large German companies
We like to take every chance to bring our name to the German Esports world and prove ourselves against other teams!”
Vincent Tischler, HUe
What about the infrastructure on site? Where do they play and train?
“At least the important games are mostly played from your own PC. This has the simple reason that you are most used to your own “setup”. For example, I myself don’t trust any other mouse than my own in important situations. In addition, we have the possibility to use the facilities of the university for our events. The media lab B114 is our headquarters and offers with the good equipment of the PCs as well as the periphery the best possibilities to run Esports. Extra screens with higher Hertz were also purchased there and the equipment is up to date. In addition, we are also a neighbor of the new VR lab there, where activities like “Beat Saber” are also no strangers to the term Esports.”
What about the sport itself – how are the performances of your own teams developing?
“Everything is going great there! We get to celebrate individual successes in the teams again and again and are slowly but surely becoming better known in the German Esports scene. We now have a lot of contact with other universities and teams, with whom we are in contact for tournaments and training games. The highlight was a “bootcamp” at the beginning of the summer, where we were accommodated in the youth hostel Wunsiedel for a weekend and received professional coaching and lessons in the “Bayernlab” for two days together with the players of the Bayreuth club “UBT”
In the evenings, we then had the chance to turn online acquaintances with our neighbors into firm friendships and exchange ideas about more than just video games! The whole thing was sponsored by the Bezirksjugendring Oberfranken, which thereby wanted to draw attention to the possibilities of Esports in the region.”
Where can people turn if they want to get involved?
“If there are any questions about Esports or if you are interested in the initiative, you can just send an email to esports@hof-university.de! We are also usually present at the various events of the university as well as the initiatives to answer questions. Of course, one can also approach me personally in the hallway – or while playing volleyball – at the university without any problems.”
