November 04, 2019

Meet the players on PC’s esports teams

By Vicki-Ann Downing

About 150 students are involved in Providence College’s new esports club. Most play on their own, just for fun, but for those wanting more of a challenge, the College offers competition in four leagues — BIG EAST, ECAC, Tespa, and AVGL, the American Video Game League — in about 15 games, including League of Legends, Fortnite, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros., and Rocket League.

Meet four competitors:

Matthew McGuane '20, username: "Beady," from Somers, Conn., plays League of Legends, studies computer science

Matthew McGuane ’20 dreamed of an esports club almost from the time he first stepped on the Providence College campus.

As a sophomore, he teamed with Zachary Gandara ’19 to approach students with gaming laptops and invite them to a group chat, which quickly grew to 80 members. When the BIG EAST Conference sponsored a pilot esports tournament in the spring of 2018, McGuane streamed the competition on Twitch from the Ruane Center for the Humanities.

McGuane spent the fall 2018 semester studying in Dublin. When he returned to PC in January, plans were underway to create a room for the new esports student organization in Slavin Center.

“I played the day we opened the room,” McGuane said. “I installed a bunch of the games. I sat down to play right away. It was beautiful.”

McGuane’s favorites are multiplayer online battle arena games, such as League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm, and the first-person game Halo. Like most of the 100 students in PC’s esports club, he plays on his own and not as part of an official team.

“I’m the organizer and welcome man,” McGuane said. “The social one. Welcome to the club.”
McGuane said he’s met some of his best friends playing online.

“It’s a casual way to have something to do with other people,” McGuane said. “For a few hours, you have funny conversations in the course of a game and you get to know people. It’s a different environment.”

McGuane worked as a software intern with Fidelity Investments in Smithfield, R.I., during the summer. He would love to work in the gaming industry one day.

Idette Monterroza '20, username: "Idette," from North Providence, R.I., plays Overwatch, studies computer science, Asian studies

A woman who enjoys competitive gaming, Idette Monterroza ’20 is a rarity
on the College’s esports teams. Not that it bothers her. She grew up playing Paper Mario and Super Mario Sunshine on Nintendo’s GameCube with her younger brother, moved online with Xbox tobattle the zombies in L4D2, and found an appreciation for team games with Team Fortress 2 by the Orange Box.

At PC, Monterroza competes on the six-member Overwatch team in two leagues, ECAC and Tespa. Overwatch is a multiplayer game in which characters work to secure and defend points on a map, or move payloads, while facing another team that’s attempting to halt their progress. Her favorite among the more than 30 characters is Zenyatta, a support hero and healer.

“I like the competitiveness,” said Monterroza, who ran track and played tennis in high school. “It’s really fun to try hard and win. I used to take it super-duper seriously as a kid. Now I just enjoy playing. I try not to get frustrated.”

In 2018, Monterroza was among the PC students who traveled by van to the
sold-out Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., to watch eight teams battle for
$250,000 in prize money in the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

“It was my first time seeing a live match,” Monterroza said. “People
reacted the way they would to physical sports. They were cheering on the
teams.”

Monterroza is a student worker in information technology, assisting faculty
and staff with computer problems. She plans to work as a programmer
after graduation. Her career goal was inspired by gaming — she discovered an
interest in computers when buying the components to build her gaming
computer.

Ahman Mims '21, username "Zekrom 567" or "Kidmims," from Roslindale, Mass., plays Overwatch, studies computer science and economics

When Ahmad Mims ’21 was sidelined after breaking a finger playing volleyball in high school three years ago, it gave him plenty of time to learn a new online
video game called Overwatch. Through hours of play, Mims mastered the intricacies and rose in the rankings, eventually reaching the semi-professional level before losing to one of the top teams.

Overwatch is a multiplayer game. Characters secure and defend points on a map, or move payloads, while facing another team attempting to halt their progress. Mims is co-founder and one of six players on PC’s Overwatch team, which competes in the ECAC and Tespa leagues.

“There are a lot of games where the game itself is pretty good, but the characters aren’t developed,” Mims said. “Overwatch developers built a universe where each character has a unique backstory.”

Mims, who is active in Campus Ministry, likes physical games as well as video games. In addition to volleyball, he played basketball and football in high school. At PC, he plays intramural basketball, flag football, handball, and Ultimate Frisbee, and wins at least one championship T-shirt every year.

“As far as the competition goes with esports, it’s the same,” Mims said. “Players take it just as seriously and want to win just as much.”

Mims, who would like to become a software developer, software engineer, or web developer, works for the nonprofit South End Technology Center in Boston each
summer helping high school students create video games using a program called Scratch.

“To create a game, you have to understand composition, communication, teamwork — how each character’s actions affect the other and how your actions affect another,” Mims said. “It’s just one way that games can be educational and beneficial.”

David Argento '21, username: "Ignus," from Miller Place, N.Y., plays Hearthstone, studies finance, mathematics

Games of strategy have always appealed to David Argento ’21, who studied chess with an instructor as a child and traveled to compete in chess tournaments. As he grew older, the trading card game Magic: The Gathering captured his imagination, and in high school, he graduated to playing Hearthstone, Blizzard’s version of Magic.

“For sheer skill and ability, chess is definitely a harder game to master. It has more credibility and gets more respect. But it’s been the same for thousands of years,” Argento said. “Hearthstone is a game of pure strategy and number crunching. It’s an evolving game. The developers always have new features coming out to keep players interested.”

In Hearthstone, players compete by building card decks of characters with spells and weapons to outwit foes. Argento is one of three members of PC’s team. A year ago, competing in the Tespa league, the team reached the regional finals, at one point ranking in the top 16 among 1,200 participating teams and in the top six in the eastern region.

In the spring, competing in the ECAC for the first time, the team captured the championship, finishing ahead of Marist College, Quinnipiac University, SUNY-Canton, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, Canisius College, Keuka Collage, Rochester Polytechnic Institute, and Sacred Heart University.

“I try to be the most efficient I can in competition, as close to perfect as possible,” Argento said.

A member of the Liberal Arts Honors Program, Argento is taking a break from esports this semester to study abroad with the PC in Rome program. Captain of his high school tennis team, he also loves intramural sports on campus.