In 2014, you might be surprised by the event that sold out the Staples Center in Los Angeles and attracted more than 32 million viewers. It was 10 guys in front of computers playing a video game.
Electronic competitive gaming – eSports – is responsible for epic draws of gamers and their fans. Chris Postell, a University of Cincinnati alum and competitive gamer, organized UC’s chapter of eSports gamers on campus. He grew the club from its original 15 members in 2012 to a staggering 750 in 2015, making the school’s chapter larger than any campus fraternity.
Postell’s goal is to innovate what we see and experience as entertainment, what interactivity means, and what we think of gamers. “We can be social, type A, and engaging,” he says. “We are not conventions of ‘nerds.’ We are everyday people coming together.”
Bringing the Midwest’s community of competitive gamers together, Postell, with the help of UC, launched AllMid, Midwest’s very own major eSports gaming event. A stunning success, AllMid brought gamers from Miami University and The Ohio State University as well as 15 universities from other states. AllMid attracted more than 800 gamers, 25 professional industry sponsors, more than $100,000 worth of donated product and $4,000 in prizes for students during the event at Fifth Third Arena on the UC campus.
Postell is passionate about advocating for the gaming demographic as a highly valuable economic market. “Seventy percent of gamers are STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students,” he says. “They use ad block, they don’t see your advertisements on Facebook. They use Spotify, they don’t listen to your advertisements on the radio. They use Netflix, they don’t see your advertisements on TV.”
How then, you might ask, do Fortune 500 companies reach the gaming demographic? “They come to us, and they see eSports,” says Postell.
As a burgeoning LLC, the future of AllMid looks bright. Postell has traveled to gain contracts at universities in Indiana and Illinois to run various gaming events. AllMid will be contracted to run game rooms at an assortment of conventions throughout the country. In 2016, Postell projects anywhere from five to eight gaming events with more than 200,000 people attending. As people change their idea of engaging entertainment, keep an eye on the future at AllMid events in Greater Cincinnati, the Midwest and beyond.
To learn more about AllMid, visit allmid.gg.