In September, Mason’s Center for the Arts became the hub for the sixth iteration of GAMEmason, a two-day gaming convention that features varsity esports team competitions, educational sessions, industry guest speakers as well as arcade, tabletop and console gaming opportunities. The interactive, experiential event is the product of Student Involvement working in collaboration with Mason’s Computer Game Design program and GMU Esports leadership to create the country’s largest university-sponsored in-person gaming event. Competitive players, casual gamers and community members are welcomed at GAMEmason, where this year’s tournament featured some of the best college players in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Crew Battles (4v4) and Chess (4v4).
It also drew the attention of Lenovo and Intel technology companies that help sponsor the event and are actively involved with and engaging Mason students seeking careers in the gaming and computer industries. Lenovo also featured GAMEMason in its “TrackPointsTalk” podcast series that serves as the source of tech trends that affect educational settings.