Introduction to Warwick Esports For Freshers

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Rocket League
3. Racing Games
4. Rainbow Six Siege
5. Minecraft
6. Fighting Games
7. Rhythm Games
8. The Pack
9. CS:GO
10. Dota 2
11. League of Legends
12. Overwatch
13. Valorant
14. Closing Message

A Message From Warwick Esports Society

Collated and Edited by - Hina “Hinatabokko” Ishida

This past year has been another huge success for Warwick Esports Society and we are hoping to see many new faces in the coming academic year.

It can be overwhelming joining a society as big as ours, with over 2500 users on our main discord server. This is why, to make it easier for those who are joining us this year, we have reached out to each Games Co-ordinator and Lead at Warwick Esports, to detail their achievements in the past year and what freshers can expect in the next year.

At the end of this article, we also have a short message from our President and Vice President for anyone joining us at Warwick Esports Society.

Rocket League - James "Jaido"

This past year

• Warwick Rocket League (WRL) has had a great 2022/23! We ran our yearly quiz, and multiple tournaments, including Pentathlon and our Term 2 2s Tournament.
• We also had 14 teams participate in NSE, with our first team, Warwick Williams Resolve, placing 2nd in NUEL Winter!

Next year:

• I will be continuing on Sushi's legacy, and continuing to host loads of WRL events and tourneys!
• For any freshers, Warwick RL is for everyone, no matter your rank (i'm hardstuck plat for reference), so come check out our semi-competitive ladder system or just play for fun - just hop into a vc!

Racing Games - Konstantin "Kyro"

Disclaimer: Racing Games has been newly introduced to Warwick Esports Society and will be a new section for our coming 23/24 academic year!
What to expect in the coming year:

• The opportunity to try out the different racing games as there are different levels or realism and some feature different cars, different handling etc.
• As for the community itself, social sessions where we play racing games or even more casual driving games like euro truck 2 depending on people's preferences
• All of this is of course given that we get the right level of engagement etc.
• Timed sessions where people can compete in different games on different circuits to set times for a leaderboard made up of people within the uni.
• For socials outside the virtual games, I'd need to see how the community shapes out and whether they are more outgoing etc. so that one will be adjusted ad-hoc.

Rainbow Six Siege - Amraj "Blizzard"

Past year:

• Won NUEL Summer, won avrona cup (non-uni LAN tournament)
• 2nd in NSE summer and spring NUEL, 3rd in Winter NUEL
• 2nd in ELC (non-uni r6 competition)
• Socials - Team BBQs, best table at the esports ball

For next year

• Regular tournaments at esports centre with prizes
• At least 2 competitive teams for NSE and NUEL
• Have an external coach to help you improve

Minecraft - Keanu "AtomicAlkey"

Disclaimer: There wasn't anything done for Minecraft last year, so everything being done is new!
Next year:

• Vanilla Minecraft Server Launch
• Modded Minecraft Server Launch
• Events such as hunger games and Minecraft bingo throughout the year
• Freshers week Hunger Games

Fighting Games - Arman

Past Year:
Disclaimer: We have been quiet for the past few years but this year we hope to change things up!

• Popular games played in our community are Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear: STRIVE and Tekken 7. So if you’re into those games, come and join us!

Next Year:

• Organised group trips to bigger fighting game tournaments that happen throughout the year as it would be a really good experience for anyone who is in the community.
• Offline events would be more free play with potential points based league system over each term depending on the amount of events run.

Rhythm Games - Noah "SmolPanda"

This Past Year:

• Held some incredibly chill house parties
• Challenged Southamption University in an osu! Tournament with a close win.
• Had our World-Famous Rhythm Spoons Meets throughout the year.

Next year:

• Plans for a 24-hour charity stream involving hour-separated segments for everyone to show off their best, favourite and most obscure rhythm games.
• Hoping to expand rhythm game competition to other universities, as well as expand Warwick’s current game spotlight outside of osu!
• Establish osu! Pentathlon, where assembled teams compete with weighted scores in Standard, Mania (4k/7k), Taiko and Catch.
• Expanding events to more physical activities, including minigolf, bowling.

The Pack - Aash "Angentidea"

The Pack is our women & nonbinary exclusive community here at Warwick Esports. It was founded by Kat Emery in 2021 to increase the representation of marginalised genres in the esports scene.
This past year:

• The Pack has members from different universities across the UK and has seen major growth since its establishment in 2021.
• Currently 250+ members.
• Free weekly local gaming nights at Warwick Esports Centre reserved strictly for women and non-binary members.
• Participated in the Valorant Invitational.
• Participated in both NSE and NUEL League of Legends and Valorant.
• Caused a domino effect on women and non-binary individuals across the country, causing a massive increase of participation in the competitive scene and giving rise to a multitude of mixed teams.
• Positive feedback from members such as:
  “I probably wouldn’t have come out as non-binary for a long time without the Pack. It made me feel very accepted compared to a lot of other places.” - Rose, Member of the Pack.

Next year:

• Access to regular socials!
• The Pack Dinners
• Quiz night
• Nights out!
• Free weekly women and non-binary game nights.
• Women and non-binary competitive play and tournaments
• Access to Game Education
• Collaborations with the wider Esports society, including The Esports Ball

CS:GO - Dan "Shelf"

Past Year:

• Ran an internal 5v5 uni tournament + a wingman tournament with HyperX prizes.
• The warwick Esports centre hosted the Chillblast Championship 01 – a university tournament with a £1500 prize pool.
• We participate in the NUEL and NSE university leagues each term to high success. Our first team, the “Warwick Wrestling team”, reaching the finals twice.

Next year:

• We’re planning to run more a bunch more CS tournaments in the new year. Starting with a double jeopardy wingman + aim1v1 tournament in term one.
• We’re fully committed to supporting talented players and teams coming into the University leagues which run through the winter and spring terms, with team play video content and real time coaching to set you up best for success. If you’re interested in getting involved, you can ask on our discord or at our freshers events.

Socials and events:
Past year:

• In the past year, we have run a host of 10 mans, and some community games nights toward the end of the year, we also have casual teams that participate in NSE and NUEL for fun playing strat-roulette and whatnot.
• For the pro scene, we’ve hosted in person watch parties for the majors, fantasy leagues with prizes which we combine with “civilised” discussion within our discord server pro scene section.
• We also started running cross-server events within the Warwick Esports Society. Running a joint football event with League of Legends and a Casual FPS event with Valorant.

Next year:

• This year we’re focusing on making things even better for casual players. We’re bumping up to fortnightly community nights where we can come together to enjoy a less tryhard atmosphere.
• We’re revamping the fantasy league to be seasonal so you can accumulate points across multiple tier 1 CS events.
• We’re also going to be running more non-tournament events with Dodgeball and laser-tag planned for Term 1.
• Also look out for our CS2 events for when the game drops.

We recently launched our Instagram and Twitter accounts that will keep you in the loop about everything that’s going on so you don’t miss out. Twitter   Instagram

DOTA - Elliot "ElNinoElliot"

Past Year:

• Won all NSE tournaments, winter, spring and summer.
• Hosted inhouses and party games all year long.
• Hosted watchalongs for majors.

Next year:

• More party games.
• In-person watchalong for TI this October and Majors.
• More NSE fun.

League of Legends - Angie "Chonk"

In the past year:

• We've hosted many events both within the game itself and more casual experiences outside of the game. In addition to our weekly in houses for both League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics, two tournaments have been hosted for players of any skill level with prizes sponsored by HyperX and resulted in a huge turnout with 50+ players, even from external students.
• One key difference this past year is how post-COVID regulations have allowed for more in-person and casual events to better allow people to make connections outside of the screen. Some of these events have included: -League of Legends themed pub quiz nights -Watch parties for both Worlds and MSI -Campus Bingo, where teams have to accomplish as many challenges as possible within a time limit -Circle Nights -League themed events at the annual ESports LAN -Weekly board-games/alternative game night

For the next year

• Every autumn, we offer tryouts for teams of a wide range of skill levels in preparation for various student Esports competitions within the UK.
• Get in touch with us ASAP, as we are on the hunt for new blood that will be part of our winning teams.
• We will continue to host a combination of in-person events and online casual and competitive tournaments to further enhance the player experience and bring our community together.

Overwatch - Cai "KeyDog"

This past year:

• Recently we have been hosting PUGs every Wednesday. And this PUGs is different than others as you can earn SR and teams are balanced from your SR.
• Held several socials including a BBQ social and an End of year social
• We ran an overwatch all stars event with MMU called "Battle for the midlands" Where the best players from the north and south competed in a Bo7 show match. We wanted to showcase the talent at the Collegiate level of overwatch
• The First team came 1st in both NUEl/NSE in the winter cup and the second team had a top placement of 4th.

Next year:

• Host more in house tournaments.
• We have a coach named Kajor who is an excellent overwatch coach. I want all the teams to have at least one team session with him.
• Continuing running socials and PUGs

If interested in Kajor's youtube please click here
And if interested in the battle for midlands event, please click here

Valorant - Allan "Yro"

This past year

• Fresher’s week taster event
• Valorant Invitational tournament (Sponsored by Chillblast)
• CS x VAL FPS event
• Weekly 10 mans!
• NSE/NUEL tournament

Next year

• Maintaining the same as this past year.

Closing Message

As a final note we have a message from our President and Vice President.

“Hey there, new students of Warwick!

Welcome to our vibrant campus, where the adventure of a lifetime begins! We are thrilled to introduce you to a place that’s not just a university, but a hub of fun, diverse and endless excitement.

Get ready for an awesome time because Warwick Esports society is not just games; it’s making friends, having a blast, creating memories, forming valuable connections and taking a breather from those uni stressors.

We’ve got tons of socials and loads of opportunities to get involved if you’re looking to get some experience in management, tech, leadership and more!

Inclusivity is so important to us, so we have a safe space dedicated to women and non-binary members to make some new friends and learn new games.

Whether you’re a pro, casual player, or have never touched a video game before, we’ve got a place for you to shine!

So, gear up for an amazing journey full of new pals, epic gaming, and great times. Can’t wait to see you and we promise your journey here will be anything but boring!”

Your President and Vice President,

Issra and Niki.