In a time where we are encouraged to stay distant from friends and loved ones, it can be daunting for people to find ways to stay connected. That’s where the Video Game Club comes in.

The club is actually relatively new — presidents Naythan Delgado ‘21 and TJ Emmerman ‘21 said that the club was started in 2015 by two students “who had aspirations to remove the stigma around video games while also hoping to develop a competitive gaming scene here at Bates.” The presidents said they want to provide students “a safe and fun environment at Bates where people can find other gamers to enjoy video games.”

They do their best to have new titles, specifically party games which allow for multiple players to join and interact remotely. Consoles are also available for the Bates community to use. Though the year has posed a challenge for collaboration with other clubs, the Video Game Club has a history of doing shared events with the Discordians, Bates’ “community-oriented ‘gaming and gathering’ club.” Delgado and Emmerman shared that they frequently loan gaming resources to many different clubs, and will continue to do so this year.

Their biggest goal is “to help get as many people through this school year with their sanity as possible.” In the meantime, they hope to raise “triple digits during Extra Life.” Extra Life is an event hosted by Twitch, a popular streaming platform. The event benefits more than 150 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals that have needed assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The presidents said the “event is one of the best ways we gamers can help those less fortunate than us.” The club’s stream will run for 24 hours and they hope it will be fun for viewers and players. They want to assure interested students that if you play or just watch the event you do not have to stay up too late.  

The Video Game Club meets every Friday at 9pm EST on a Discord server, a chat, and a video service platform that is primarily used by gamers. They also hope to hold more events on their Minecraft server.  

Though the spring semester seems so far away, they look forward to continuing their initiative of reaching out to the Lewiston schools in order to give kids the ability to access some of their resources as well. 

New faces (and voices) are always welcome to the club. If you are interested in joining the club, participating in the Extra Life event, or want your club to collaborate with VGC, either go to their Discord server or contact Delgado at [email protected].