Located in Southwest Village, the Mizzou Gaming Lounge was designed to cater to the gamers among students at MU —while students can enjoy many games there, their options are rather limited. 

To start, let me just say that I consider myself to be a gamer. I love video games in every capacity, from chaotic multiplayer brawls to emotionally engaging single-player journeys. I have a deep respect for the medium, and I was excited to hear that MU would have a place on campus specifically designed for gamers like me. 

Sadly, the gaming lounge turned out to be less than what I was expecting. When you enter the space, there are several rows of desks supporting gaming PCs. These computers come preloaded with several games, including Fortnite, Apex Legends, and League of Legends and each station includes dedicated gaming mice, keyboards and headphones.

This marks the first issue I have with the gaming lounge: it’s geared towards competitive PC gaming, and does not facilitate much else. There is no option to use a gaming controller, such as those used for PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which means that people who play primarily on consoles would need to learn a new set of controls to play their favorite games. 

The second issue is that all of the games are online games. The games available are designed to be played with multiple players, so anyone looking for a solo experience, besides playing against bots, will have to go elsewhere.

The range of gaming genres on display is limited as well. Most of the games offered were multiplayer shooters such as Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with some outliers such as competitive card-battler Hearthstone and racing-soccer hybrid Rocket League. One thing that I noticed is that all of these games have prominent esports leagues associated with them, such as League of Legends’ World Championship or Overwatch’s Overwatch League. But besides that, there’s nothing for players who might prefer other kinds of games, such as fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter or strategy games like Civilization and Age of Empires.

The limitations continue in the games themselves as well. I tried to log in to several games during my time in the gaming lounge, only to be prompted to sign in with various different accounts before I could continue. Luckily, I already had accounts for some of the games, but this could deter newer players who don’t want to go to the trouble of setting up several new accounts just so they can play with their friends.

Besides the competitive PC games, there isn’t much else in the gaming lounge. There’s an area off to the side with a couple of TVs with predetermined channels, as well as some couches and a table with some classic board games like Ticket to Ride, Connect 4 and Settlers of Catan. 

In brief, Mizzou’s Gaming and Esports Lounge is perfect if you’re into competitive online multiplayer PC games. Any experienced player is sure to have fun with their choice of game in that environment, and it’s easy to meet up with friends for a group game. However, if you’re more inclined towards single-player games, or prefer to play on a console, you’re better off bringing your personal system from home. 

Edited by Tierney Kugel

Copy edited by Grace Knight and Natalie Kientzy