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Lectures and Speakers

LTU Expo draws a big crowd for gaming

April 24, 2023

SOUTHFIELD–The LTU Expo Saturday showcased the talents of Lawrence Technological University’s game design programs as well as the region’s anime-graphic novel culture Saturday to an audience of more than 1,000.

There were whimsical costumed characters wandering the Southfield campus, a gamers’ vendor fair with more than 50 booths, a demonstration of LTU student-designed games, arcade and tabletop game rooms–as well as serious conversations about careers in gaming -and of the discrimination and harassment women still  face in the gaming world.

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A panel discussion on gaming careers found gamers and game design graduates in everything from TV meteorology to a geotechnical laboratory to coaching college Esports team — a rapidly growing form of competitive gaming that’s a new source of college scholarships for gamers.

Many Esports gamers have never been on a team before, LTU Esports coach Danielle Sirekis said. “The usable skill that we’re actually teaching is how to be a teammate,” Sirekis said, “If you decide to miss practice or not show up, you’re letting your teammates down–it affects more than just yourself, it affects your team. They are learning how to work as a team, and those are transferable skills.”

Soft skills like networking are also crucial gaming succcess, panelists said.

But women still face harrassment in the gaming world, where many of the games are macho combat exercises.

“I’ve had every nasty name thrown at me, so now I just laugh at it,” said Codi McPeek, an LTU student.

Said Jenna Savage, director of Esports operation at an organization called Gamers First: “I try to make my online presence as large as possible. I use my voice. I speak loud, and I say what I’m thinking. The more women and members of marginalized communities speak up in this industry, the more normal it will be, and the less harassment and toxicity you’ll see in gaming.”

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Michael Stevens, whose job at a Cadillac TV station combines being an on-air meteorologist and producing a podcast on the gaming world, was introduced to the LTU gaming program after he had Sirekis as a guest on his show. “I like to take college programs and show them to parents,” he said. “In Northern Michigan, video games are still considered a waste of time. I show parents that they aren’t.” Stevens said his station management thinks of the gaming podcast as a way to introduce a younger audience to local TV news, a format most young people ignore.

Steven Juncaj, a full-time student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and coach of the Detroit Catholic Central Esports team, also coaches a professional Esports team called 26 Rising, which is funded by Catholic Central alumni. He said he got into gaming becasue “I saw people who were making money playing Fortnite and I thought that was pretty interesting.”

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LTU offers both a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design with a concentration in game design, and a Bachelor of Science in computer science with a concentration in game software development. For more information, see https://www.ltu.edu/architecture-and-design/design/undergrad-game-design and https://www.ltu.edu/arts-sciences/mcs-archive/undergrad-computer-science-archive.

» Document Viewer

Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

  • What you will need to have and do
  • Download the mobile Zoom app (either App Store or Google Play)
  • Have your phone plugged in
  • Set up video stand phone holder

From Computer

Log in and start your Zoom session with participants

From Phone

  • Start the Zoom session on your phone app (suggest setting your phone to “Do not disturb” since your phone screen will be seen in Zoom)
  • Type in the Meeting ID and Join
  • Do not use phone audio option to avoid feedback
  • Select “share content” and “screen” to share your cell phone’s screen in your Zoom session
  • Select “start broadcast” from Zoom app. The home screen of your cell phone is now being shared with your participants.

To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

  • Open (swipe to switch apps) and select the camera app on your phone
  • Start in photo mode and aim the camera at whatever materials you would like to share
  • This is where you will have to position what you want to share to get the best view – but you will see ‘how you are doing’ in the main Zoom session.