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Cloudy with a few showers. High 57F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Evening clouds will give way to clearing overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 37F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: May 17, 2022 @ 3:42 pm
SUNY Canton undergraduate student Bryan Thompson is the founder and CEO of Ethical Esports, a gaming nonprofit that opened recently at the St. Lawrence Centre mall in Massena. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
Ethical Esports hash-tag -E4Everyone on a cinch backpack aims to raise awareness about ethical issues in the esports and gaming industries. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
Some of the funds received by Ethical Esports have created a free-access gaming lounge at the St. Lawrence Centre mall, designed to improve access to the esports and gaming experience. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
Reporter/Editor
SUNY Canton undergraduate student Bryan Thompson is the founder and CEO of Ethical Esports, a gaming nonprofit that opened recently at the St. Lawrence Centre mall in Massena. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
Ethical Esports hash-tag -E4Everyone on a cinch backpack aims to raise awareness about ethical issues in the esports and gaming industries. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
Some of the funds received by Ethical Esports have created a free-access gaming lounge at the St. Lawrence Centre mall, designed to improve access to the esports and gaming experience. Christopher Lenney/Watertown Daily Times
MASSENA — One of the newest tenants at the St. Lawrence Centre mall isn’t a business, but a nonprofit part of the world of esports.
Bryan Thompson, an undergraduate student working toward a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a specialization in esports management at SUNY Canton, is the founder and CEO of Ethical Esports Ltd., located next to the Maurice’s clothing store.
Mr. Thompson said that, during his studies, he discovered that the esports world had some “ethical flaws.”
“My first semester in college we learned about the ethical problems in esports,” he said. “So, when we started to study that, I started to see the big problems in the industry that I was going into because I studied esports management. I didn’t want to come out of college with these problems still being around. So, I started this as a nonprofit organization, where we start to advocate and bring awareness to the ethical problems.”
He said ethical problems include discrimination, cheating, hacking, people using racial or sexist slurs, and people “not being very inclusive to everyone in general.”
“Right now, it’s sitting as a male dominated field — about 92%. And about 90% of those males are Caucasians. So, we’re coming to the problem where there’s not enough diversity and it doesn’t really feel inclusive,” Mr. Thompson, a Potsdam Central School graduate, said. “That’s why we want to get into the conversation. Why do they feel like they can’t (be involved)? Is there an intimidation factor? Is there a part where they don’t need it or what’s going on there?” he said.
Mr. Thompson has been gaming since he was about 4 years old.
“I played on the original PlayStation. I played the first original Call of Duty. That kind of got me into the first-person shooters and then from there I competed a little bit at an amateur level. I competed for SUNY Canton my first semester,” he said.
Ethical Esports has been open for about three weeks now. It’s open from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday, noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday and noon to 7 p.m. Monday.
It was an idea Mr. Thompson had been thinking about for three months before making the move.
“I was working with another esports organization before that. I kind of liked the idea of being able to work and go to school at the same time,” he said.
St. Lawrence County has a bit of tradition fostering collegiate esports. SUNY Canton has been a trailblazer in collegiate gaming, and SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University both have club teams. Esports finished its second season this year as a varsity sport at St. Lawrence University.
According to an annual Global Esports Market Report issued in April by Newzoo, a market analytics company, esports revenue and popularity is continuing to rise. The global esports audience is projected to increase by 8.6% this year to 532 million people. Esports enthusiasts, who watch esports more than once a month, according to the report, will account for about 261 million of those people.
Esports will generate nearly $1.38 billion in revenue globally by the end of the year, the report says.
Now that he’s open, Mr. Thompson is focusing on giving visitors advice and helping with resume-building.
“I also want to help them with portfolio-building so they can get into the esports careers easier. I have a little bit of a take on resume- and portfolio-building myself. I have over 1,000 videos on YouTube. They all do generally well. I streamed on Twitch for about two years. I have a small following and made quite a bit of money off it,” he said.
He also plans to help people explore education options.
“People that I’ve been working with at SUNY Canton also want to create a high school esports program. This would be the perfect time to do it. We are actually planning on building a computer lab here with about 30 gaming PCs, which would easily accommodate them and it could be used an after-school program,” Mr. Thompson said.
He said he has seen an interest since opening his doors. The computers are running, and the gamers are signing in. Since he’s a nonprofit organization, Mr. Thompson has items that are available for a donation.
“It’s all donation-based. Completely charitable. It’s for the kids. This is all free of use, as well. We’ve already had a full house in here, 15 people,” he said.
He hopes to gain additional financial support from businesses in the area.
“The benefit of it is because we’re a nonprofit, they’ll get a tax deductible if they donate a certain percentage to us,” he said.
Some of those funds have created the free-access gaming lounge at the mall, allowing individuals to practice or enjoy the esports and gaming experience.
Youngsters are welcome.
“We have them sign a liability waiver. The parents have to be present when they sign the waiver. But, once they sign the waiver, they can drop their kids off,” Mr. Thompson said.
Hosting community events is one of his goals, to educate people on the economic benefits of esports, the types and severity of ethical issues that need to be resolved in the esports/gaming industry, and the future of esports.
“What we want to do here is when we build a computer lab, we’re going to be paying for the premium speeds, just like I have. And then we’re also going to be running it through a dedicated server, which would deploy the programs and take wear off of the hardware that is deploying to be able to run smoother, faster high-frame rates,” Mr. Thompson said.
“Other future events that we might want to do is I want to get my IT (information technology) guy up here and do a little computer-building workshop. If we can educate as much as we can, I feel like a lot of people will get on board. That’s a big part of it. That’s what New York state liked about our idea was educating people about future technology and, esports might become even bigger than traditional sports in the future,” he said.
Johnson Newspapers 7.1
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