The return of the Esports Association’s biggest event of the year brought new opportunities for club members and students to enjoy the company of the gaming community.
On March 9 from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., GG Beach 2024 was held on the first floor of the University Student Union building.
This was the first time in five years that the event was hosted on campus, as the previous iterations were held solely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the event, players from CSU Fullerton, UCLA, San Diego State, Long Beach Community College and UC Riverside faced off against Long Beach State’s players and Gold Team in a variety of games.
These games included “Call of Duty,” “League of Legends,” “Rocket League,” “Super Smash Brothers Ultimate,” “Overwatch 2” and “Valorant.” The final game, however, had both CSULB teams face off in an in-house match.
While each of these main ticket events were occurring, a Super Smash Bros. tournament took place down the hall, which decided which two players would face off against each other in the live crowd.
Adan Valenzuela, general manager of the Super Smash Bros. section of the Esports Association, said that 42 players from CSULB, Cal State Northridge and LBCC would face off against one another.
Although he was stressed about manually seeding players in the tournament, keeping the tournament timely and participating himself, Valenzuela said the effort he put into the tournament was worth it and created really interesting gameplay.
“Someone beat our expected No.1 player. So that’s kind of, honestly, a pretty big upset. I’m pretty happy to see that, upsets are pretty cool,” Valenzuela said.
Upsets were the main results of all the games played throughout the day, as CSULB was unable to win out against any opposing universities.
Even with losses, students continued to smile, laugh and cheer throughout the day.
Two gaming industry panels were held in the seating area outside of the Esports Lounge. These panels focused on experiences with playing for competitive gaming, managing competitive gaming teams and working in the gaming industry for computer or video game development companies.
Some panelists included Team WaR owner Kevin Pichardo, professional esports player Emmalee Garrido and Ryan Cousart and Jo-Ellen Aragon, who both work for Riot Games, the development company behind “League of Legends” and “Valorant.”
The Esports Association also hosted an artist alley, where students and sponsors of the event were able to sell goods such as keyboards, drawings and small plushies.
Leyna Nguyen, a first-year art major at CSULB, focused her booth limayunz on art based on video game characters and streamers. Nguyen was able to connect them with the emotions and hyperfixations she was feeling at the time, creating a dark, dramatic and introspective style.
“I hope in my art, I want to show a side that’s relatable. And when you look at my art, I kind of want it to feel like ‘oh my god, that hits me in the feels’ or something,” Nguyen said.
While only starting to table at events six months ago, Nguyen hopes to learn more about selling and creating art at CSULB, creating connections and experiences from others around her and having more eyes on her creations.
“At this event, since it’s more geared towards esports, I feel like people are more willing to look at my original work as opposed to anime conventions where the main sellers are like fan art, or big fan bases,” Nguyen said.
One of the biggest changes made this year was the ability to livestream the event from campus on the association’s official Twitch channel. Not only were they able to livestream the gameplay to those who could not make it to the event, but the group was also able to have two live broadcasters on camera provide commentary during the competition.
However, it wouldn’t be a true broadcast without technical difficulties, one of the biggest taking place during the “Call of Duty” match. Some of these difficulties included displaying players on the wrong teams and laggy gameplay on stream, as players had to deal with glitches within the game itself.
Even with these setbacks, Esports Association President Alyx Nguyen and their team continued to push forward with the broadcasts, fixing what they could during breaks and dealing with the punches as they came.
“I’m in the state of like, just keep going. I’m sure it’ll all hit me afterwards, but the emotion and the ambiance of this environment is keeping me very hyped,” Alyx Nguyen said.
Nguyen says GG Beach was the best thing that they were able to complete in their career at CSULB.
“Everybody seems to be happy, enjoying themselves. So I’m very, very happy to give them that opportunity,” Alyx Nguyen said. “Especially for the players who maybe haven’t played a LAN [event] yet. I’m glad that we’re catering to so many different demographics at this event.”
Although they are graduating this semester, Alyx Nguyen hopes that this experience helps next year’s esports executive board run the event.
“I have no doubt in my mind that the future of esports at Long Beach is going to be great,” Alyx Nguyen said.
For those that wish to view the gaming portion of the event, there is a 12-hour recording available on the CSULB Esports Twitch Channel.