LEMONT FURNACE, Pa. — At Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, there are a variety of student clubs, and one of the largest and most active, with 20 members, is the Lions Gaming League.
The Lions Gaming League meets formally once a week, but its members compete almost daily — usually on the club’s four Alienware computers. Although most of them play video games, club president Josie Byers said others play board games and/or card games in the student lounge at common hour.
About once a month, the league hosts tournaments that are open to the community. This semester, players competed in "Wii Sports," "Super Smash Bros." and "Mario Kart." The winners left with such prizes as STEAM gift cards and handmade plush toys.
The league also has organized non-competitive events, including movie showings and a guest speaker who designs video games. The gamers took first place in this semester’s food drive competition among Fayette’s student clubs, perhaps due in part to its members’ competitive nature.
Though the Lions Gaming League exists primarily to play games, it has brought other, unexpected benefits to members, according to Dan Bowler, who in 2012 founded this club for gamers of all types. Knowing the passion people have for gaming, Bowler said he was not surprised by the club’s instant popularity; however, he did not expect it would help to bring people out of their shells.
“We had a few members who were very shy,” said Bowler, “but by the end of the club’s second semester, they were the most talkative bunch!”
A current member, Samuel Fragello, gets more out of the club than just the sheer enjoyment of playing games. “The Lions Gaming League is an organization that has helped me adjust to college at Penn State Fayette more easily,” said the first-year computer science major from Belle Vernon. “It has provided multiple activities and events for me to participate in, and I feel like a real member of the campus because of it.”