This semester, Delta State University (DSU) is getting a gaming club. While the semester has only just begun, the president of the new-found club Victoria Jankowski, has around 100 people, teachers and students alike, interested in the club to petition towards it’s creation. 

With eight members, she quickly made headway to get all the paperwork in order after she found DSU English professor Dr. Steven Cowser as the club’s sponsor.

Another endeavor of Jankowski is her effort to not only create a Gaming Club here but to also help the local highschool in creating their own Gaming Club. She has connections through classes taken here at Delta State that allows her to have a valuable role in the creation of their Gaming Club as well as our own.

Goals for the club are to set up a permanent place of meeting and quickly set up to begin practicing. She says she also wants to make the club very approachable and enjoyable to any and everyone, making it “a space of relaxation” after a hard test or a place of friendly competition.

Not only will the gaming club play video games, they will also host card games, board games and campaigns of Dungeons and Dragons, along with a spin-off of Dungeons and Dragons, called Starfinder.  The meeting times for the Gaming Club will be every Wednesday school is open between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Eventually, Jankowski hopes to also work with the Delta State Library to create a section just for video game rentals, to allow students to try new games before having to buy the game.

The club will need several gaming computers, different consoles to allow members to play games and relax outside of the classroom, projectors to have a wide viewing area for each console and a few surge protectors to help protect the electronics from power surges and outages that could potentially harm their equipment. 

As of right now, the Gaming Club is still considering sponsorships to pay for these needs. To help kickstart the club, they also have a few fundraisers in mind. These ideas consist of campus-based escape rooms and different tournaments with entrance fees, like “Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.” 

Video Game-wise, Jankowski has had three servers for “Minecraft” created that any member will be able to join along with a Discord server that would allow connections to each member through the Internet outside of the club itself.

According to Jankowski, this club will be “an excellent source available on Delta State campus, allowing an untapped audience to find a place of belonging and community on such a wide-spread campus.”

In such a short time span, the club has had a successful takeoff that is quickly gaining momentum in a growthful direction. With the amount of support it has gained in the first weeks of school, the dreams of the club could quickly come to fruition.