Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, many of UTD’s beloved traditions have had to have been placed on the backburner, including the famous Oozeball tradition. However, the UT Dallas Esports team came up with a new and ingenious event to replace that, giving birth to the UTD Game Glow event! Two principal members of the team behind Game Glow event, Kelsi Tresko and Hector Mavrakis have come forward to provide us with an amazing behind the scenes interview on how Game Glow came to be and why it was so successful.

  1. Can you explain the history behind UTD’s Oozeball traditions?

I got to participate in Oozeball last year with our UTD Esports team and it was super fun. The event is an annual UTD charity event held on campus with fun games like muddy volleyball!

2. How did you coordinate things between you and the SEF?

Esports had the help of Student Ambassadors for all help with the Student Emergency Fund, but thanks to our sponsors, we were able to surpass our goal!

3. What factors made you choose the games that you eventually came to decide upon?

Our team went back and forth on several different games but decided on Skribbl.io and Jtris.io for casual play because of the quality servers and ability to host multiple games. Krunker.io happened to be one of the more competitive style games that is fun to watch and like the rest of the games, easy to access, and free to play.

4. What other virtual events can we expect from esports? Is there a possibility that this can lead to more events in the same vein?

The UTD Esports team actually hosts weekly events in our local Discord server already but we are definitely looking to collaborate and do even bigger events in the future.

5. Would you declare this event a success?

Game Glow was definitely a success thanks to the UTD Esports student staff, and there are stats posted on Linkedin as well as our Twitter page.

6. How much interaction and coordination was there between the alumni and the students?

The majority of participants attending and competing were current UT Dallas students, but we did have a handful of alumni that played alongside students. The aim of Game Glow was to have all students and alumni able to compete together and enjoy playing games.

7. How has this event impacted you and what can you take away from it?

Game Glow was definitely a beast of an event, and our team worked so hard putting it together. Being virtual this semester has pushed us in many different ways, but I’m glad we were able to come together and create something for everyone to enjoy.

8. If you could improve one thing about this event, what would you choose?

Our event ran smoothly until we got to the competitive round where things got a little tricky, in the future I think we will need to plan out better timing and bracket execution but otherwise I think we did great!

9. Did everyone who worked on this project, players and spectators included, enjoy the time they spent?

I believe we all had an amazing time, putting together the event, hosting it, and getting to interact with our fellow students again. Not to mention all the giveaways so yes, we enjoyed ourselves, besides craving TacoBell which was one of the sponsors, when it was all said and done.

10. What advice do you have to give to other student groups and university departments on campus in regards to hosting a successful event?

Be prepared, and even when you think you have everything, check again. Stay positive through the process, and remember why you are hosting the event! It will always be successful if you and your team have a good time.

As a personal attendee of Game Glow, I can say without a doubt that I had an amazing time, and I can’t wait for the next event. If you’re interested in more events like Game Glow, please join the UT Dallas Esports Discord at: https://discord.gg/utdesports.