FCAD launches The Conduit, a research lab for gaming and esports

FCAD is fully embracing the world of esports with the creation of The Conduit (external link) , a new research lab focused on video games and esports which aims to help legitimize video games and esports industries through academic and creative work. 

Currently in the planning phase of development, the Conduit will focus on examining esports, video games, and broadcasting and the ways they intersect with education. The new laboratory will be home to new research projects and partnerships that seek to bolster the industry via academic publication and creative content.

In a broad sense, the lab is tasked with promoting esports and video games. The project is led by Dr. Kristopher Alexander, director of research at the Conduit and RTA School of Media associate professor, and Geoffrey Lachapelle (external link) , director of operations at the Conduit and contract lecturer in esports production. Both are former top-tier competitive gamers who have since shifted their focus to discovering the broader applications of video games and esports through research, operational development, government advocacy, and content production.

For the uninitiated, esports, short for “electronic sports,” is a form of competition using video games. Already a surging industry, esports itself has exploded in popularity over the past year as global video game sales skyrocketed to nearly $180 billion in 2020, up more than 20% year over year. Put another way, the gaming industry is worth more than movies and North American sports combined.

The launch of The Conduit marks a milestone at Ryerson as the first, permanent on-campus endeavour dedicated to promoting esports research and development. As part of the ecosystem it's building, The Conduit is partnering with Red Bull on a new gaming lab (external link)  that will act as the front-facing arm of The Conduit and foster Ryerson's burgeoning esports teams and video game-focused education. It will be a space for The Conduit to survey and conduct research, for varsity and intramural events to take place, and for gaming-oriented sponsors like Red Bull to create student-facing events.

As such, the Red Bull Gaming Lab (a placeholder name that will soon change) will be the new home for competitive and varsity esports teams on campus, featuring top-of-the-line PCs along with all the necessary equipment for esports teams to compete. Eventually, the lab is also likely to be made available for educational purposes, such as a classroom or to facilitate research in action.

The Red Bull Gaming Lab will be the first of the two labs to be constructed and its doors are set to open September 2021. However, there’s a significant possibility pandemic-related delays will alter the timeline. The Conduit lab is still in the planning process. 

While the Conduit lab and the Red Bull Gaming Lab will be two separate entities, they will be connected cooperatively and collaboratively; The gaming lab will produce research data and be the home for esports competition on campus, while the Conduit will use data gleaned from the gaming lab to conduct its research and facilitate projects. 

The Red Bull Gaming Lab will likely be located in the former RCC229 Computer Lab; the location of The Conduit lab has to be formally announced.

Scaling up for success

Alexander and Lachapelle are no strangers to scaling esports research and development on university campuses. They both worked together to coordinate, promote, and develop an esports lab at both Humber College and Durham College, respectively.

Ryerson’s approach to esports gaming builds on these concepts and adds a new, unique twist thanks to the nature of the relationship with Red Bull.

“What sets us apart is the skill set, talent, and insight Red Bull brings as a brand. To my knowledge, this is the first esports space that’s sponsored by a major endemic brand,” said Lachapelle. “We’ll be able to create more opportunities and events at the space and at the school in general via Red Bull, compared to what’s previously been available at a lot of schools.”

Lachapelle says Ryerson isn’t content simply entering the realm of esports; The Conduit has challenged itself to work doubly hard to be a leader in the space. “Our relationship with Red Bull, as well as with our partner, Inven Global, brings a lot of insight that will help us be a leader long term,” said Lachapelle.

Eliminating stigma & securing opportunity

If creating two new labs to facilitate new avenues of research at Ryerson wasn’t ambitious enough, the duo is also tasked with promoting esports as a significant relevant and timely avenue of study.

Despite its stratospheric rise in popularity over the past decade (and this past year in particular), some view esports and esports research as unworthy of attention or funding. Of course, esports and gaming is a whole lot more than simply playing Fortnite with friends. It is a massive realm of industries from game designers and developers to marketers, content producers, video editors, and more.

Lachapelle likens it to the course he teachers at Ryerson called ‘esports production.’ The course provides students with a host of media skills like quick-turn-around video editing that can be used to create content for Twitch or YouTube.   

“When we teach esports production we’re really teaching new media production because the skill sets overlap completely,” said Lachapelle.

For Alexander, it’s about creating a connection between a student’s interest in games and how it can be applied in practice. “The Conduit specifically explores the link between the games that students love and play, connecting to their chosen school discipline, as it relates to jobs in video games and esports industries,” he said, “This is done via academic publications, and creative content production.”

Lachapelle and Alexander are thrilled with the growing legitimacy of video games and esports, which lends itself directly to industry careers and underscores the need for education streams in its pursuit.

‘We don’t teach basket weaving anymore because there is no commercial value in that skill, it’s not a highly tradable skill. We can see today that esports is a tradable skill, I think that completely changes the game with respect to perceptions of the industry,” said Lachapelle.

Both Lachapelle and Alexander are thrilled to be able to open up the discourse on what video games can truly bring to education, and what education can do for video games and esports.

"We're so excited to see this positive forward movement in the direction of esports," said Alexander.

Lachapelle and Alexander encourage students to reach out if they have a serious interest in elevating the discussion on esports at Ryerson via glachape@torontomu.ca.

FCAD at Ryerson University

Entering its eighth decade, FCAD is a global centre of media and creative invention. As a disrupter in innovative education, FCAD is dedicated to developing creators with authentic voices who engage directly with creative industries around the world.

With 23 undergraduate and graduate programs that are shaping the future of their fields and tight-knit partnerships around the world, FCAD offers more opportunities to educate the next generation of creative leaders than anywhere else.