The Esports Wrap

For this project, we (Kevin Artiles Fernandez and Caleb Howard) co-hosted a podcast called Esports Wrap. We recorded our podcast during the inaugural Nebraska Esports Media day for local high schools, hosted by the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We sat down and spoke with four different esports teams at the event: Omaha Central, Omaha Westside, Lincoln East, and two Nebraska Esports players. We had 15 minutes to speak with each of the four teams, where the two of us had them introduce themselves to start. Each coach and player was asked a multitude of questions ranging from how they got into esports, how they balance school and esports and how they even handle tilt. We asked them other questions, specifically about what games they played or enjoyed the most to play. The players talked about games in general and about each other, all being close friends. Each of the high school teams had a coach with them as well. The coaches talked more about the funding they needed and the outdated current equipment they were using. Most of the coaches had no previous esports experience and started the team because the team either needed a coach or they were somewhat interested in gaming or the world of esports, so they started the programs at their respective schools. Outside of the Nebraska Esports players we talked to, the other teams each brought around 9 members to the podcast room where we did our recordings. There were only four microphones for the team members, so most of the talking came from only a handful of members of each team due to them being the most outspoken compared to the rest of the members of their teams. Overall, the talks with each team went smoothly, and we were able to steer the conversations based on the responses they had given us.