Athletes devote a lot of time to the sports they play, training to be the best they can on the field or rink. Ensuring they are adequately fueling their body, resting, and exercising. But now we are also seeing this level of dedication from gamers as Fanshawe continues to expand its Esports community.

“You do have to have a lot of skills and a lot of things going on that you would need for traditional sports. Like hand eye has to be insanely fast,” said Tyler Hetherington, Fanshawe's Esports coordinator.

This new world of gaming has opened the doors for many people to change the traditional image of what a “gamer” is.

“The image of what a gamer is isn't what it used to be, it used to be someone who kind of looks like me, drinking Red Bull all night till 4 a.m. and gaming all night and kind of being a recluse, a loser, and that's not what a gamer is anymore,” Hetherington said.

Esports has transformed from a niche hobby to a serious method of competition, earning itself full professional leagues at colleges and universities across the globe. Gamers who compete in these leagues follow workout regimens, have a sleep schedule, and even have coaches who help train them and support their mental health.

“The cool thing is it allows us to play schools we otherwise never would have the chance to play, like we have played against Harvard in chess,” shared Hetherington

One of the biggest changes this world has brought to the table is inclusivity, with a new team known as the Game Changers (GC) being introduced, a league created specifically for marginalized identifying genders.

“I am non-binary myself, and the GC community has been one of my main supports in being comfortable with that,” shared Adam Boyce, an Esports player who has had the opportunity to play in the game changers community.

Game Changers is an initiative from Riot Games and is intended to be a safe space for people of marginalized genders such as female, non-binary, or gender-fluid identifying people.

“We have been wanting to host a Game Changers team for over a year now…but we lacked enough solid players to fully piece a team together. Ever since last year though we've been pushing for this and we finally got it off the ground,” added Boyce.

The goal of the Game Changers community is to create a safe space for these marginalized genders to play. For a long time, gaming has been a male-dominated activity which is why many value this new community.

“It's a marginalized gender empowerment type of league, a lot of females unfortunately have to deal with sexism through online gaming but that’s not going to happen in a GC league,” shared Hetherington.

The Game Changers league even had the opportunity to design their own separate logo (pictured) and jerseys to really solidify the safe community they built.