Arturo Bustamante said gaming has shaped his UF experience.
Bustamante, a UF computer science junior, is a member of UF’s Gator Gaming, an organization that promotes gaming for its community-building and network-enriching environment. Gator Gaming will be hosting GatorLAN, the largest free-gaming event in Florida, on April 18.
Gator Gaming regularly hosts public gaming tents and tournaments where students play video games in a free social setting. GatorLAN will host 10 to 15 games in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom from noon to midnight.
Bustamante, 20, spends more than four hours a week playing video games, which is how he met most of his friend circle.
“It’s actually helped me with getting through school,” he said.
Bustamante goes by the tag “Martakia.” Gamers use tags as a brand or nickname, which is how they often introduce themselves to others at tournaments.
J.J. Torres, a UF English sophomore, said he got hooked on video games as a child playing with his cousins. He likes that he gets to continue with the gaming community in college.
At a tabling event on Turlington Plaza last week, Torres, 20, played “Super Smash Bros.” with members and passersby on two TV monitors and a projector.
Members also volunteer at UF Health Shands Hospital and play video games with the children.
“You get to meet so many people from so many different walks of life,” Torres said.
Bustamante said the culture behind gaming isn’t just about the games themselves.
“It brings people together,” he said, “and it connects them into something that’s common ground for them.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 4/7/2015 under the headline “Gaming group a haven for students”]
Jacob Goodling (left), a 20-year-old UF mathematics sophomore, competes against Esaias “Leaf” Delfin, 18, in a Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament at GatorLAN on Saturday.
