If all dogs go to heaven, where do the gamers go? Apparently, the University of Tennessee’s Student Union ballroom. From April 11th to April 13th, UTK’s own Esports Club, a group that describes themselves as “inclusive for gamers of all types,” hosted their annual tournament-to-end-all-tournaments.
A Local Area Network tournament (or LAN) means that rather than hosting games online, where different players can have different pings and speeds, all players are in the same place playing on the exact same internet. LAN tournaments guarantee that the only thing keeping you from first place is your own skill.
The Esports club takes over the Student Union Pilot Ballroom every year in the Spring to introduce not one, not two, but multiple tournaments across different genres of games. This year, Volan boasts hosting tournaments with competitive games such as Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch 2, and various generations of Super Smash Bros as well as convention partner Knox Esports hosting Rocket League tournaments over at their N Peters Rd location that was streamed live on Twitch.
Although Volan technically lasts three days, the true main event took place on April 12th, where the Pilot Ballroom was open from 8am to midnight and filled to the brim with revelry. Not only were there gamers and professional esports players from all over the state and more, there were also local vendors and multiple UTK resource offices tabling with both free and paid merch galore.
I was lucky enough to make it to the convention during the height of the main event, where I walked into a true ‘sweaty’ gamer lobby turned real life. Rows and rows of tables greeted me, all covered with attendees’ personal gaming computers. Five-stacks were locked and loaded to queue into their matches, while multiple overhead projectors displayed the games live for all spectators.
As I wandered around the convention and tried not to distract any esports athletes, I was lucky enough to meet a few characters. Although most attendees were dressed in standard fare or their own esports club’s jersey, a few decided to leave a lasting impression.
Volan attendee cosplays as Jett from popular FPS game Valorant
Volan’s tournaments seemed to attract all types of people, including students from different universities spanning both in-state and out-of-state. Although I was unable to track definitively, I spotted teams from Tennessee Tech University, Western Kentucky University, and many more.
For those of us who aren’t D1 esports athletes, there were many friendly tournaments to participate in. Although a few required a small pay-in with a large pot to win, many were free and accessible to all. All games were open to free-play with players of all levels throughout the event.
Volan also offered a lecture series over the course of events, with different talks about video games and their importance to culture, education, and careers. These lectures were given by people from all walks of life, with one hailing from UTK’s own Haslam College of Business.
Although this event would have been largely unmanageable for most groups, our very own Esports club managed to execute it well with the help of a few sponsors. The club specifically shouts out VisitKnoxville, Arista Networks, MSI, Coca-Cola and Monster Energy Drink, McDonald’s, and Scruffy City Fighting Game Club (FGC).
All in all, Volan was an exciting event that demonstrated the reach of video games in the modern era. Gaming truly means anything, from MarioKart all the way up to Counter-Strike. With activities for all and multiple streams, there is truly something for everyone to do at Volan. Hats off to our very own Esports club for yet another successful Volan. I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I can’t wait to see what they do next year.
