A Fantastic Journey Through the History of Esports
With specific research goals but otherwise open to anything, Matt Knutson, an assistant professor with a research focus on esports at the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, arrived at Hochschule Offenburg at the end of May. Upon his departure, he described his Fulbright fellowship—a one-month stint as a visiting scholar at the university’s School of Media—as a success and a “fantastic experience.”
The Prorector for Internationalization, Prof. Dr. Tobias Hagen; the Director of the International Center, Dr. Alexander Burdumy; and the Dean of the Virtuelle Welten und Game Technologies program, Prof. Dr. Daniel Görlich, had given the visiting guest a warm welcome. After a brief introduction to Hochschule Offenburg and the European university alliance ChallengeEU, Matt Knutson provided insight into his field of research. He then got right to work. He advised university officials on expanding the e-sports program and offered intensive courses for students. “At Hochschule Offenburg, a University of Applied Sciences, a great deal of emphasis is placed on research and project work. I like that. On top of that, there’s a wonderful, family-like atmosphere. Everyone is incredibly hospitable, and on campus you keep running into many students and staff members,” the American noted. This creates a different kind of closeness than at his home university, which has around 16,000 students. And so Knutson also actively participated in campus life. Among other things, he organized an esports tournament for the university community and another one during Open Campus for all visitors.
In addition, the visiting scholar gave a public lecture in English on the topic “250 Years of Competition in the U.S.” In it, he outlined the development of competitive play—from the recreational pastimes of indigenous peoples, through programs designed to keep soldiers fit, and the emergence of baseball and basketball, all the way to the first video games and today’s esports. For some in the audience, this revealed a surprising fact: One of the cradles of esports was in Germany—the “Atari VCS Bundesliga” of 1982 was the world’s first, albeit still unofficial, esports league.
And so Matt Knutson also used his Fulbright fellowship at Hochschule Offenburg to specialize in his research on the earliest pioneers of esports. “Daniel Görlich and his students will support me in this going forward,” he announced before his return trip. The project involves interviewing former participants, building an archive, verifying the accuracy of translations, and understanding the cultural context. “A Memorandum of Understanding has been drafted that will institutionalize the exchange between the two Universities,” added Daniel Görlich. A brief detour to the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) in Cologne rounded out Matt Knutson’s program.
Fulbright Germany
The German-American Fulbright Commission (Fulbright Germany) facilitates academic exchange between the U.S. and Germany. Each year, it awards up to 700 scholarships for study, research, teaching, and professional development stays in the U.S. and Germany, thereby actively promoting transatlantic dialogue. Esports expert Matt Knutson was only the second Fulbright Specialist—after radio producer, sound designer, and storyteller Jim Metzner in 2017—to come to Hochschule Offenburg through the Fulbright Germany exchange program. Conversely, since the 1987–88 academic year, 26 members of the Hochschule Offenburg (22 students, two staff members from Career Service/International Office, and two members of the university administration) have gone to the U.S. through Fulbright Germany.
