Two recent ASU graduates are making a way for video gamers across the country to compete online for cash prizes.
ASU business communication students Tyler Francois, who graduated in May, and Evan Emil, who graduated in December 2009, are launching Gamers Gridiron this week to give gamers a chance to rank themselves nationally and win money where it is allowed.
The website establishes a network for gamers to put their skills to the test by wagering real money on games like “Madden NFL 2011,” “Halo Reach” and other popular titles.
The site supports games for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii systems, with more being added soon. It also allows gamers to compete on certain PC games.
Emil said the exchanges on the site do not qualify as gambling. Instead they are classified as “skill-based gaming.” This classification comes with fewer legal restrictions, but still prohibits them from awarding prizes to residents of 14 states, including Arizona, that have adopted legislation preventing wagers on skill-based gaming.
Though this means many ASU students will not be able to make money off the site, they will still be able to join and play with other players at their skill level, as long as money is not involved, Francois said.
The site began accepting users for free play in September, and will host the first competitions for cash prizes as early as Wednesday, Emil said. It is still free to register for the site.
Emil said that though he did not play video games much, his roommates were avid players. The inspiration for the company came from watching them intensely compete in online games.
“I saw how competitive it was,” Emil said. “I thought, ‘If there were some kind of program where we could wager real money online, it could change the whole industry.’”
The site’s design only allows players to make wagers after they have deposited money to their accounts on the site, Emil said.
Francois said the site would make most of its money from service fees based on the initial amount of the wager, which he compared to the fees charged by casinos. He added that the fees will also aid in trying to avoid an excessive amount of ads on the site.
After service fees are charged, the money from all competitors is put into an escrow account. The sum is transferred to the winner’s account after play has completed. This is to protect the security of the transactions, he added.
Francois said protection of the player also extends to participants who lose Internet connection mid-game after making a wager. The site gives several options that allow players to resume or restart the game if connection is lost.
In order to verify winners, Francois said, 95 percent of the games supported on the site have an “instant score” option that updates the score to the website’s server, and can issue payouts to the user’s account on the website within minutes.
For the games that do not feature the instant score option, players can upload photos or screenshots that show the outcome of the game, which will be reviewed by the site in order to help establish a winner.
Gamers on the site start with a certain rating that fluctuates based on their in-game performance. The site tracks user comments and detailed stats about games, so players can get a better idea of their opponent’s skill level.
“You can really see how good the gamer is,” Francois said.
Journalism sophomore Brian Bishop, an avid gamer, said this ability to connect with gamers of an equal skill level, no matter where they are, is a great tool for a gamer to have.
“Finding gamers to accurately fit a specific skill level is a very difficult task,” Bishop said.
Bishop added that sometimes a gamer may not even know his own skill, but the site could help find a realistic gauge of just how talented a gamer is.
“The site could eventually make itself out to become a gaming litmus test,” Bishop said.
Reach the reporter at michael.reppenhagen@asu.edu
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