By: Brandon Meiners, MTA Esports Coordinator
On May 1, MTA Gaming successfully hosted the Virtual Victory esports tournament, its first official event under its new brand. Bringing Alaskans together to duke it out over Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the event helped build connections and support our community during what is a difficult and isolated time for many.
With nearly 40 gamers participating, a live Twitch stream and play-by-play commentary, and a total of $300 up for grabs among the top three winners, Virtual Victory lasted nearly six hours. The event was a great success and set the tone for future MTA Gaming events, both digital and in-person.
Giving Back Beyond the Screen
Successful on the screens, the Virtual Victory tournament was a win for our community, too. In total, the tournament raised $2,000 for both Wasilla Area Seniors, Inc. and the Mat-Su Seniors Center, helping the latter continue delivering food to seniors through its Meals on Wheels program.
MTA Gaming works in two ways: uniting our community through a shared activity and giving back to our community members. And in our current situation, many of our older residents are vulnerable, in need of support and connection. Adapting the model of our esports programming means we can better help meet their needs.
Integrating esports into older adults’ lives isn’t always a seamless transition, but many older adults in our community are technologically adept or curious to learn more. Even for those who aren’t, their needs are still important. Evolving MTA Gaming tournaments into an engine to drive donations back into the community also helps us bridge the tournament’s impact for Alaska’s gaming community with a meaningful impact for all of the surrounding residents of the Mat-Su Valley.
The success of this tournament and being able to give back so much to our community as a result illustrate an important point: technology enables and powers connections between people in many dimensions. We’ve seen this over and over again through our constant collaboration and relationship building with local businesses, our esports partnership with the Mat-Su Borough School District and hosting Alaska’s largest esports tournament for the gaming community.
We are excited to keep planning and growing our Virtual Victory esports series with more tournaments and more contributions to help the community. For more details on MTA Gaming and future events, stay up to date at https://www.mtasolutions.com/esports/.