A new type of club that involves punching, kicking and other forms of combat is coming to Bradley University. No, this is not Fight Club with Brad Pitt, but the Fighting Game Club, in which video-game lovers battle for victory.
The Fighting Game Club was recently approved by the Student Activities Office and will be sending out more information about meeting times and schedules in the future. The club has an idea about how they want to conduct each meeting, incorporating lessons and engaging fighting games.
Jakub Budzik, a junior advertising major and vice president of the Fighting Game Club, was surprised by the response from students about their interest when he sent out a survey to gauge campus interest.
Budzik expected to have roughly 10-15 responses from the survey, but found that 44 had been recorded.
“We decided, especially, with the new games coming out this year in the market, especially towards the fighting game community, there has been a lot more people who are interested in [games] like ‘Street Fighter,’ ‘Under Night In-Birth’ and ‘Tekken,’” Budzik said.
Some of the fighting games include ‘Street Fighter 5,’ ‘Tekken 7’ and ‘Dragonball FighterZ.’ More fighting games will be included as time goes on, according to Budzik.
Budzik said he wants the club to function as an introduction to fighting games, which he acknowledges can be intimidating.
“There is a lot of technicalities and terms of the competitive nature and casual nature a lot of stuff [can] cause a lot of stigma,” Budzik said. “We know that fighting games in terms of a lot of different places and organizations is more so competitive in nature, but … we want to take a little bit of a different approach to it.”
Jacob Roy, president of Fighting Game Club, said that a major part of the club is assisting others into the new community. Roy wants to ensure that all players at all skill levels have a chance to grow as they become acclimated with the club, incorporating lessons and guidance when needed.
“The fighting game community as a whole thrives not only because of the passion the players have for the games, but because of the relationships that are built in the process,” Roy, a junior management and leadership major, said. “We are looking to accomplish the same thing with the club; create enduring relationships that will keep our local community of players tight-knit and unbreakable.”
