There has always been a divide between casual and competitive gamers, but Mustangs Unified Gamers aims to change that.  The new organization was created with the idea of an open environment for casual, competitive, and even non-gamers to all thrive and have fun together.

Founder of MUG, art senior Isaiah Edwards, said that the intention behind the organization was to help bring people together.

“We didn’t have a community for it here,” Edwards said. “With the growth of video games over the last few years, I felt like there needed to be something for gamers.”

Edwards initial expectations for the group were pretty close, but reality and his continued expectations of growth haven’t been the same.

“It was pretty close to what I expected it to be at the start,” Edwards said. “Some people would come to every meeting, and some would kind of just come in once or twice and then not come back.  We did end the semester with seven members.”

One of the first to join the organization was biology sophomore, Daniel Torres.

“I started going to meetings before the organization was completely official, and for a while it was mainly just me, Isaiah, and John,” Torres said. “I expect it to continue to grow, but I can’t really say how fast.”

Edwards explained further on the long-term intentions with the organization, bringing an environment where anyone can thrive.

“Having both casual and competitive members is the ultimate end goal,” Edwards said.  “There would be like casual days, where everyone is pretty welcome, and then there would be competitive days, where it’s mostly practice and getting better as a team or individual, depending on what it is.”

Torres said competition builds character.

Chad Callender, math freshman, said he doesn’t consider himself much of a gamer, but decided to join the group anyway.

“I do setups for events, and the president, Isaiah, came in while I was setting up. He talked me into playing a little bit,” Callender said.

Being a gamer isn’t the important thing for this organization.  It’s the people.

“I’m not really a gamer, so I asked myself ‘why did I even join?’ But the people are really cool and chill.  I might even become a gamer, who knows,” Callender said.

“There’s a sense of camaraderie, and everyone is there for a good time,” Torres said. “Doing anything is more fun with friends.”

And for now, they keep it casual.

“Right now, we pretty much just play party games and Smash (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate),” Edwards said. “We do also tend to stick with Nintendo, because it’s the ‘family’ console.”

“We’re just united and playing video games. It’s fun,” Torres said.