The University of Warwick revealed as the best university for gaming in the UK

Gaming is viewed as a way for students to socialise and connect with others when away at university. As many may struggle to make true friends at university, playing video games helps students to broaden their friend circle due to the large number of young people that play video games.

Uswitch broadband experts set out to find what was the best university for gamers in terms of social opportunities. To do this they found the total number of associated gamers at universities across the UK by totalling up discord server members, Twitter followers from the gaming society and active eSports gamers from National Students Esports (NSE) for each university.

The University of Warwick came out on top in the findings as they were revealed to have 4282 total associated gamers at the university. They have the most Twitter followers out of any university on the list with 1435 followers and the most active eSports players with 488.

However, despite being first overall with the highest total amount associated gamers, the University of Warwick is the third highest in terms of discord members as University College London (UCL) has the most members with 2964 and Imperial College London has 2461. The University of Warwick is not too far behind with 2359 members.

The University of Warwick was ranked second worldwide for the Esports collegiate Program of the year. This was off the back of a specialised eSports research centre and competition venue being built on the campus in 2021, which led to eSports surging in popularity in the Warwick area.

Behind the University of Warwick and in second place for the most associated gamers was UCL with 3544 gamers. Whilst having the most discord members, UCL actually has the third lowest number of Twitter followers in the top ten list with just 386 of them.

UCL's number of active eSports players is not that high either as they are the second lowest in the top ten in that category with only 194 gamers. Despite this they do have the most discord members and UCL's second-place ranking on the list makes them the top-ranked university in London for gamers.

UCL is one of three London universities in the top ten alongside Imperial College London, in sixth place, and King's College London, in ninth place. Imperial College London was found to have 2898 associated gamers whilst King's College London has 2353 gamers.

Third on the rankings is The University of Manchester with a total of 3240 associated gamers. They have the third highest Twitter followers with 1243 and have 1834 discord members as well as 163 active eSports players.

The rest of the top ten universities for gamers on the list include Swansea University, The University of Southampton, the University of Durham, The University of Bath and The University of Bristol.

In terms of the worst universities in the UK for gamers in helping them socialise more, is the University of Cumbria with just 15 associated gamers. These are just all of their discord members as they have no Twitter followers or active eSports players.

Just behind the University of Cumbria in second and third place respectively for the worst universities is The University of Wolverhampton with 54 associated gamers in total and Canterbury Christ Church with just 67 players altogether.

Uswitch.com's online gaming expert, Nick Baker, has spoken on the positives of gaming. He stated: "Several studies have shown that gaming can be good for you, encouraging skills such as teamwork, strategy, critical thinking, visual memory, developing social skills and improving response time."

Baker believes gaming can be of large aid to university students as "it not only allows them to relax in between their hectic daily lives but also allows them to form friendships with other students by playing with them or bonding over specific gaming interests. Gaming societies should be treated in the same manner as any other typical university society."

He further added that gaming "makes students feel accepted and a part of a community, which undoubtedly improves their social connections and mental health. Also, since the Esports world shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, it can provide future career opportunities to students who want to compete professionally in tournaments."

Esports is indeed bringing more opportunities to professional players as some of the world's highest players have gone on to make over £5 million from prize money in their careers.

In order to enjoy video gaming lag-free, Baker suggests having "a download speed of 50mbps - 100mbps is more appropriate for gamers, especially those interested in streaming their gameplay."

The online gaming expert at Uswitch.com also mentioned using a wired connection to get the quickest speeds in the UK, given that "a wireless connection can allow for a cleaner set-up, a wired connection can better ensure that your online play runs smoothly."

Baker advises against playing any games whilst downloading as it "will use up both bandwidth and processor power." He also stresses the importance of having a good ping rate, stating: "One of the biggest factors to impact your gaming experience is lag and latency which are caused by having a slow ping rate."

As well as improving the level of broadband service, Baker says reducing the number of devices connected to a broadband network can reduce the ping rate levels as well. He clarified: "If you've got laptops, tablets, phones, smart watches, smart fridges, and a hundred more devices all feeding off the same broadband connection, your console's reaction time will ultimately be slower."

In other gaming news, Dota 2 was recently revealed as the most profitable video game for professional eSports gamers.