By: Ramona Villegas
Elijah Robertson is a dedicated and accomplished senior criminal justice major with a minor in psychology who will graduate in May. Throughout his academic journey, Elijah has displayed an unwavering commitment to excellence and a genuine passion for his chosen fields of study. In addition to his academic pursuits, Elijah is a pick-axe esports player specializing in the popular video game Overwatch 2. While he was born in Anadarko and raised in Cyril, a small town just 30 minutes away from Lawton, Elijah has always been a hardworking and ambitious individual striving to achieve his goals. With his impressive academic record and gaming skills, he will continue excelling in all his future endeavors. He decided to attend Cameron because he wanted to stay close to his family, who lives in Elgin. Two of Robertson’s favorite classes consist of Intro to CSI and Applied Psychology. He wanted to minor in psychology because he has always been curious about why people act as they do. “It shows you how the brain works, and it actually works like that if you look deeper into it,” Robertson said. His love for esports started before he started physically playing games. “When I was a teenager, I used to watch a lot of competitive gaming people like Shroud,” Roberson said, “I used to watch clips a lot. That got me interested in it.” One of the many reasons, besides the fact that he has played Overwatch 2 since the first one came out in 2016, that he decided to join the esports teams is that he has always enjoyed the community of gaming and generally being around people who are interested in a few of the same things as him. That’s precisely what he’s found in esports – a community that shares his love for gaming and his determination to succeed and be the best version of himself. “It’s a good way to make friends, find a nice little community to hang out with. Everyone on our team is chill and friendly, so we have no problem making friends on the team,” Robertson said. He believes every team member is essential in achieving victory, so he always tries to be a reliable teammate. “The team aspect, you can’t just run a gun and win the game,” Robertson said, “You have to work as a team to win the game. When no one works as a team, you get steamrolled.” In Overwatch, he has always considered himself a physical player ready to support his teammates. He takes pride in being a valuable team member and understands the importance of playing his role to the best of his abilities. Robertson said, “I try to lift them up and how to get the best out of them.” His physical character is Lucio, a DJ wearing roller skates and a shirt with a frog on it. His favorite part of Lucio is that his character is friendly and always hypes other characters up with his voice lines. Also, Lucio is a character who likes to support his team. “I like his gameplay cause he is very fast-paced; he’s kinda like a fly if you get good at playing him,” Robertson said, “ you can annoy people real good.” Robertson connects to Lucio because he likes music, and Lucio is a DJ. “I’m not a DJ, but I just like music,” Robertson said, “I like a lot of music, rap, rock, metal, jazz, a lot of music; the only thing I don’t like is the new country. More of a Johnny Cash guy and Marty Robbins.” He has been playing as Lucio since 2018, and that’s when Robertson started picking Lucio up. Robertson has yet to make plans to swap off his signature character anytime soon. “Back then, no one used to play support characters. So, I bit the bullet and started playing them. Lucio was the one I had the most fun with, so I stuck with him,” Robertson said. Although Robertson does not typically like to feed into the game’s greed and buy skins, he has bought one, Lucios, a Greek Hermes skin. Not only do new skins change the character’s physical appearance, but it also has new voice lines. One of the voice lines he likes from Hermes is going to Hades and back. Robertson said, “I like the Greek mythology, too.” One of Robertson’s regrets is not purchasing Lucios Emote (stuff the character can do during the game), where he would start setting up his DJ stuff and playing, and the other characters would have the option to dance around him because of his emote. Robertson said, “I just watched it get away.” He plans to go to the OKC petrol station after he graduates, eventually becoming a detective after getting experience as a police officer. If the Patrol does not work out, he has also considered pursuing a role as an FBI agent. “I want to be a detective no matter what,” Robertson said. One aspect that he feels like most about law enforcement is the opportunity to help people and make a difference in their lives. “Since I was young. I’ve always liked helping people,” Robertson said. “ I always thought this would be a good fit for me.” The esports team is currently looking for more players to join. Robertson wishes he had joined the esports team his first year. Robertson said, “A friendly person who does not get mad when someone tries to help them out somebody’s that chill and willing to learn.” For more information, email coach John Cunningham at Esports@cameron.edu.