Amidst School Closures, High School Esports League Launches New Queue System to Facilitate Seamless and Safe Online Competition
North American gaming organization High School Esports League (HSEL) today announced the launch of their new queue system — a hassle-free solution to pairing high school esports players nationwide in competitive online matches. With schools and entertainment venues shut down across the country due to the COVID-19 health crisis, student esports athletes can safely match with opponents from their own homes and still take part in the HSEL Spring Major tournament to win college scholarship prizes.
The new HSEL queue system eliminates many of the challenges faced by online esports leagues and was developed to address the needs of HSEL’s 80,000+ participating students. Competitors can easily enter queue windows for specific titles and will automatically be assigned with an opponent at the chosen window of time. From there, teams and players create a game lobby, play their match, and return to the HSEL tournament platform to report their scores. The queue works entirely online, thus supporting the increasing need for HSEL student competitors to practice social distancing as they care for their well-being and that of others during the COVID-19 epidemic.
The eight-week-long HSEL Spring Major gaming tournament begins on March 30, 2020, and will be the first competition to support the new queue system. This varsity-level esports competition pits students against their peers in twelve popular multiplayer online video games, with champions across all titles winning up to a $1,000 USD scholarship prize. Top participants also receive a three-month XBOX Game Pass Ultimate subscription valued at $44.99 USD and weekly winning teams a $250 USD gift certificate from a sponsoring restaurant. The playoffs for the HSEL Spring Major start in May and conclude in June.
The list of HSEL Spring Major esports titles includes Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA 20, Fortnite, Hearthstone, Minecraft, Overwatch, Rainbow Six: Siege, Rocket League, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Super Smash Bros: Ultimate, Madden 20, and NBA 2K20.
Registration to the HSEL Spring Major is just $37 USD per student and is now open to all high school students nationwide, including those from high schools not partnered with HSEL. Registration has also been extended to March 27, 2020. Students, teachers/advisors, and existing esports clubs can register their teams at https://www.highschoolesportsleague.com/spring-major-2020.
For more information about the HSEL queue system, please visit https://www.highschoolesportsleague.com/queue-system.
To learn more about HSEL’s response to the COVID-19 health crisis, please visit https://www.highschoolesportsleague.com/hsel-news-announcements/2020/3/13/coronavirus-update.
