U.S. Army Esports
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Divisions | Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, League of Legends, Overwatch, Magic the Gathering, Halo Infinite |
|---|---|
| Founded | November 2018 |
| Head coach | Marcus Lovejoy (Halo Infinite) [1] |
| Parent group | United States Army |
U.S. Army Esports is an esports team sponsored by the United States Army.[2] The team, which consists of active duty and reserve personnel, was announced in November 2018 as a public outreach initiative operating within the Fort Knox, Kentucky-based Army Marketing and Engagement Team.[3][4] Games in which the team announced it would compete include video games such as Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Fortnite, League of Legends, and Overwatch, as well as tabletop games such as Magic: The Gathering and Warhammer 40,000.[5][6][7]
In 2020, U.S. military esports activities garnered widespread media attention after a successful legal battle led by the ACLU forced them to lift the bans on the people they had removed for discussing war crimes committed by U.S. armed forces.[8][9][10]
The U.S. Army Esports team was founded in November 2018. After the Army missed its recruiting goal for the first time in 13 years, the team was founded in an effort to modernize outreach efforts.[11]
In 2022, the team finished second in the inaugural Armed Forces Sports Championship in Halo Infinite that was played against the other U.S. service branches.[12]
First Amendment concerns
The official U.S. Army Esports Discord server and Twitch became the target of activists who began to post comments and memes referencing war crimes committed by the United States. This led to moderators of the Discord server temporarily restricting people from joining, and a number of Twitch users being banned from the U.S. Army Esports Twitch channel.[13][14][15]
The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have claimed that the banning of Twitch users from the channel is a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[9][16] An official spokesperson for the U.S. Army noted that users were subsequently banned after trolling and harassing members of the team; however, some bans were lifted.[8][10]