March 6, 2020
From Feb. 28 - March 1, the 2020 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo — or C2E2 — featured a pair of DePaul panels that focused on gaming and esports in college. For the second year in a row, the university also co-sponsored and helped run the Game Zone during the three-day expo that took place at McCormick Place.
Started in 2010, C2E2 is the largest pop culture convention in the Midwest, welcoming 90,000 attendees to the 2019 convention. The expo features booths, panels, entertainment and influencers from the world of comic books, cosplay, video games, anime, TV shows, movies, books, wrestling and comedy.
Learn more about DePaul's involvement with the event in Newsline.
The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo is an annual fan convention dedicated to comics, pop culture, graphic novels, cosplay, video games, toys, movies and television. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
Left to right, Kevin Fair, CEO and founder of I Play Games; Courtney James, director of student involvement in the Office of Student Involvement; Kurt Melcher, executive director of Esports at Intersport; Kevin Ryan, high school Esports program development lead, and Samantha Close, assistant professor of Communications, host their panel “Careers in Esports” during C2E2. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
Kevin Ryan, high school Esports program development lead, and Samantha Close, assistant professor of Communications, during their panel. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
For the second year, DePaul Esports co-sponsored the Game Zone at C2E2. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
The Game Zone featured console games such as Smash Brothers that attendees could play while learning about DePaul's Esports program. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)
Cosplay, a portmanteau of the words costume and play, is very popular at C2E2. Cosplay is where attendees wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent favorite fictional characters from comics, video games, movies and television. (DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)