Robert Eskra joined the Wilkes University staff in June of 2023, tasked with building our new esports program and guiding students to compete in Overwatch, League of Legends, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros.
Before beginning his quest at Wilkes, Eskra worked as an attorney, then an assistant professor at Keystone College and Lackawanna College. While at Lackawanna, he was the head coach of Overwatch and co-host of “The Game Room,” a weekly YouTube series designed to promote the school and the program.
Learn a little more about the one who’s been chosen to help Wilkes esports level up.
Where is home for you?
I was born and raised in NEPA. I grew up in Dunmore, but I now live in Scranton with my wife, Jessica, and our kids, Rowan and Asher.
What drew you to esports at Wilkes?
Well, first of all, I’ve been a gamer all my life, so getting a chance to make a career out of it is very exciting. But also, I want to help build a program that is different from what has been built so far, and I think Wilkes is in a great place to do that.
What are you most excited for in the program’s first year?
I am excited that this community seems to be all in on our program. I grew up, as I’m sure some others have, being told that gaming was a waste of time. Well, it is now a legitimate path to a successful and fulfilling career, and gaming brings so many different people together over this passion that involves art and technology and storytelling and puzzle solving and music and you name it. The little twelve-year-old Robert that still lives inside of me is just screaming for joy.
Right now, I’m playing …
Baldur’s Gate 3. For those unaware, it is the licensed video game version of the famous tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons, and IT. IS. SO. GOOD. For the first time in a long time, this game kept me up until 2 a.m. before I forced myself to go to bed, which for our students is nothing, but for a 30-something-year-old with two kids, it is everything.
My favorite game of all time is …
I can’t just pick one game. It’s like asking “What’s your favorite song of all time?” Different games hit home at different points in your life. That being said, I always end up coming back to The Legend of Zelda series. I have grown up alongside it, and each game seems to hit me exactly when it needs to. Tears of the Kingdom, the most recent one, is no different.
People would be surprised to learn that …
I am a bit of an outdoorsman. While I haven’t been able to much since my children were born, I truly enjoy camping, hunting, hiking and other activities in which you go outside and touch grass.
If I have a free afternoon, you’ll find me …
With two children at home under the age of four, there is no free afternoon. But, if the stars align and they both go down for a nap simultaneously, I am down in my basement playing whatever game happens to be my current obsession, which, like I said, is currently Baldur’s Gate 3. Seriously, you should go play that game.
Check out Eskra’s educational gaming content at youtube.com/@FPSkra or join him on Twitch at twitch.tv/FPSkra.
For more on esports, visit wilkes.edu/esports.
