Fun and games on the computer have become serious business. By some estimates, computer gaming has become a $10-billion-per-year industry, nipping at the heels of the movie and film industry in the United States.

That sort of power will become evident this weekend, as a three-day computer gaming tournament organized and officiated by a group of DePaul University students hits Chicago’s Navy Pier. The students are all part of the campus organization DePaul Fundamental Research in Academic Gaming (DeFrag), and 60 of them will be help host more than 5,000 gamers at the tournament – part of this weekend’s "Extreme Cyber Mania" festival.

Since last spring, DeFrag members have consulted with the organizers of the festival, In-Store Merchandising Solutions, to help determine what games would be featured, what equipment would be best for both competitors and spectators, what layout and design would help the event to flow smoothly, and how to customize tournament software to manage the event. Students will volunteer on site to set up the tournament stations, register participants, provide free workshops for game players, and to officiate tournament action.

Many of the DeFrag members are majoring in DePaul’s undergraduate program in computer game development, one of the first of its kind in the Midwest. The curriculum for the program is based on recommendations by the International Game Developers Association, and in one year, it has become one of the fastest growing degree programs in DePaul’s School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems (CTI).

"The festival organizers came to DePaul in the early stages of their planning because they knew we offered the degree program in game development, and they knew we had a very dedicated group of students experienced in running gaming tournaments to help them to create a world-class event," said Charles Wilcox, instructor at DePaul CTI and faculty advisor for DeFrag.

This is the first of four major gaming events slated to take place at Navy Pier over the next year, and DeFrag is scheduled to play a significant role in those tournaments, too, Wilcox noted.

For more information on "Extreme Cyber Mania," please visit: http://www.cyberfest.us.