CMGG Blog

Community Spotlight #15

11/27/2023

Spotlight: Rachel

Affiliation: CMGG Board Alumni

Bio: Hi friends! My name’s Rachel Hunt, and I’m a former CMGG Board Member. I graduated from Cal Spring ’23, but still love playing League with all the CMGG homies. In college, I explored careers in publishing, research, and the gaming industry. Now, I work as a Paralegal for the DOJ Antitrust Division. My supervisor saw CMGG on my resume and assigned me to our tech cases. My free time is spent playing LoL and VAL, drawing (learned the hard way thru CMGG’s Game Jam that digital drawing is NOT the same), gyming, traveling, and cuddling with my quarantine cat Sibyl. Always happy to connect with y’all!

Community Spotlight #14

11/14/2023

Spotlight: Hannah

Affiliation: CMGG Member

Bio: Hellaurrr! I'm Hannah Lee, a super senior (4 and 1/2 years *whips) at Cal! I'm studying political economy and minoring in public policy. While my career interests lean more towards the public sector and legislation, I love to play games in my personal time! I play League (ironically and badly), Honkai Star Rail, and The Sims 4! Growing up, I gravitated towards story-rich games like Persona, The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, (anything Telltale honestly), Harvest Moon (on Nintendo), and Tomb Raider (2013). I love getting attached to 2D characters and witnessing their growth and suffering :) If you've ever played any of these games, I'd love to talk and trash about them! The first and only game jam I've ever participated in was CMGG's 2022 Game Jam! I helped create a visual novel, which is about Cubbie, our mascot, who goes on a journey to recover their iconic headphones and console as well as to discover who they really are and where they belong. I created some of the art assets and wrote the storyline and dialogue for the visual novel. It was an amazing experience working with other passionate gamers and creators! I joined CMGG as a sophomore and the last 3 years with this club have been a wonderful experience. While I started out more as a discord lurker, I've participated in more in-person and discord events. In doing so, I've met many who share similar interests and identities, which has made gaming not only more fun but also social for me! Currently, I am in the mentorship program and while I have no plans to join the gaming industry, I have received incredibly insightful advice that is applicable to my own life and reassuring stories I can relate to in regards to my professional career. From the annual Halloween LANs at the esports center to the numerous coffee chats with industry professionals to the cute weekly discord events, I have created everlasting memories and so I have nothing but gratitude and pride for CMGG.

Community Spotlight #13

10/21/2023

Spotlight: Elizabeth

Affiliation: Former Webmaster for CMGG 💗

Bio: Hi I'm Elizabeth! I'm a junior studying Data Science and Computer Science with a minor in Global Public Health, I joined CMGG as a freshman in 2021, and I was on the CMGG Board as the Webmaster for school year 2022-2023! I enjoy playing games like Smash Bros, BOTW, Genshin Impact and Minecraft. In my free time I like to draw, play volleyball, dance and create games! I've started doing game jams and making games in Unity through CMGG, if you would like to check out any of them out you can find them here: https://lizsun.itch.io/

Community Spotlight #12

10/6/2023

Spotlight: Valerie

Affiliation: Former Marketing & Publicity Officer for CMGG 💗

Bio: Hellooo!! I'm currently a third-year double majoring in Art Practice & Cognitive Science~ I've been a part of CMGG for three years now and this club is so precious to me 💞 I got into gaming through Minecraft and now play a lot of Valorant, Overwatch 2, and osu! Some fun facts about me: I'm learning pottery, printmaking, and 3D modeling, I helped start & run Aerial at Cal (aerial/circus arts!), and I designed CMGG's shirts last year 🤗

Community Spotlight #11

4/23/2023

Spotlight: Tori

Affiliation: CMGG Member / Alum (CO’ 2022!)

Bio: ello!! It's Tori and I've been in the CMGG discord since 2020! My two proudest achievements have been graduating with honors in Berkeley and getting experience in the field of education! It's been rewarding seeing the kids I instruct mature and improve in their reading. It's having me consider applying for a masters in education :) perhaps at Cal again. In my free time, I like to watch anime and draw! For video games, I like to play Genshin, Pokemon, and life simulator games like Sims and Animal Crossing. I also enjoy watching twitch streamers play horror and story based games! My major was in History, so I also like to read about topics like LGBT US history, and women's history. If you have any recommendations on games or readings I can check out, I'm up for it!

Community Spotlight #10

4/16/2023

Spotlight: Vivienne

Affiliation: CMGG Board

Bio: Hi there! I'm Vivienne, the '22-'23 CMGG Co-President. When I'm not working on CMGG things, I love to draw in my spare time; I'm also currently the Head of Illustrations and Infographics at the Daily Californian! Beyond overseeing illustrations that go into print, I like making fanart of whatever I'm into at the moment. You can check out some of my art in my Twitter media tab: https: //twitter.com/FL0W3RC4T!

Community Spotlight #9

4/9/2023

Spotlight: Cindy (Kilydwn)

Affiliation: CMGG member

Bio: Hihi! I'm Cindy, or more commonly known as Kily, and I'm a third year studying Art Practice here at Berkeley. I've been involved in CMGG, BL, and GDD since freshman year, and would be delighted to answer any questions anyone has about these clubs! I'm also ridiculously familiar with logistics relating to making and hosting a decal, so if anyone's interested in that lmk 👀 I used to want to be an illustrator or concept artist, but nowadays I'm exploring 3D game art fields and seeing what I like there. When I have the time to though, I still make stickers and emotes for fun. In terms of games I play, the biggest one is definitely League of Legends (go Nami!), followed by Punishing: Gray Raven, and whatever MMORPG currently has my attention (GW2). I'm always happy to chat or make new friends, so feel free to ping or DM me whenever! 💜💜💜

Community Spotlight #8

4/2/2023

Spotlight: Hailey Tran (penguinies)

Affiliation: CMGG member/mentee

Bio: Hey everyone! I'm Hailey (she/her), a junior majoring in CS. I play a variety of games, but recently I've been playing a lot of rhythm/arcade games like Project Sekai, Project Diva, and DDR. So the cool project I wanted to share with everyone is a game that I worked on! [ME][TA]L is a short, metal-themed rhythm game that I worked on last semester with a group of friends in the GDD Decal. I had a lot of fun making it, and I learned a bunch of things about the Unity Game Engine that I didn't know before. Link: https://penguinies.itch.io/metal
P.S. If anyone has been playing Project Sekai or reading the Yona of the Dawn manga, let me know! I need more people to fangirl with :)

Community Spotlight #7

3/26/2023

Spotlight: Emaline Gayhart (Emzra)

Affiliation: CMGG member and non-Cal mentee

Bio: My name is Emaline Gayhart and I am studying to be a Site Reliability Engineer (AKA Applications/Sustainability Engineer)! I'm currently focused on full-stack development concepts and have recently just finished my first full-stack project, "TextMeWhen." TextMeWhen is a web app which enables organizers to offer text reminders to their attendees. I'm super proud of this app because I had to learn how to implement dynamic routing to create custom event pages based on form input data, as well as to access that same data within the API endpoints! I plan to release more features, better optimize its scalability, and encourage its adoption in online communities across the U.S. You can view the live app here: https://textmewhen.club

Community Spotlight #6

3/19/2023

Spotlight: Sara

Affiliation: CMGG member

Bio: Hi, I'm Sara! I'm a 4th year philosophy student and this is my second year being apart of CMGG 💗💗 If you've seen me around, you probably know that I love expressing myself with fun, bright colors and accessories! The first game I really got into (besides minecraft) was overwatch back in early 2017, and you can still find me playing it nearly every day. I'm a support/tank player so if you ever want to queue together let me know :3 I also really enjoy genshin impact, tetris, and a lot of other indie games with pretty art and music 🪷🌟 Besides gaming, I really love music - both listening and playing piano/guitar, arts and crafts, and learning about topics in applied ethics. You can find me on the CMGG discord server a lot (orchin#1863) so please say hi if you wanna talk or are interested in any of these topics too! :D 💫🌸🦦

Community Spotlight #5

3/12/2023

Spotlight: Annika Liu

Affiliation: CMGG member

Bio: Hello!!! I'm Annika Liu, a freshman studying CS and Media Studies and also an intended game designer! I'm a big fan for Blizzard games and my favorites are Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft. In my free time I also do digital art and watch anime. The most recent anime I watched is Neon Genesis Evangelion. I loved the story plot and character designs. My battle.net id is k1ss#11639. If you ever wanna play Blizzard games or any other games, message me and I'm happy to try almost any games:D

Community Spotlight #4

3/5/2023

Spotlight: Kaili Spears (thederpy_muffin)

Affiliation: CMGG member (gamer?? :3c)

Bio: I’m majoring in marine science, and am hoping to work towards fixing how the climate crisis is affecting the ocean and marine wildlife. I also love to play music on my trumpet, and play games like Stardew Valley or League of Legends! Also I love cats!

Community Spotlight #3

2/26/2023

Spotlight: Miriam (illuxions)

Affiliation: CMGG Board, CMGG mentee

Bio: Hi everyone! I’m the Historian for CMGG this school year. I’ve been having lots of fun attending and taking pics of all the events so far :D Seeing all y’all’s beautiful smiles & smiling eyes has been so wholesome :,) I am a junior transfer studying Comparative Literature and Spanish in hopes to get a job in the gaming industry! Aside from photography and gaming, I really enjoy going on hikes so if anyone is down to go on one with me lmk c:

Community Spotlight #2

2/19/2023

Spotlight: Julia (@juliwaves)

Affiliation: CMGG Mentor / former CMGG Board member

Bio: Hi y'all! I'm a Marketing Writer at Riot Games, but before that I was a CMGG Board member for 3 years + graduated from Cal as part of the class of 2021. CMGG was definitely the most important part of my college experience and I'm glad to still be involved as a mentor! I work on all kinds of projects at Riot, mostly on Wild Rift and League of Legends PC. My favorite thing I've worked on lately that's out in the world is the Nilah Champion Spotlight, which you can watch here: Nilah Champion Spotlight | Gameplay - League of Legends

I love to play ranked League of Legends and recently I've been super into Fortnite. I'm also finishing up Kirby and the Forgotten Land on my Switch. Outside of games, I love to take film photos, thrift clothing, and I've started learning how to draw digitally. I also like making all my friends watch the Bachelor with me.

Community Spotlight #1

2/5/2023

Spotlight: Ivy Liu

Affiliation: CMGG member and board

Bio: Hiya, I'm Ivy! I'm a first-year here at Cal and I'm currently the CMGG Board Intern ❤️ I'm a big T1 (and LCK) fan and they were one of the primary reasons I got into League!! I also love to draw, play the violin/piano, and play games with pretty art heh- 😸. I'm still working on improving and uploading more but you can find some of my art on my twitter: @snowyfern_ ! Feel free to message me whenever (you can find me floating around the CMGG server a lot!) and I can't wait to get to know everyone!!