By: Michael McCuistion
Playing video games can now improve your education. Robert Morris University in Illinois is giving out scholarships for people that play League of Legends, a game in a genre known as MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). League of Legends is a game in which two teams of five players are put on different sides of a map and tasked with destroying each other’s base. Millions of people around the world play for fun, but some play for a living. Tournaments occur across the world in which teams can fight for the prize pool. These competitions have been going on since the game’s release in 2009.
Robert Morris University recognized how much skill and strategy is needed to play League of Legends, so they created a varsity team for League and are giving out scholarships for those that have the skill to play on the team. The college is also joining the Collegiate Starleague, an organization that sets up tournaments between colleges for League of Legends. The team members receive uniforms, a coach, practice times and their own room to practice, similar to the benefits that traditional athletic teams receive . Practices started in September in a $100,000 classroom outfitted with a video screen, computers and an array of gaming equipment.
The U.S. began recognizing e-sports players as professional athletes in July 2013, and gave them athlete visas. When the Robert Morris University basketball team became upset about a video game becoming a varsity sport for their college, they went to complain to Kurt Melcher, the Associate Athletic Director. Mr. Melcher pointed out that once shooting balls through a hoop was once considered an oddity, too.
Others are not convinced that e-sports qualify as real sports. Recently the president of ESPN, John Skipper, stated that e-sports are a non-sport. “It’s not a sport,” he said, “It’s a competition right? I mean, chess is a competition, and checkers is a competition… I’m mostly in doing real sports.” He then added, “Still, you can’t ignore it.”
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