A Kentucky liberal arts college is the latest U.S. higher education institution to make video games an official sport and offer gaming scholarships to students.
The University of Pikeville will provide 20 scholarships in the fall for qualified players of League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena game.
“It’s actually becoming a worldwide trend,” said Bruce Parsons, Pikeville’s new media director. “This game is five-on-five competitive play. It takes skill, practice and a lot of teamwork.”
Students granted a scholarship will even have scrimmages like other athletic sports.
“It will be a regime a lot like athletics,” Parsons said. “They’ll have to have a certain GPA. We’ll look at them like student athletes. There will be practice time and video time when they have to study other teams for upcoming competitions.”
The discussion addresses the increasing number of so-called esports – non traditional competitions involving organized professional leagues.
Esports players compete for millions of dollars in prizes and pull in six-figure incomes for vanquishing their enemies in what have also become huge spectator events packing tens of thousands into sports stadiums around the world.
Comments