Ripped from the Headlines: Mind-Numbing Hobby to Scholarship Provider: The Evolving World of E-Sport

Let’s face it, parents are rarely favorable when it comes to spending any real time playing video games. Further, I know few college or guidance counselors who would suggest video games as an extracurricular activity, let alone a viable career. That said, what was once a tool for distraction or to blow off a little steam in between homework assignments have evolved into something so much more than we ever thought it might.

I recently came across this article on Wired.com and thought it was worthy of sharing, along with giving my two cents. The eSports industry is rapidly approaching the billion-dollar level and shows no signs of slowing down.

Without diving too much into the actual world of eSports, and keeping our focus on academia, the obvious interest is about just how involved U.S. colleges and universities have become in the eSports phenomena, with hundreds of U.S. schools not only launching programs to support eSports, but providing significant scholarship opportunities for the best of the best, much like we see with NCAA Division I athletes (I actually wouldn’t be surprised, if in the next decade, eSports fall under NCAA jurisdiction). Further, these ‘athletes’ can generate significant revenues in tournament prizes, playing in arenas like what you see pictured above.

Nearly 850 U.S. schools now have some sort of eSports program and nearly 20,000 participants are involved in college eSports alone. Fortnite is, by far, the most popular of the games played in official leagues, and the game is currently played by nearly one in twelve U.S. high school students. There is a believe among college students that being an eSports athlete is a viable future career. To put that idea to a basic litmus test, according to the article, the most recent League of Legends World Championships were viewed by more people (over 200 million) than the recorded viewership of the Super Bowl AND the NCAA Final Four COMBINED.

Now, let’s be clear, while most eSports participants are not working out on the regular, they are practicing their craft, on average, of four hours per day and just like other athletes, they have their own injuries to contend with (eye, neck, and hand/wrist injuries top the list). This is serious business and students are giving it their fair attention.

One of the ground-breaking and eye-opening moves on the university side of the discussion happened here in California, when UC Irvine, back in 2016, founded an eSports program with a 3,500 square-foot arena at its core. The explosive growth of the video game industry (thought to be worth an estimated $89 billion in 2019) is clearly fueling this movement and I see no end in sight. Additional schools are moving into the field and more money will certainly be poured into the new arenas, technology, and naturally, scholarship monies for the most prolific players.

So what have I done!? I’ve told you to have your kids play video games to make money for college! Am I insane?! Probably. If I had a young child or teen, I would likely be pissed off after reading this article, but my job is not to tell you about what was once the way the world worked, but how it will work in the years to come. If you child has ‘the gift’, maybe video games should be considered an extra-curricular activity.

I welcome your feedback to continue this dialogue.

For a look at the entire article, please follow this link:

https://www.wired.com/story/infoporn-college-esports-players-cashing-in-big/