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Varsity esports teams are becoming increasingly common on college campuses as more schools tap into the rising popularity of competitive gaming.
Experts say 50 U.S. colleges have formed varsity gaming teams that offer at least partial scholarships over the past three years, and many have hired coaches and analysts like other sports teams.
Michael Brooks is executive director of the National Association of Collegiate eSports. He says it has grown "dramatically" and caught organizers off guard.
The success of professional esports has spurred many smaller schools to start varsity teams as a way to boost enrollment numbers.
Among those with new teams is the College of St. Joseph, a school of 260 students in Vermont. The school's athletic director says "nearly every kid on campus wants to be a part of this."
"Dear Admissions Committee, I should get a full sports scholarship because I'm, like, really good at Pong and stuff."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tibman on Sunday September 17 2017, @04:04AM
Agreed. As a kid i played seven seasons of soccer. Tons of fun. Incredibly boring to watch. Competitive video games are exciting, imo. But it really helps if you've played the game to understand what is happening and what the value of each play is. Probably the same with sports.
Where sports really bother me is all the meta game garbage. Intentional fouling. Timeouts. Ref bias. Half the team never actually plays and just sits on a bench. Overly-dramatic falls when an opponent accidentally bumps into them. So much of professional sports is just garbage.
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