Illinois College Makes 'League of Legends' A Varsity Sport, Offers Scholarships
53 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Prospective college students can now tell their parents they’re attempting to further their education by playing League of Legends, as one Illinois college has now made the game a part of its varsity sports program, and is offering scholarships to top players.
Robert Morris University is a 7,000 student college in Chicago that is now making headlines by being the first institution of its kind to incorporate eSports into its official athletic program. Specifically, the college is fashioning a League of Legends team.
Associate Athletic Director Kurt Melcher states, “Robert Morris University has always been at the forefront of providing opportunities for a diverse student population with different interests and skills. League of Legends is a competitive, challenging game which requires significant amount of teamwork to be successful.”
Robert Morris’s team will compete in the already well-establish Collegiate Star League, a collection of 103 institutions including schools from Harvard to ASU who compete against in each other in eSports matches. But the RMU team is the only one considered “Varsity,” and an official part of the school’s sports program. Teams in the league compete for $100,000 in scholarships provided by Riot Games, but RMU itself is offering their own tuition scholarships to player. 50% tuition and 50% room and board can be earned by “qualified gamers” who make the League of Legends team.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/06/20/illinois-college-makes-league-of-legends-a-varsity-sport-offers-scholarships/[/url]
If you can survive the shit community, you've probably earned it.
If there's football scholarships, if there's chess scholarships, why not e-sports?
I would say that's ridiculous, but I wouldn't go against the opportunity for somebody to get an education. Especially with the way the US educational system is, it needs work bad.
[QUOTE=LSK;45189774]I would say that's ridiculous, but I wouldn't go against the opportunity for somebody to get an education. Especially with the way the US educational system is, it needs work bad.[/QUOTE]
TBH I don't think it's so ridiculous for e-sports to be treated like real sports, I mean they require a high level of skill, strategy, and (depending) teamwork just like a physical sport. The only real difference is the lack of physical ability required, aside from reaction times
they should only be giving scholarships for REAL sports, like call of duty
We're reaching a point in time where e-sports should be held a lot higher than previously thought. It does hold aspects of any sport. There is high level players, and low level players. Just like any real sport. As said above, it's no different than any other sport. Just without any physical activity, and even then, some sports don't require much physical activity.
Why not? League is still growing and there's a lot of money to be made in it.
What does education have to do with sports? Education should be free for everyone.
[QUOTE=Robber;45189922]What does education have to do with sports? Education should be free for everyone.[/QUOTE]
That's a discussion for another day.
This is retarded.
[sp]it should be for dota[/sp]
Well shit I know what college im not getting into, I put all my time into this game called gmod
I'm gonna drop all my plans to study business here in Europe and apply here.
Wonder how much Riot payed them off for this.
I actually am 25 minutes from rm uni and they are emailing me constantly / calling because i queryed them, and im one of the top ranks on the na server :v:
Its pretty cool though. 50% scholarship for playing games
Wtf
[QUOTE=zerothefallen;45190483]I actually am 25 minutes from rm uni and they are emailing me constantly / calling because i queryed them, and im one of the top ranks on the na server :v:
Its pretty cool though. 50% scholarship for playing games
Wtf[/QUOTE]
Will you sign my mousepad before you go pro?
but for real, I'm kinda jealous, wish I could play league for my college!
Finally, eSports may be a bigger thing than it is now in the US.
Baby steps people.
Now we just need Gabenz to host bigger CS:GO tournies.
I thought Korean universitys already did this for games like LoL and Dota.
That's awesome.
Though I can hear the old decaying senior citizens yelling "Kids these days!" while they begin to defecate in their pants.
Oh, have the times changed..
The mean resting heart rate of 'athletes' over the next 50years will sky-rocket thanks to e-sports.
I guess it's good enough that we're going in this direction and all.. but I can't help but hate that the first game to do all this is league of legends and that LoL will be seen as what "eSports" is.
I really don't see all the good in this game.
[QUOTE=Kagu;45191126]Finally, eSports may be a bigger thing than it is now in the US.
Baby steps people.
Now we just need Gabenz to host bigger CS:GO tournies.[/QUOTE]
That's likely to happen, CS:GO is bigger than ever and the pro scene is only growing.
The side effects of growth aren't too great though, I queued MM with 2 friends yesterday and the 2 pubbers both had a ping of 200, names 'lIk3 thI5' and voices like wee mice.
There was a recognized and sanctioned quiddich team at my college, so I'm not surprised.
I don't get why LoL is like, the only established eSport. The game is boring as fuck, especially to watch, and the community is the most toxic on the Internet.
[QUOTE=c:;45189895]Why not? League is still growing and there's a lot of money to be made in it.[/QUOTE]
For now. There's growing discontent as to how riot handles the game lately though. At this rate it might become a victim of it's own success.
EDIT:
[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;45191701]I don't get why LoL is like, the only established eSport. The game is boring as fuck, especially to watch, and the community is the most toxic on the Internet.[/QUOTE]
Riot is pouring a shitton of money into it.
[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;45191701]I don't get why LoL is like, the only established eSport. The game is boring as fuck, especially to watch, and the community is the most toxic on the Internet.[/QUOTE]
It's like asking why bronies still exist or why minecraft still generates money even though the community and the game just repeats itself over and over again. The bandwagon isn't stopping since the people running it have nothing better to do.
[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;45191701]I don't get why LoL is like, the only established eSport. The game is boring as fuck, especially to watch, and the community is the most toxic on the Internet.[/QUOTE]
I wonder what a Minecraft tournament would be like. Remember that Minecraft Hunger Games series a bunch of guys put up on YouTube a while ago?
[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;45191701]I don't get why LoL is like, the only established eSport. The game is boring as fuck, especially to watch, and the community is the most toxic on the Internet.[/QUOTE]
That's your opinion. It's the most popular game in the world. And it sure as hell didn't get there with the majority thinking as you do. I agree the community is toxic, but once you play with a group of friends and remove the toxicity then the game is even more amazing.
[QUOTE=binkow;45191762]That's your opinion. It's the most popular game in the world. And it sure as hell didn't get there with the majority thinking as you do. I agree the community is toxic, but once you play with a group of friends and remove the toxicity then the game is even more amazing.[/QUOTE]
As long as you don't stream on Twitch together, that is. :v:
But that said I do agree with you that once you get some regulars to play with who won't treat you like something fresh out of a garbage bin, then you're good.
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;45189975]That's a discussion for another day.[/QUOTE]
True that. Hopefully one day we'll all be able to get education in a much easier fashion too, like if we all had "learning beds" that fed information into our brains as we slept, leaving our childhood daytime open for more than just sitting in a classroom while some bespectacled middle-aged man talks to you about continental drift and long-division.
Also, even if teachers need to be paid, and not everyone wants to be a teacher, every child should get the opportunity to experience a proper education regardless of whether your single mom can scrape enough together to send you to some inner city school filled with kids who're bored out of their skulls because some balding guy called Mr Gorrissen is trying to get them in the know despite not knowing (or even caring) that the best way to learn something is to be engaged and interested in it.
So yes, whilst it's a discussion for another day, it's not just a matter of everyone should be able to go to school. It's a matter of the teachers needing to get kids truly interested in the subject matter, since we can't directly write information and gumph into long-term memory.
ANYWAYS, back to League of Legends scholarships. Even though I personally prefer Dota 2 and like the idea of Dawngate, if you can get a freakin' eSports scholarship like you can get an American "football" scholarship, that's a good thing for the gaming scene in terms of the public eye, if it's being taken more seriously. Come to think of it, Dota-style games are kind of a fusion of sport and role-playing, two things that're completely different worlds in terms of old-timey college culture, being brought together in a way that Jimmy Whitaker the Level 42 Paladin and Quarterback Donny Steakflank could never have imagined back in the 80's and 90's.
With this, the "nerds" could grow and show their sporty side, whilst the "jocks" could grow and show their gaming prowess, bringing two worlds together, even if the "nerds" end up as supporting the carry "jocks". If those two groups even still exist in 21st century American college culture.
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