With nearly 67 million players logging on to the game each month, according to a 2014 study by Riot Games, League of Legends has been the most popular video game in the world since 2012, beating out long-standing record holders such as World of Warcraft and Defense of the Ancients (DotA). Such popularity has led to an increase in eSports competitions across the world, with nearly 71.5 million viewers watching competitive gaming in 2014 according to SuperData Research.
Joining schools that already have organized competitive eSports teams, Columbia College recently announced they will offer League of Legends gaming scholarships to prospective students, as well as create their own eSports competitive gaming program within the coming 2016-17 school year.
“Students will qualify for our eSports scholarships based on talent,” eSports Program Director Bryan Curtis said. “We are looking for high level, competitive players that will thrive academically and will be excited to be a part of the Columbia College community.”
Curtis said the idea for creating a program for student gamers started when the college president, Scott Dalrymple, challenged the student body to a video game challenge during his inauguration week in May of 2014 with the promise of free textbooks for the winner of the challenge.
“[Dalrymple] posted a trash talk video that quickly went viral and students were excited about a chance to beat him at Madden and have their textbooks paid for by the president. We received such positive feedback from current students, prospective students, the community and media that we wanted to find a way to capitalize on the event,” Curtis said. “A committee was formed at the beginning of 2015 and eSports was a recommendation from the group.”
The announcement that Columbia College will begin offering scholarships to gamers who qualify has already attracted the attention of many students. Freshman Lee Toellner said he and many of his friends are excited at the prospect of eSports becoming a recognized program in some colleges and universities.
“I went to the college fair and I talked to the [college representative]. He talked about that they were starting an eSports program for League of Legends,” Toellner said. “I have a couple friends that I went with and they thought that was really interesting. It will get more interest than just sports scholarships, because with sports scholarships it’s mainly athletes that join. But with eSports, there’s gamers that can do it as well.”
The importance of including gamers in the extracurricular activities offered at RBHS is not lost on Technology Club sponsor Cathy Dweik. Dweik said she feels video games require practice and preparation in order to improve within the game, offering another opportunity to include students in a community within the school and teach them valuable life skills.
“It gives students an opportunity to come together, help one another build on their strengths and compete, like all sports programs,” Dweik said. “While many people enjoy playing basketball, not everyone plays for the school team. I think gamers will follow a similar pattern.”
While Columbia College’s eSports program and scholarships will currently only be offered for League of Legends, Curtis said the school will consider offering more games in the future.
“We are currently only recruiting players for League of Legends. There may be an opportunity in the future to expand to new games and bring in more students,” Curtis said. “We are looking to bring in at least 12 new students to campus [because of the eSports program] for the fall semester of 2016.”
Knowing the positive response the eSports program has already received from prospective Columbia College students, Toellner said he hopes more colleges recognize the popularity of such programs and begin offering more opportunities to gamers in the form of scholarships or eSports teams.
“I think it’s a pretty good idea [to have eSports programs]. League [of Legends] is the most popular game in the world, and so I think other states should also try and create an eSports program for it,” Toellner said. “You kind of have to work under high pressure situations. You do a lot of cooperation. It’s fun and challenging and you meet new people while playing.”
Whether or not other schools create eSports programs like that of Columbia College, however, Curtis said he believes the new program will provide more opportunities to the diverse group of students already in attendance at the school.
“eSports are another great opportunity to get students involved in extracurricular activities on campus,” Curtis said. “Academics come first but we believe it is important to provide a diverse group of programs for our students to be involved in once they get to the college.”