Playing all those video games could at actually pay off at one private liberal arts college.
The University of Pikeville in Kentucky has officially declared video games a sport and will offer scholarships to gamers who make the cut, the Associated Press reported.
The sport is specific to the game, “League of Legends,”a multiplayer online battle arena game, according to WYMT-TV.
“It’s actually becoming a worldwide trend,” Bruce Parsons, Pikeville’s new media director, told the TV station. “This game is five-on-five competitive play. It takes skill, practice and a lot of teamwork.”
The small school sees it as a way to appeal to a new set of possible students, as well as to introduce current students to a different type of technology.
“I think there are going to be a lot of students, both nationwide and international, who are going to look at our university who wouldn’t have before,” Parsons said.
Pikeville graduate Eric VanHoose will be coaching the gamers.
The school will offer 20 scholarships for “League of Legends” players in the fall, AP reported.
“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.”
Robert Morris University in Chicago has also made the game an official sport and offers scholarships.
And a Missouri college used playing video games as a contest for students to win free textbooks.
