The Beginnings of Collegiate eSports
eSports has recently begun gathering a larger viewing and playing population. Many players stream themselves live on Twitch or post videos on YouTube as a means of gaining fans, entertaining people, and earning a living. Professional eSports teams such as SK Telecom T1, Team Liquid, and Team SoloMid, have many teams within the organization that play different video games. The more popular games range from League of Legends and DOTA 2 to CS: GO and Overwatch. Other games played by these teams are Rocket League, Brawlhalla and Super Smash Brothers. The teams compete on both national and international stages, where winning earns them fame and a large money reward.
As eSports has started gaining the attention of the masses, various colleges and universities have also created eSports facilities with complementing curriculum to promote the gaming industry as a collegiate sport. Some of the programs actively recruit for players, allowing students to directly apply to the college as an eSports hopeful student. Others do not recruit but rather allow students to try out and join teams after they are accepted to the university for a more traditional major.
