Page 25 - Campus Technology, January/February 2019

:: eSPORTS
RETHINKING HOW TECHNOLOGY IS USED IN EDUCATION
Juggernaut: Esports on Campus
Why students and gamers are smiting foes and gaining territory at a college near you.
2018’S SUPERBOWL AVERAGED 103 million viewers, down 7 percent from the previous year. Compare that to the League of Legends World Championship video game tournament in December, which had 100 million unique viewers — up 20 percent from the year before. With that kind of growth, is it any wonder that esports is getting similar levels of attention from some colleges and universities as basketball and football programs do?
The term “esports” describes competitive video gaming, often team-based and multiplayer. Proponents of college esports advance several factors in its favor:
• Maintaining an edge on the video field takes just as much prowess as any other kind of athletic endeavor;
• There’s a healthy future in myriad fields — not just gaming — for those who participate, including coding, game design and cybersecurity (fields that deliver higher pay for those with degrees);
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