Esports has been on rise and since the recent past, it has not been merely confied. It has reached new highs with facilitating universities into its ecosystem and establishment of esports stadium across regions. Queensland University and Robbert Morris University stepped up to offer scholarship to esports athletes while Malaysian Asia Pacific University and Tokay High School orchestrated dedicated esports oriented curriculum for enthusiasts.
This time it is Southeast Missouri State University. It has planned to dedicate 1500 sq. foot area of a computer lab solely for esports. It shall be accessible throughout the day featuring six desktops, consoles and a 70-inch television. Students can grind, compete or even enjoy watching live matches at this space.
“This is of interest to our students, we are going to help students compete who want to be competitive. For those that don’t, we hope they find a connection with others. That is so important.”
“The esports space comes after the creation of an esports club, that climbed to 60 members and integration into the university’s intramural program,” said Dr Bruce Skinner, Vice President of the aforementioned university.
Integration between esport and colleges is a big step forward. The collaboration can help bring relatively new form of entertainment to masses and nurture highly skilled athletes in their early phase. This can prevent from esports being looked down in several regions and could eventually glorify esport as a sports indeed. Esports athletes can also benefit by balancing their professional and curricular life and in turn, perform best at both the avenues.
