Just finished watching this:
I'm not really a gamer so it's interesting to see how much of an industry there is surrounding competitive gaming.
What would it take for Virginia Tech to set up something where: The university gives out 8-10 full-ride scholarships to the top gamers in the country, the school recoups any competition winnings to pay themselves back and the players split whatever is leftover. If the team doesn't recoup all of the money invested, they still retain their scholarship but don't get any additional compensation.
Don't have to deal with any NCAA bullshit, the kids can start their own vlogs/social media platforms etc. Just doing some cursory research, there are a couple of P5 schools that have already started to do this (Cal, Utah etc.)
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Maybe if Tech didn't stop "inventing the future" but alas we did.
know your place
i mean cLaiM yOuR rOlE
You would have to add a women's team as well.
Why couldn't it be co-ed? Does Title IX have jurisdiction over non-NCAA sports?
Title IX is a federal thing, not an NCAA thing
Idk but I would be so down for that. Esports are getting huge and I wouldnt be surprised if colleges eventually. Would be cool to have VT be on the forefront of it.
Already being done.
https://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/21152905/college-esports-list-va...
anOSU, BOISE, Oklahoma among FBS schools with teams on scholarships.
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR VIDEO GAMES!!!!! I WAS BORN TOO SOON
Hell yeah, I'd love to see VT jump in and start doing that as well.
I'm always down for more esports.
Some of the big things I think of to make it work:
Are the teams/players (there are games where it's 1 vs. 1, such as Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros. Street Fighter, Starcraft, and Dragonball Fighterz) playing on internet servers or all travel to an area for Lan servers.
Pros for not traveling: Save money on gas, hotel, equipment (yes there is equipment a.k.a. the computers/consoles/chairs/monitors/etc.), etc. and they are in the comfort of their choosing.
Cons for not traveling: There is ping no matter how good your internet is and can be really bad if it's a school on the West Coast (or Hawaii/Alaska) facing against and East Coast school. Lan servers in one area makes the ping theoretically non-existent, there is some but very, very minimal and causing less headaches dealing with that and can't have fingers pointing for a team winning because of lag.
Making sure the players don't use Cheats such as Aim Bot, Trigger Bot, and Wall Hacks (there are more but can't remember their names) to be picked up on the teams and not use during matches.
Who are the coaches; one of the players or hire someone to coach? There is a need for coaching in a lot of games not just for mechanics but for having the right mindset, planning for matches, knowing the meta and what to use, and team cohesiveness.
It's not that easy. Even though we see it now happening and it's getting bigger, schools just going "OK let's make one" without knowing any of the logistics and behind the scene stuff of how eSports works can crash and burn really bad.
Collegiate esports already exists. https://nacesports.org/
I was thinking of getting an all-star group of kids together in Blacksburg to compete at the highest level. Obviously this is wishful thinking but there was a team in 2018 that brought in 11+ million. I feel like that crushes what almost all non-revenue sports are brining in at VT.
I wasn't really thinking about playing against other colleges per se.
A lot of smaller schools have taken to it. Concord University right across the WV border near Bluefield/Princeton has a very good Call of Duty team.
It would take money. Scholarships cost money, coaches cost money, facilities cost money.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$