College Offers Athletic Scholarships To Gamers

New submitter MdotCpDeltaT writes: Robert Morris University will be the first school in the country to offer athletic scholarships to students who play the video game League of Legends. It's a move that seems to stretch the definition of sports and athletes. Associate athletic director Kurt Melcher said, "It's a team sport. There's strategy involved. You have to know your role in the game. Obviously it's not cardiovascular in any way, but it's mental. There are elements that go into it that are just like any other sport."The article says, "Though the gaming scholarships are primarily designed to attract what the school calls an 'underserved male' population, they are open to all, and Melcher said some women have inquired about the program. Even if the awards end up going mostly to males, he added, it should not upset the school's scholarship gender balance, which already has strong participation in women's sports."

Re:Why is gender an issue here?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Title IX, mostly. (Which, at the risk of bringing down the MRAs on my head, didn't exactly make it through the house and senate by substantial margins, and across the desk of notorious liberal Richard Nixon; because the treatment of women in college athletics, or even college generally, was exactly peachy-keen...)

Given the relatively chickenshit amount of money a few 'cyberathletes' are going to cost, compared to existing sports, I'm not overwhelmingly convinced that it will make much of a difference.

(Note, I'm against athletic scholarships entirely, and the degree of emphasis that the more competitive tiers of college athletics as a whole get, so I'm unconvinced as to why it would be a good use of money to pay gamers, as much as I'm unconvinced by the virtues of paying rowers, football players, or anyone else. If having some athletic offerings is good for work/life balance, exercise, and whatnot, all well and good, I certainly participated when I was in school; but once you get to the realm of paid atheletes, just drop the "Oh, just a 'student athlete', not a real employee or anything" bullshit and just cut them a paycheck, rather than dicking around with scholarships based on academically irrelevant criteria.)