Four Ryle Seniors Win Gaming Scholarships

[littleluck55]

I saw this article and it made me think of this thread. The Halo world championships were held this week and the top team won a $1 million.

 

Professional video gaming: Canadian and his team win $1M at Halo World Championship | Financial Post

[sportsfan41]

You have to have a 28 on the ACT for this scholarship.

 

That's impressive.

[sportsfan41]

@littleluck55, would you honestly be happy if your kid spent 40 hrs a week playing a video game even if his/her excuse is that he/she is trying to earn a scholarship?

 

I do not equate sitting in a chair staring at a computer screen playing a video game with the benefits one may gain both physically and otherwise from playing and training for an organized sport.

 

Band, provides lots of intellectual stimulation and those who are in band tend to achieve more academically. Band is not a waste of time. You don't want to compare the average gamer's grades with the average band student's grades do you?

 

I limit my kids time with video games. I limit their involvement in other extra curricular activities, as well. Too much of a good thing (like sports) is not so good.

 

While I do not, there are those who consider sports a waste of time and they do have a point. Especially, in an agrarian culture where everyone in the family needs to work hard on the farm to make a living and also in economically disadvantaged areas where work for pay is necessary to make ends meet. For instance, my father was not allowed to play football because it was during harvest time and his labor was needed at home. But basketball season was at a time of year when it was dark outside after school any way and there was less work required on the farm so he played basketball.

 

I am a little surprised that there are not more people who see spending so much time playing a video game as a problem. I wonder how a potential employer would view a candidate if their answer to the interview question, "How much time do you spend playing video games per week?" were 40 hours per week? Good first impression?

 

I think our country could use a good dose of the values learned by the generation that went through the Great Depression... things like work and productivity, and place less value on leisure.

 

Call me a dinosaur, but make it a T-Rex.

 

Considering these gamers have to have an ACT score of 28 to qualify for their scholarship I'd say they're achieving plenty academically. Sure you can say it's an anomaly but the truth is it's new, so it's only going to continue to grow.

[sportsfan41]

Had a fraternity brother at NKU, a few years younger than me, that was also a Governor's Scholar. 4.0 gpa every single semester. He was so good at Halo, traveled the country on weekends and in the summer for big tournaments. He'd leave Friday morning for Vegas and come back on Sunday with $5,000 - $10,000 more in his checking account. I want to say he was on the Gilbert Arenas team for a while, if I remember right. Was sponsored by an energy drink.

 

Had a "part-time" job were he would basically train other Halo players on how to be better at Halo. I always thought that was goofy but he was able to get people to pay him an hourly rate to basically teach them how to play the game.

 

Halo name was Elamite Warrior.

 

Don't know how anyone could argue against guys like him or my brother spending as much time on it as they wanted. I'd imagine you could say the same about these four guys as well.

 

I remember him, he was rather ridiculously good at Halo.

 

From his halo.esportspedia page

 

"Kyle "Elamite" Elam is the coach of Team Liquid and a former professional player. He is well known for his time on Str8 Rippin and Instinct, and for his victory at the Halo 3 US Championship, where he won $50,000. He holds the distinction of being the most successful Halo 3 player, with more tournament wins in Halo 3 than any other player (7)."

[MJAlltheWay24]

I remember him, he was rather ridiculously good at Halo.

 

From his halo.esportspedia page

 

"Kyle "Elamite" Elam is the coach of Team Liquid and a former professional player. He is well known for his time on Str8 Rippin and Instinct, and for his victory at the Halo 3 US Championship, where he won $50,000. He holds the distinction of being the most successful Halo 3 player, with more tournament wins in Halo 3 than any other player (7)."

 

That would be him haha!

[swamprat]

Right after the US starts to watch professional soccer like they do in other countries.

 

It's already happening here and light years ahead of soccer. They've sold out the Staples Center the last 3 years for the League of Legends World Championship. If my memory serves me right, I believe several million have paid to see the finals stream online each year. The LOL series sells out Madison Square Garden every time it appears there.

 

College football and the NFL have seen their attendance and viewership decline over the last half decade. Here is your reason. Video gaming is huge and scholarships legitimatized it further.

 

I can see online and virtual sports gaming overtaking real sports popularity, among the valued 18-35 demographic, in my lifetime.