US college to offer e-sports scholarship

Pre discussion questions

Do you know about e-sports? What is your opinion about it?

What do you think are some good, or bad, things about computer gaming?

Did your parents ever tell you to stop playing video games and  to do your homework?

The University of California, Irvine (UCI) has said it is giving the first ever official e-sports scholarship program called UCI eSports.

The initiative comes with a special "state-of-the-art" gaming arena. The gaming area will be built at the university's Student Center. There will be ten academic scholarships for students who are accepted into the League of Legends team.

League of Legends at the moment is the only game endorsed and sponsored for the University. The developers Riot Games are pledging support to help it succeed. And they will work with UC Irvine on developing the initiative and to make a permanent home for gamers on campus.

Jesse Wang, president of the Association of Gamers said "the eSports team and the arena will ensure that UCI continues to be a leader and trendsetter in collegiate e-sports."

The University believes it will be the first college to have e-sports scholarships across the United States. And they believe many other colleges will follow this idea.

The value of e-sports has been growing a very big amount every year.  2017 is expected to get $465 million. Big companies such as Coca Cola, Red Bull and Monster jumped on the bandwagon early. And now these companies are getting the benefits as game competitions are all filled up at Madison Square Garden.  Millions of viewers will watch from home. Prize money for major tournaments went as high as $31 million in 2015.

Warner Bros. ESPN and Spike are all beginning to join e-sports.  E-sports could soon become part of people’s lives the way regular sports do.

According to a press release from UCI, a survey of students found that 72 percent of gamers supported the starting of an e-sports team.

There's hope for gamers who don't play League of Legends too. Mark Deppe, the newly announced e-sports director at UCI told Polygon they will see how much interest the initiative gets and will think about increasing it.

"Our school happens to be really good at Super Smash Bros., so I'd be interested in pursuing that," he said.

So think carefully before you tell your kids to stop gaming and go to bed. They might be successful in getting a potential scholarship, career, and a lot of prize money.

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=2, B=1, C=8, D=4, E=3, F=7, G=6, H=5

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1.      One of the initiatives to stop people smoking is to increase the price of cigarettes.

2.      These new televisions have state-of-the-art wide and curved screens for the best images.

3.      It really helped that my application for the scholarship was endorsed by the professor.

4.      He pledged $100 to the charity.

5.      Andre Kim was a famous trendsetter in Korea.

6.      Ten years ago there were very few cafes, now everyone has jumped on the bandwagon.  

7.      I have been pursuing her for a few months, and finally she said yes to a date.

8.      A good teacher can see the potential in a student.

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1.      How do you feel about this e-sports initiative? Would this initiative succeed in your school?

2.      What do you think a state-of-the-art has? Do you pursue having state-of-the-art technology?

3.      Why is only League of Legends endorsed by the university?

4.      Who or what have you pledged your support for in the past?

5.      Who would be a trendsetter in Korea these days?

6.      Why have these big companies jumped on the bandwagon early?

7.      Would you like to pursue a job as an e-sports gamer?

8.      In your opinion what is the potential for these e-sports events in the future?