Latest News in ESports
Preparing to be a US College Esports Player
Find Your Motivation As with anything in life, it’s important to play college Esports for the right reasons. In the long run, positive motivations are what keep student and players engaged. For college esports players this means a combination of education, and the chance to play, and compete, in top-ranked tournaments. Pick Your Game The next step is to find your game. The value of picking a game that’s established as a college Esport is that the infrastructure and resources are already in place to support your college career. Longstanding Esports titles like League of Legends, Dota 2, and CounterStrike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), for example, have large, dedicated player bases and, by extension, sponsored tournaments, college scholarships and strong support from the esports community and from the college system. Join the Community As much as college gaming is about individual talent, it’s also about the culture surrounding the game. Before investing too much time learning
ACA Esports Official Partner in US – CERD
CERD, the Collegiate Esports Recruitment Directory, is a college esports recruitment database in which high school gamers can be recruited into collegiate esports teams. It was started by American high school esports enthusiasts Anish Lathker and Varun Verma. After signing-up for free to CERD platform, gamers will be interested in a database which colleges regularly scout and will then be approached by colleges for scholarship and admission opportunities. Additionally, players can access CERD website to learn about opportunities available in college esports and read about some of the programs. CERD discovered the collegiate esports industry at separate conferences, where colleges displayed their esports programs to the public. Upon learning about this seemingly revolutionary opportunity, they spoke to friends and family who were mostly skeptical that opportunities to play games in college for scholarships even existed. “Our families, mostly unaware of the opportunities and skeptical, urged us not to take after this”
“The Parent’s Guide to Esports”
Authors: Varun Verma & Anish Lathker So your child wants to play esports. Whether it be competitive or casual, it’s completely normal. According to Gaimin, an industry-leading gaming platform, there are approximately 2.2 billion gamers around the world, almost 30% of the entire world’s population. Behind the casual side lies the competitive one. The billion dollar competitive esports scene involves international fame, money, and a sense of community to the gamers at the top of the industry. This guide will not only explain all you need to know as a parent about the world of esports and its capabilities, but also how to support your child through their journey, wherever it may lead. This particular guide was created by the staff at CERD with the support of various collegiate esports coaches and directors. Esports OverviewEsports, or electronic esports, refers to the act of playing games online. Whether it be competitively or
“Careers in Esports – Your New College Major”
Dozens of U.S. colleges have offered varsity level esports competitions for years, and now some schools are taking it a step further by adding courses as the industry’s boom drives demand for professionals who know how to, for example, organize esports tournaments. There are a surprising number of career paths that could stem from esports. At Georgia State University, 200 people recently joined a new esports club, but the majority didn’t want to be professional players — they wanted to get involved in announcing, marketing or production of esports events. It’s important to know that an esports career can be more, much more, than playing video games. Just because the professional gamer status might be difficult to achieve, it doesn’t mean that a player can’t pursue other interests that are related to esports. Other job options include technical gaming careers such as video game designer, software developer, animation engineer, and more.
The U.S. College Esports Scene
Background Everybody knows that esports are a huge, huge business. Over the past five years, it’s grown into an estimated US$1.0+ billion industry, with recruiters, coaches, and dedicated arenas, and a global audience of over 400 million people. Now, over 200 US colleges are offering more than $15 million per year in scholarships for the top esports players, and university teams can earn millions more in tournament prizes. History of College Esports College esports in the United States began as early as 2009 when the Collegiate Starleague (CSL) was formed as the first official intercollegiate gaming organization in the world, with 25 schools participating in their inaugural competition of the game StarCraft: Brood War, at which the UC Berkeley team took home the victory. Since then CSL has expanded into a variety of games (15 titles in 2019) and it claims to host over 1,800 colleges and universities worldwide with 55,000 cumulative players
Grades and Their Influence on College Recruiting
Your grades are a very important part of the college recruiting process. Athletic ability is a coach’s prime target, but without the grades to support and complement your resume, you could be passed over. That is the reason that athletes, and their parents must understand the importance of keeping an eye on your grades throughout high school. The four questions coaches ask College coaches ask four questions when they discover prospects they may want to recruit: Can the athlete compete at our level? Can he or she improve our team? Will the athlete be admitted to our college and will they be able to stay here? If so, how much academic money will he or she qualify to receive? Grades closely trail athleticism Of course, coaches want to recruit athletes capable of competing at their level. Every roster spot is precious to coaches, and each recruited athlete is expected to