Good news, gamers: League of Legends might now be an acceptable extracurricular activity to list on those college applications.
The University of California, Irvine announced this week it will be the first public institution to offer video gaming scholarships, and it is set to launch its new eSports initiative with the opening of a 3,500 square-foot gaming arena this fall.
The arena, which is expected to open in late September, will be built at the university's Student Center and equipped with gaming PCs, a League of Legends competition stage and studio for live webcasting tournaments.
The university also plans to offer as many as 10 half-tuition scholarships, worth about $5,500, to students on its collegiate League of Legends team, UCI student programming assistant director Mark Deppe told Mashable.
UC Irvine isn't the first college to offer gaming scholarships -- Chicago's Robert Morris University began providing League of Legends players with scholarships in 2014 -- but it is the first public university to do so, partly to draw students to the school's science, tech, engineering and math (STEM) programs.
“UCI eSports will be built on four pillars: competition, academics, entertainment and community,” said Thomas Parham, UCI vice chancellor for student affairs. “We hope to attract the best gamers from around the world, and our academic programs in computer gaming science, digital arts, computer science, engineering, anthropology, law, medicine, neuroscience and behavior create a strong foundation for research and inquiry related to gaming."
The gaming arena will be open to all of the university's students, in addition to competitive eSports players -- fitting considering that a recent internal survey found that 72% of the student body identify as gamers.
Custom gaming computer maker iBuyPower will equip the arena with 80 PCs loaded with video games. The studio behind League of Legends, Los Angeles-based Riot Games, was also announced as a sponsor.
Construction on the arena is expected to begin in July, and will cost about $250,000, Deppe said, though with additional sponsors, the university may look to add more upgrades.
Looks like you'd better get a jump on those applications before the big games begin in April, League of Legends fans.