The Philippines League of Legends Collegiate Leagues
College gamers celebrate as Garena Philippines announces the arrival of the Philippine League of Legends Collegiate League.
Yesterday, Garena eSports posted on Facebook allowing college students to show their support by voting for their respective schools here.
Check out this amazing teaser for the Philippine LoL Collegiate League!
The Top 16 Universities will face off over the course of four months in weekly matches, Pro Gaming Series style. This makes the Collegiate League an awesome ground of exposure for aspiring college-based teams and college gamers, be it your regular after-class gaming friends, organization mates, classmates or a tight-knit team who regularly practices and dreams of one day making it big. It is definite that a campus wide arms race of who gets to represent their respective university will send ripples all over the country so BE SURE TO VOTE FOR YOUR UNIVERSITY!
A New Battlefield for the 2015 Season
This is big news for Philippine eSports, as half of the casual gamers are mainly students. Not to mention that those from the college level are most likely to become eSports enthusiasts if not already partaking in the scene. In North America, Riot Games’ home region, the Collegiate League has become so big in production value that it is nearly comparable to the LoL Championship Series (LCS), the primary gaming League seeding North American teams to the World Championships.
“The American Gamer Dream”
In North America, Riot Games has acknowledged the desire of college gamers to partake in the glory surrounding the LCS. It is undeniable that only a selected few get to live like gaming rock stars and take up an LCS career as a professional gamer. With this, they’ve launched the North American Collegiate Championship (NACC) to give college gamers the opportunity to prove that they’re the best at what they do. The North American Collegiate Championship is the final stage after a huge region-wide season of playoffs from different universities located in the United States and Canada. There, the top four teams will face off for a $100,000 prize pool of scholarships.
Last month, Riot Games announced the return of NACC this coming 2015 Season. You can check out their awesome playoffs infographic and details here.
Academic Recognition
The collegiate leagues simply want to bridge a gap between the academic institutions and the eSports industry, and to allow players to have a sense of opportunity to give back to their beloved universities. That is why the only rule within this collegiate leagues is that players must be bonafide students, members or stakeholders of their respective university. It is obvious that the eSports industry is determined to lend a hand first for a handshake between them and the academic institutions. Even with this, collegiate leagues still don’t bother being recognized by the universities they represent, but that is not the case for Robert Morris University.
Robert Morris University calls for gamer varsity.
Last June, Robert Morris University Illinois, announced that it will add eSports to its athletic program, specifically carrying the game title League of Legends.
“Robert Morris University has always been at the forefront of providing opportunities for a diverse student population with different interests and skills. League of Legends is a competitive, challenging game which requires significant amount of teamwork to be successful [sic].” Kurt Melcher, the university’s Associate Athletic Director, said. The university also seeks to compete in the NACC, and is willing to offer scholarships for former professional players who plan to earn a degree.
The idea of eSports being a hindrance to academic excellence is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The eSports industry’s zeal to reach out to everyone, coupled with a gamer’s innate passion to prove that he or she is the best, serves as the catalyst for the realization of something like the Collegiate Leagues; the arrival of this opportunity in our shores is an indication that for eSports, we are culturally leveling up from the misgivings of tradition.
League of References:
North American Collegiate League RULES
Announcing the North American Collegiate Championship by Steve “Jaws” Jaworski
NACC is BACK for 2015 by Riot Sherman
RMU Becomes First University to Offer Gaming Scholarships With the Addition of eSports to Varsity Lineup
LoL Collegiate League Coming Soon by Garena eSports Team
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