Colleges keep finding new ways to spend money on non-educational things. One of them is teams that don’t play sports, but rather “esports.”

What? It’s competitive video gaming.

As Anthony Hennen explains in today’s Martin Center piece, colleges are spending some serious money on this as a method of trying to recruit students. He writes:

Within only a few years, [esports] have gone from small, student-driven clubs to official extensions of the university. So far, 126 colleges have joined the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), a governing body for varsity-level competitions. Student-athletes play games such as League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, and Counter-Strike. Games are usually team-based and can be fighting, sports, fantasy, and strategy games.

No doubt many young Americans enjoy these video games, just as they enjoy the other stuff that colleges spend money on in the arms race to lure in students with money. Does this do anything to enhance learning, though? Hennen thinks not:

So, students get a new sport to play or watch, colleges have another program to advertise, and few administrators stand athwart history, trying to stop higher ed’s growth into an entertainment juggernaut.

Lots of college officials see dollar signs at the prospect of gaming competitions, competitions, and other activities. Even if it does, there’s little reason to think that will advance the real mission of higher education. Any money that schools make on esports is unlikely to either improve the quality or lower the cost of actual education.

Hennen concludes:

Unless university governing boards, alumni groups, or the public ask tough questions about the long-term wisdom of esports programs, they will become another part of campus culture—and another budget line item.

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