Robert Morris University Illinois in Chicago recently added eSports to its varsity athletic program, and is in the process of recruiting students who will receive scholarships based on their skills in League of Legends

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RMU will join the Collegiate Star League , in which students compete in the aforementioned MOBA, as well as Starcraft II , Dota 2 and Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft . The CSL is composed of 103 institutions, including Arizona State, George Washington and Harvard. But RMU is the first college to induct eSports at the varsity level –– others are involved as clubs or student organizations."After we looked into League of Legends, frankly I was shocked at the scale and the size, and how passionate the community is," Kurt Melcher, associate athletic director at RMU, told IGN. "We give scholarships for a variety of different interests, along with traditional sports like football, basketball, soccer. So we thought, 'Why wouldn't we give scholarships for this?'"RMU will also be the first university to offer scholarships for recruits based on previous experience with League of Legends. Melcher said that students can receive up to 50 percent off tuition and room and board, which amounts to $19,000. The school is planning on recruiting three teams of nine players each, Melcher said, with a main starter team and two support squads.Melcher said that he and the athletic director put a proposal together and brought the idea to the president of RMU Illinois, Michael P. Viollt."Most presidents would look at this and say, 'Are you crazy? Get out of here,'" Welcher said. "But to [Viollt's] credit he's forward-thinking and saw the potential in this. He thinks there is a differentiation of skill level, and that you can draw a lot of correlation with traditional sports. There's teamwork, there's strategy, [players] have to practice a lot."The incoming recruits begin competitive play in September. During the next few months, the program will be adapting as it transitions into its first year of collegiate eSports."I hope we're not the last school to do what we're doing," Melcher said. "The CSL is so well organized already, but I would love to see it go a step farther. If we're the first of many, that would be spectacular."If you're a MOBA fans, be sure to check out and subscribe to our MOBA channel, IGN Arena

Mike Mahardy is a freelance writer for IGN and various other outlets. To hear him rant about True Detective, you can follow Mike on Twitter