Video game scholarships? What next, scholarships for eating? For sleeping?

Ridiculous as it may seem, there are reasons why students are earning rewards for playing games.

As video games are steadily gaining ground as an official sport – dubbed “esports” – colleges are noticing and trying to cater to those students.

“We’re entering a new age where that’s allowed now,” said sophomore Max Matey. “I’m glad they made that, there’s something for everyone.”

Last year, a college in Songjiang University dedicated to the massively popular online game “League of Legends,” opened in China, according to mineski.net. But no such interest has been shown in America until this year.

This fall, the University of Pikeville in Kentucky will be among one of the first to recognize video games as an official sport, and will offer athletic scholarships to incoming gamers.

“Scholarship recipients will begin League of Legends competition play in the fall and even have scrimmages, ” according to the Kentucky TV website, wkyt.com.

“It’s a great opportunity to expand esports and gaming culture,” said senior Fred Qu. “Just like how extracurricular activities get scholarships, this is the same aspect.”

Even though video gaming is very different from traditional sports, it still requires skill, communication, and teamwork in order to succeed.

“It’s a measure of how deft your fingers are, and there’s strategy, so it’s kind of the same [as traditional sports],” said senior Chloe Chan.

Like the more conventional sports, players must maintain a certain GPA, and have allotted times to practice for competitive play. Unbeknownst to most, “League of Legends” hosts tournaments just like any other conventional sport. The last League Champion Series attracted over 32 million viewers, inadvertently breaking the world record for the most single men in one place.

Because of its popularity, “League of Legends” is the number one game considered for scholarships, but similar games like “Dota 2” may be incorporated, with other genres potentially following afterwards.

Robert Morris University in Illinois awarded a total of 35 scholarships to students on the “League of Legends” team, according to huffingtonpost.com.

For a school of over 4,500 students, 35 is a very small percentage. When asked about applying for such a scholarship, Cal High gamers responded modestly, with almost everyone claiming their skills were not up to par to be rewarded for playing.

Receiving scholarships for esports sounds fun, but what happens once you graduate with a major in video gaming?

There are only a handful of professional players who earn enough from playing alone to make a living, according to the Huffington Post’s website.  Out of the thousands who stream the game, only a few dozen meet the requirements.