MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

ABSTRACT: When you think of athletes that represent the University of Maryland, who comes to mind? Basketball players Jake Layman and Alex Len who now play in the NBA? What if I told you about a student named Winston Zhou who also competes for the school, but instead of practicing his jump shot, he’s sitting in front of a computer playing League of Legends. League of Legends has become one of the most popular games in the world with over one hundred million unique players online each month. Schools around the world have formed their own student organizations to compete against one another in competitive tournaments. University League of Legends Campus Series is the highlight of the collegiate scene where the best colleges within the nation compete for glory. The University of Maryland, College Park, took first place within the Eastern Conference in their first year of play, taking down top schools such as Harvard University along the way to the final four. Our unexpected finish as a top school has baffled others as to why we perform so well. As a former player for Maryland League of Legends, I will describe the philosophy we had together as a team and describe many of practices that go into the team’s infrastructure. This guide will also illustrate some of the science behind competitive video gaming and its relationships to more popular fields of study.

READER’S PROFILE: Someone that plays League of Legends but isn’t too hopeful about the game’s future as an extracurricular activity.

READER’S RESPONSE: Interesting guide, but I think it’s a stretch to compare video games to actual NCAA sports like basketball and football. I could see myself applying the strategies that were described, but in the end I want to treat the game as a casual hobby. There are universities out there that offer League of Legends scholarship programs, so it makes more sense for students at those schools to take the game mores seriously. I just don’t see myself investing the time and resources unless there’s more awareness and scholarship incentives for myself.

A, good profile of a reluctant reader. Yet, their complaint is also one you can address within the sports analogy. We enjoy sports without being NCAA or profession caliber. We also play, in rec leagues at work or pick up games. L of L play can be a similar situation.

Just FYI, Kent Norman in Psychology looks at video games. Not sure you need to incorporate this work in your paper but you might like knowing that games are a serious area of academic research.
http://lap.umd.edu/lap/People/kent_norman/index.html