Why Colleges Are Betting Big on Video Games
The varsity dormitory at Harrisburg University is still under construction. A pile of cardboard debris twists around the base of the stairs; the hallway lights beam an industrial, apricot glow; and when 22-year-old Alex Carrell meets me at the entrance and leads me to his room, we have to dodge the contractors installing carpet on their hands and knees. The wooden doors flanking the hallway are each marked with a nameplate listing the inhabitants inside, punctuated by an angry-looking crimson cyclone holding lightning bolts in its Mickey Mouse–gloved hands—Harrisburg’s mascot, the Storm. On his sign, Carrell has written “Saltman”—the alias he uses to compete in a video game called Hearthstone.
Carrell’s bedroom is cluttered with boy paraphernalia—an electric guitar submerged in laundry, a snowboard, a plastic tub of whey protein, a wide selection of “G Fuel” (read: Gamer Fuel) products, a closet full of Harrisburg-branded gear. He’s tall, with a black beanie pulled tight around cursive brown hair and a sanguine letterman confidence that matches the jersey on his back. If this were any other school, he could probably pass for an athlete. And, broadly speaking, he is. E-sports, the business of competing in video games professionally, is projected to top $1 billion in revenue by the end of this year. Carrell is one of the students building the industry’s corresponding collegiate scene—playing Hearthstone in Harrisburg colors, with all the fanfare of March Madness’s Elite Eight. He and his teammates are the only student athletes on campus.
Carrell arrived at Harrisburg last year after being poached from his previous school, Central Washington University. He had already two years there, but when he saw a Reddit post from a new school offering full-ride scholarships for e-sports players, the opportunity seemed too good to pass up.
The application was unlike any other Carrell had written. First, he had to provide proof that he wasn’t faking his high-ranking results in Hearthstone, a digital one-on-one card game similar to Magic: The Gathering, published by the gaming mega-corp Blizzard Entertainment. That was followed by an online tournament tryout, which led to Harrisburg flying Carrell to Pennsylvania for an interview and in-person scrimmage. The school valued Carrell’s skills in the low six figures—he was offered a spot on the Storm roster, single-handedly eliminating all his future debt in the name of video
